What's THE favored in 223 brass

[GRUMPA]

I just thought I would ask this to everyone here.

What's the best brass in 223?

I process this stuff into 300 Blackout and get brass from all over the place, but I do have to sit down and separate all the head stamps into neat little piles (yeah ME).

Some of it I know is foreign and I just set those aside, but I'm sure the favored brass in 223 is the domestic stuff.

I'm just wondering if I should just hold onto it as is without being converted to 300 blackout or when I get enough for a batch just convert it.:shock:

Normal batches for me include:
LC
WCC
Winchester
R-P
FC
Hornady
FNM
PPU
S&B
PMC
Frontier
TZZ
PNP

and more I just can't remember them all

[Jim]

Personally, I favor the Lake City brass.

[Love Life]

Myself and my buddies all prefer LC brass

[Doc_Stihl]

I like LC. Strong and consistant. Plentiful doesn't hurt either.

[felix]

For conversion, find the most consistent lot of ANY brand by weight. Then eliminate by volume from those with the most consistent weight. The latter helps guarantee you are not weighing junk inside of the cases, when they have not been cleaned in advance of any operation. For example, the LC brand might not be best because it gives up the most piles having a different weight each. Plus and minus a grain does NOT work here. ... felix

[azrednek]

I like what ever brand adjacent shooters leave behind. When the price is right I don't get picky about head stamps unless it is Berdan primed or non-brass. The only 223 brass I don't like and had problems with was the Chinese stuff that made its way here before Clinton banned the importation of Chinese ammo.

[JeffinNZ]

I like what ever brand adjacent shooters leave behind.

+1. :bigsmyl2:

[Moonie]

I like what ever brand adjacent shooters leave behind.

+2 :Fire:

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I prefer R+P

[tomme boy]

RP. Just about everything else has a crimp and is not worth my time.

[gabe123]

For 223 Remington in a bolt gun, it has to be Remington.
For 5.56 out of my AR, Lake City.

[runfiverun]

i sort brass by brand.
lc goes to the ar's.
smaller lots of commercial brass is used for different loads.
pmc is used for the weighed boolits at the higher velocity's.
win is used for the leftover boolits with a lighter powder load for general can shooting and stuff.
i keep the remington for jaxketed rounds.
and throw pretty much everything else in a box for other stuff till i get enough of them to deal with.
federal usually gets used for hunting rounds where i might lose a case, but want something decent.

[azrednek]

The only time I separated my 223 brass by headstamp was when I was using a 223 Remmy BDL with a varmint barrel. I was loading near or at max and wanted the most consistent shot to shot accuracy. I can't recall any particular USA mfd brand being superior to the others. I've since replaced the 223 Remmy with a 22-250. The blasting ammo I now toss together for my AR-15 is loaded at least 10% or more below max with economy priced components. As long as any undamaged 223 or 556 brass doesn't need trimming I load it. The only 223 brass I currently try to keep separate are once-fired.

[quilbilly]

Until recently all of the 223 brass I have collected got turned into 7mm TCU. By far my favorite for reforming has been S&B. Once reformed accuracy has been remarkably consistent so I have discarded all the other brands of brass. My lucky day last year was on a trip up to the local shooting "pit" in a nearby logging clearcut. There on the ground were 350 (!!!) empty S&B 223 cases. A lifetime supply:drinks:

[badbob454]

all of them , send me your discards .....JK

[azrednek]

By far my favorite for reforming has been S&B. supply:drinks:

I have mixed feelings about S&B ammo and brass. A short time after I got my 22-250 I bought some factory ammo to get me started. I bought a few boxes of the high priced stuff and because of the low price I also picked up a few boxes of S&B after learning it was genuine brass and Boxer primed. I don't recall the pre-shortages price but the S&B was dirt cheap.

Using the S&B to start sighting in the scope and after I got it close I changed to the high priced stuff. Long story short, the S&B printed a tighter group than the expensive stuff. The S&B were 55gr FMJ's obviously no good or legal in Arizona for varmint hunting and if I had done a comparison through a crony I may have been disappointed with the S&B.

I've reloaded the S&B brass as much as the Remmy, Winnie and Federal 22-250 brass I accumulated. I never kept notes or made an effort to track the number of firings before crushing and tossing into my scrap pile other than marking the brass after it was trimmed. Usually I discard rifle brass when it is ready for the second trimming. Best I can tell the S&B brass was as good and lasted as long as the name brand USA mfd.

