New Starline 5.56 brass ?

[Rob01]

No one said anything about one production line. All the components would be manufactured, and fed into a staging area to feed the final assembly process.

But we are off the original topic.

Thanks to all who responded, Nothing lost by annealing, I have both the time and the equipment.

Everyone have a great day!

Just the way you made it sound.

I’m retired too and no way I would anneal before second firing but your time.

 

[BP1]

I’ll be shooting some that will be on its 4th firing running in the mid 2900s with a 85.5gr Berger and hasn’t been annealed yet, I’ll probably anneal it before the next loading.

 

[Dgd6mm]

I’ll be shooting some that will be on its 4th firing running in the mid 2900s with a 85.5gr Berger and hasn’t been annealed yet, I’ll probably anneal it before the next loading.

I'm in the same shot sequence. 80eldm loaded for the 4th firing at 600 yard f class. After the 4th I'll anneal them. No issues with the brass as of yet. My 22-250 Winchester brand brass is being shot on it's 6th firing, it's been annealed twice. 2 split necks so far.

 

[jelenko]

I have found their brass will split up the middle after a few firings. Also, some of them will have have a light colored ring around the bottom from pre-case head separation after a few firings. This is not from oversizing. I think it is from the brass hardness.

Be careful

Starline did a recall on 223 brass a couple years ago - for this very issue.
I had 2000 pieces [still unfired] that they swapped out. I asked them if I would get even one firing from the brass, the tech said 'no' - it would split right up the case.

 

[Retired shooter]

Starline did a recall on 223 brass a couple years ago - for this very issue.
I had 2000 pieces [still unfired] that they swapped out. I asked them if I would get even one firing from the brass, the tech said 'no' - it would split right up the case.

Was it just the .223 brass,.? What about the5.56 brass?
Thank you

 

[jelenko]

Was it just the .223 brass,.? What about the5.56 brass?
Thank you

The recall was just for 223 brass.

On second thought - I don't know. I got the recall notice for the 223 brass that I bought. Didn't ask about 556.

 

[RabbitSlayer]

All I did was weigh 500 of them and split them in half by weight. I had 4 outliers I culled. I FL sized half of them and I think it only sized the neck, then I mandreled, and chamfered. I spot checked probably 100 for flash hole burrs and didnt see any. My results over the chrono and on target were excellent. Cut my SD\ES in half. Putting 3 in .4 to .6 from a ruger mpr upper and a lower i assembled with seekins lpk and trigger tech. Shooting from a Caldwell stable table which ain't very stable. Don't think annealing was gonna make it any better! Can't wait to see what the other 250 do in a custom bolt gun!

 

[karrarararararar]

The recall was just for 223 brass.

On second thought - I don't know. I got the recall notice for the 223 brass that I bought. Didn't ask about 556.

I believe the 5.56 was recalled. I had placed an order for 5.56 right around that time and it was canceled due to the recall.

 

[divingin]

All factory brass is annealed in their production.

Actually, I think it's annealed several times during production. The big question for end users is if it's annealed after the last forming step.

 

[Dgd6mm]

The big question for myself is , how many firings will I get out of this decently priced and decent quality 5.56 brass? I bet I get my monies worth while shooting HM scores.

 

[Rob01]

Actually, I think it's annealed several times during production. The big question for end users is if it's annealed after the last forming step.

It is during production and they are after final forming. All quality brass is but some is polished and doesn’t appear to be.

 

[K22]

I am not going to criticize something for which I have no experience, i.e., annealing.

I will just say that I have shot a variety of brands of cases such as Remington, Winchester, Federal, and Hornady and I have never annealed any of them. I can't see where Starline would be any different.

I get about 15 to 18 reloads out of a case. On the 223 Rem, the fragile rims start to wear before any other part of the case. When cases do start to fatigue, it is almost always in the neck area, i.e., neck splits.

I get fairly consistent FL sizing of my cases. I carefully set my FL die for optimum sizing and dedicate a group of cases to a specific rifle and rotate their use.

Most importantly, I am able to obtain my desired results on target without annealing. Would it better if I annealed? I don't know, maybe, but I am satisfied where I am at and don't want to add more equipment or steps to the reloading process.

 

[divingin]

I get about 15 to 18 reloads out of a case. On the 223 Rem, the fragile rims start to wear before any other part of the case. When cases do start to fatigue, it is almost always in the neck area, i.e., neck splits.

I'm going to guess you're shooting an auto? Cases in most of those are being yanked from the chamber while under pressure. Rims are stressed a lot more in that scenario than in a bolt gun, where the only force is to break whatever force is left from the brass to chamber expansion.

 

[Mags]

Has anyone extensively compared the 556 and 223 for FTR applications?

I have 1k pieces of 223 on backorder, but wondering if I should swap it to the 556. I get that the 556 is supposedly harder (should theoretically take more pressure/firings before primer pockets fail), but just want to see if it's even worth the swap. I know they are very comparable consistency wise.

 

[Rsadams]

I have some Remington brass that has so many reloads on them iam starting to really inspect every reload.... Thinking I will toss them soon.... No annealing etc... Fired out of an AR platform rifle loaded with a light 5.56 load.... Just ordered some new Star line to replace them with... I use them to site in red dot etc rifles and to shoot for fun.... I think I will load them one last time for what I call junkers , these are cases you don't care if they get lost etc and I have some for all calibers I shoot... There good if you're shooting at a buddies land etc...

 

[K22]

I'm going to guess you're shooting an auto? Cases in most of those are being yanked from the chamber while under pressure. Rims are stressed a lot more in that scenario than in a bolt gun, where the only force is to break whatever force is left from the brass to chamber expansion.

No, the last time I shot a semi-auto rifle was in 1970-1972 while in the Army. I am strictly a bolt shooter.

On my rifles, various brands, i.e. Remington, Browning, Tikka, the extractors abrade the fragile rims.

 

[762 ULTRAMAGA]

I saw some mention of case head separation in this thread and thought I'd share my recent experience with this brass.

I'm running it in PRS matches with 75 Bergers and 25 grains N150, velocity has been great at 3000 fps without pressure signs.

I went into a 2 day match last weekend with 4 firings on the brass, during the shoot I started having case separation right in the upper middle of the brass.

Admittedly I never measured my shoulder bump so it's possible this was due to over sizing, however they separated way higher up than I've ever seen, about .3" below the shoulder.
I'll test some new brass, measuring shoulder bump, and see what happens.

 

[Steve Donlon]

Starline did a recall on 223 brass a couple years ago - for this very issue.
I had 2000 pieces [still unfired] that they swapped out. I asked them if I would get even one firing from the brass, the tech said 'no' - it would split right up the case.

I had the same thing with some Starline 300 BLK brass. This was on the first firing. I sent Starline a picture and they sent me new brass. I think the brass was to hard also. Most looked like this one on the bottom.