Thread: Anybody bought some of the cheap 223 cases on TM? is it worth bothering with?

I've bought a lot of their RG brass, and it is good. Got one of the hornady chamfer removal tools, and chucked it in the drill. Removal of the crimp only takes a second or so. The brass is thick, so it seems to last a bit longer, but you need to watch for pressure signs if you're running hot loads.

You only need to get rid of the crimp once, and the brass is good for quite a few reloads. I've got RG brass that is at 7 or 8 reloads and is not showing loose primer pockets, or signs of case separation. Only downside is that a few cases are just stuffed from the outset (rim damage mostly), and you might have to bin 3 or 4 out of a 100 when you first prep them.

ETA. They are looong once you f/l size them the first time, so trimming them is really important to avoid problems later.

Only a guess, I'm not an armourer or a grunt ☺

wouldnt a small base die fix ones fired in a sloppy chamber ?

obviously its life may not be as good as one that hasn't had this treatment but.

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If any case has been -properly- FLd then trimmed and it still sticky in a chamber, it can only be the base that's over-spec.
And a small-base die will fix that easily.

I'd be very surprised if a once-fired mil round had the base expanded. Mil rounds are always full power but wouldn't ever be expected to cause base expansion. That is the preserve of overly-keen handloaders..

I get LC brass gratis at times and other than the initial shagging about with crimps, it works perfectly

+1 to what 6x47 and veitnamcam said. Small base die.

My normal .223 and .308 Redding F/L dies are good enough to fix cases that have been fired in loose mil chambers.
I don't need small base dies.

I have 1 out of about 10 223 barrels that needs a small base on mil brass. It's prob going to end up on trademe at some stage as its too much of a pain in the arse

Buy a Wilson case gauge. They're gold. You can tell straight away if a case has been peeled through a machine gun. I have never had problems reloading any .223 brass with Lee FL dies.

I have Wilson gauges for 303brit and 308w I think they are great.

So I bought some of this brass and been working my way through slowly tidying it up. I will be loading for a bolt action at first with a 22" barrel but I am going to get it chopped to 18" and suppressed when money allows. I was just wondering which powder people seem to be using most in their .223's? I was thinking either BM2 or 2206H but not quite decided yet.

When my mate gets round to it, we will eventually be loading for a 14.5" ar15 as well so having the same powder between both would be handy for that as well. Hence I am leaning towards BM2 at the moment being slightly quicker for the shorter barrel.

Originally Posted by sparky1000

I was just wondering which powder people seem to be using most in their .223's? I was thinking either BM2 or 2206H but not quite decided yet.

When my mate gets round to it, we will eventually be loading for a 14.5" ar15 as well so having the same powder

I use 2206h in several .223's with barrels from 12.5 all the way up to 22"
Is it the best? I have no idea but it seems to work just fine. They are all semis for what it worth.

adi2219?

Grabbed a bag and will see what they are like.

2206H powder for a Howa 1500 and Remington 700. Both bolt action, both for target shooting and rabbits, but that powder worked better for me that BenchMark2.

Your mileage may vary though.

if you can be botherd with prep its good brass some of my most accurate 223 loads were millsurp brass and its cheep but there are extra steeps needed to prep but its only one off once its prepped its prepped apart from trimming every few loads of course

Thanks guys, I will let you know how we get on!