Up until recently I considered myself a big fan of S&B ammo. Part of it because of the great results I got with the 22-250 and the cheapskate in me liking the lower price. Due to illness, some re-decorating and life in general getting in between me and my loading bench. As much as it hurt wanting to take an out of state relative handgun shooting. Father forgive me for I have sinned. I sprang for some condom clad factory ammo.

I had some disappointing results with some S&B handgun ammo. Out of three boxes of 9X18 I had two squibs. Little or no powder and the FMJ bullets had to be hammered out of the barrel with a cleaning rod. One box of S&B 380 were 100% but out of a box of 357. Two shots I took with my 357 just didn't feel right. The recoil felt on the same level as a 38 Special. My relative being pretty much an inexperienced rookie at handgun shooting commented on one of the 357's having as he described "less kick". On the same outing we shot up a few boxes of Wolf brand steel cased 9MM Luger.

Over looking the crud the Wolf ammo leaves. It shot 100% but due to numerous reasons we are all aware. Not even close or anywhere near as delightful to shooting my home cast and rolled 9MM's. Have to admit, para-phrasing and changing slightly Robt Duvall's famous movie line. "I love the smell from the smoke of home cast bullet lube"!!

[stubshaft]

PMC if I can find it or RP. I used to like Federal, but was getting split cases and neck splits after only 3 moderate loadings.

[41 mag fan]

LC, R-P, PMC in that order.

[DCM]

From your list I like OLDER (pre-2000) LC best, FC is the worst for reloading as it is too soft.
Newer Win brass is bad too(very poor QC).

[6.5 mike]

I do sort my brass by headstamp, fc for 6 m/m tcu cuz thats what it came with, hornady for 6.5 tcu, & pmc in 7 m/m. Others are sorted for differant 223 loads. Most is range drops or left by kind fools,lol.

[1Shirt]

Have found RP to be probably the most consistant in weight!
1Shirt!

[frankenfab]

TZZ is IMI brass......very good stuff in any caliber

[Flinchrock]

I use a lot of R-P,,,but I do like that Israeli!!

If it is just for poppin' cans on the backstop I'll use most anything...

[hiram1]

imi lc rem is good

[BD]

The best, most consistent .223 brass I've ever used is Black Hills Match. LC after 2000 has been good. LC 09 in particular. Older Lake City is durable, but inconsistent in neck thickness and flash hole punch. I have a lot of LC 77 and LC 78 and I use it, but I sort out at least 10% for wacked out flash holes, and have to neck turn the rest to get top accuracy. I've heard that Nosler's .223 brass is very good. But I never found enough of it to make a "lot" to work with.
BD

[jcwit]

For precision work, I have 5 pcs that have served my purposes for the last 5 plus years.

To the best of my knowledge they have been reloaded well over a hundred times now.

Now I do not load anywhere near max, but I do load for accuracy, as in 1 hole groups.

[JIMinPHX]

I just thought I would ask this to everyone here.

What's the best brass in 223?
...
LC
WCC
Winchester
R-P
FC
Hornady
FNM
PPU
S&B
PMC
Frontier
TZZ
PNP

and more I just can't remember them all


The order in which you listed them is pretty close to the order in which I would pick them. The last one is the only one that I would turn my nose up at, since I have found that PMP & RORG headstamp .223 brass has reduced case capacity. I would use caution with TZZ, FNM, PPU & Frontier, only because I have no experience with them.

The FC cases may need to be looked at too. They may be "balloon head" cases. That is they may be thin down by the base. Some people turn their noses up at these, but I've used them over & over again with cast boolits around 2,300 fps. At that pressure range, I have no problems with them. If you were going to load full pressure military equivalent loads, then FC may not be the best choice.

That's all just for use as .223 brass. I know nothing about forming them into anything else.

[9.3X62AL]

LC 09, LC 98, R-P, W-W, and FC in descending order of numbers on hand. Mil-spec brass (LC) goes into the 5.56-rated self-loaders, the commercial brass goes into the bolt rifle loaded as 223. This latter class includes the cast boolit loads.

[shooterg]

Probably 90% of High Power shooters use LC, plentiful and durable. The really old Federal was actually OK, then they went to softer stuff - some of the newer Federal is actually same as LC, since they were running the plant for the guvmint.

[casterofboolits]

LC makes up 99% of my 5.56 brass. Traded a buddy a 5 gal bucket of scrap brass for a 5 gal bucket of LC from Camp Perry. I'm in the process of prepping 1,600 rounds of the brass for my AR.