Thread: 556/223 brass

Greetings All,
Relentless scrounging has resulted in a large supply of once fired .223 brass. Weighing the brass I found most of it fell into two groups one averaging 94 grains and the other 97 grains. This includes the fired primer. WCC and LC military brass also fell into these two groups. FC brass was a lot lighter at 89 grains and continental brass a lot heavier with Lapua, Norma and S&B at about 105 grains. My cases are sorted into batches with the same head stamp and those batches averaging 94 grains go in the T3 and the 97 grain ones go in the M700. The heavier cases will give significantly higher velocity and pressure so sorting is essential. Two loads are used. 55 grain projectiles with 25.5 grains of AR2206H and 69 grain SMK with 25 grains of AR2206H. These chronograph 3,150 and 2,960 respectively in the T3. Neither load is max but is a full case with mild compression. A switch to BM 8208 is being considered. A small sight adjustment is needed when switching loads in the T3. Cases are FL sized using CH dies and competition shell holders to give minimal shoulder bump and annealed every other firing. I have not found any need for a small base die in any of the 3 .223 rifles that I loaded for, even when using pick up military brass.
Regards Grandpamac.