Thread: Reloading Range Brass

Thanks Micky Duck. Great, I'm only looking for minute of fallow deer & so far this load seems to shoot better than the factory ammo, I used in this rifle. Cheers.

Im guessing that SHOULD read 2206h....24.5grns was my mild as heck go to load for 20 plus years in 223 50-55grn projectiles. only need to champher the pockets that were crimped...and usually hornady...cause I reckon they crimp too lol.
also sxxp SHOULD possibly read spsx??? spire point super explosive....VERY messy projectile..messy = good I used the 50 grn version years ago on wallabies..bit messy for dog tucker if hit in hips .

Originally Posted by grandpamac

Greetings @Cookie8008,
There are some substantial differences in case capacity in .223 brass. From my weighing Federal is some of the lightest. Some of the continental brass is very heavy so I suggest that you batch by head stamp and then according to average weight. Mostly the heavier cases will have less capacity and produce more velocity and pressure. I also have a decent supply of ex range .223 brass and am using some in 300 yard F Class shooting with good (for me) results. Mixing brass may result in vertical stringing at longer range.
There are some test loads in the blocks waiting for chronographing to determine how much difference in velocity case capacity makes which I will get to but Ken Waters found a difference of 190 fps between Winchester and Federal .222 cases. His measurements showed a difference in capacity of 1 grain of powder between the two. This is in line with my weighing of .223 brass with Winchester about 9 grains heavier than Federal (works out to about 1 grain of powder capacity). Sako, Lapua and S&B are around 9 grains heavier than Winchester.
Regards Grandpamac.

Hi Grandpamac, Thanks for that. What is vertical stringing? Not looking to shoot long range at this stage. Usually if the deer are a long way away, I walk closer. The shooting range close to me is 100m so would have to find a friendly farmer I guess to try it out at longer range.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

so 1 grn of powder = ABOUT a 4% difference...if you using a 25grn load for ease of calculation.....
also for ease of calculation 3000fps velocity x 4% =120fps
which under 250ish yards wont matter a hoot lol.
and if we keep with the 4% figure for arguements sake..as long as we arent hot rodding our loads up past a 95% till too hot in smallest case.... all is good in the hood.

Great, thanks for that.

vertical stringing...... higher velocity will hit higher than slower velocity at longer range....so you get a group or string varying in height....

Got about 6 kg's of mixed 223 brass here, about 9 or 10 differant brands. Went through and sorted some by headstamp then batch weighed within h/s groups. Only went to this trouble for accuracy testing, comp. ammo. and long range Rabbit/Magpie sniping ammo. General hunting ammo I just prep,load,shoot mixed cases no problem. Has to be said I don't hotrod my loads to wring out every last fps like some do, just not neccessary. Also just used to buy Belmont by the 1000 round case so didn't need to do much reloading as I used to but that may change if they can't get their shit together soon, still waiting for an order they said they'd supply back in July I think.

Originally Posted by blip

If your wanting benchrest accuracy you'd want the same brass batch weighed. Hunting it would be more than the brass at fault if you weren't managing to hit stuff within 200-250m with mixed..

Thanks. I generally bush hunt so sounds like if I keep to the same brass, it will be my fault if I miss. Bloody satisfying at the end of the day!

Originally Posted by woods223

Also just used to buy Belmont by the 1000 round case so didn't need to do much reloading as I used to but that may change if they can't get their shit together soon, still waiting for an order they said they'd supply back in July I think.

And not just their loaded ammo. Used to be my go to source for brass, 22 ammo and so on.

Originally Posted by Pommy

If it's crimped then you'll need to remove the crimp unless you want to munt primers.

If it's not crimped then you shouldn't need to touch the primer pocket. If some are easier than others to seat primers into then that's because they've loosened up from firing (i.e. they probably have less life left in them than the ones that are still tight).

Hi Pommy, Thanks, yeah not that keen on munting primers. I've chamfered the ones with three crimp marks but are some fully circular crimped. I'll pass on the COO ones for now.

yes some circular crimped....pain as dont realise it till youve munted a primer trying to seat it....

1. Remove crimp. Use stanley knife or any very sharp blade. Abt 2 seconds per case.
2. Anneal.
3. Trimm
4. Clean if you wish
5. Toss out obviously faulty brass.
6. FLS
7 Sort by brand
7. Load
8. Shoot

I do it a bit different. Assuming brass is range pickups (or aka road kills), I deprime first using a Harvey deprimer, then into the SS tumbler to get rid of any grot that could end up in my dies. Once clean you can choose a couple of paths.

For a newby reloader I wouldn't stress about annealing, it's a function that can come later in your reloading career. Unless it's done properly I rate it as a waste of time although stopping necks splitting has merit. Likewise meticulously uniforming primer pockets, although I use Lapua brass which generally doesn't need uniforming.

I would definitely sort into brands, but I load to get the very best result possible and this is one step that helps achieve optimum results.

My own experience is FC is shite, irregular weights, flash holes punched off centre.

You're right Micky Duck. ADI AR2206H with Hornady 55gr Varmint SP SX #2260 projectiles.

Perfect Micky Duck. Thanks, that's what was catching me out!

Thanks Oldbloke.