Weight variations in .223 pickup brass

[blixen]

I make .222 Remington cases out of .223 range pickups. Should i sort them by weight or headstamp?

Does weight = case capacity = velocity differences like it does with .308 military cases?

i've been segregating my .222 brass into batches that are within 1 gr.

thanks

[Vann]

I'd say that it would make more of a difference based on the fact of less case capacity.

[ulav8r]

If you are picky, sort by headstamp, then by weight. If not picky, just by headstamp.

[Hick]

I did a detailed study with 10 different brands of range pickup 223 Remington brass, 20 cases each, weighed cases (yes they are different!), trimmed them all to the same length, loaded them all with the same load and same bullet, and tested velocity and accuracy. Two brands, ARMSCOR-USA and G.F.L showed velocities 50 fps higher than the rest, all of the rest were nominally 3037 plus or minus 20 fps. The ones that came out the same included commercial brass (FC, RP, PMC) and 5.56 Nato (LC several different years sorted by year, WCC). I don't like the G.F.L anyway because their primer holes are not aligned with the case properly, but the ARMSCOR seems ok. So-- bottom line is that it doesn't seem to make a lot of difference unless you are loading for something very, very precise.

[blixen]

thanks! That makes life simpler. I've been sorting by head stamp, anyway.

[jhalcott]

A friend gave me a couple boxes of Sako 5.56 ammo, it was too hot for his gun. I tried it in MY rem 700 and the bolt was sticky. There was also cratered primers. I brought it home and weighed the components. Bullets and powder were close in weight, BUT the cases went from 102 to over 110 grains. Other Military cases were as light as 85 grains including primer. I am anal about the brass and try to keep it as consistent as I can.
I have several .223 guns, a couple are Contenders, so I sort by weight and get rid of the out liers. This HAS cut down on fliers for me!

[Boolit_Head]

This issue shows itself pretty well when converting 223/5.56 brass to 300 blackout. The military brass has thicker walls for higher pressures and not all are exactly the same. Separate them by head stamp as the thicker walls will change the capacity. In fact I'd find a particular head stamp and stick with it for consistency. When cut down and converted to blackout the thickness of the mouth of the cases will vary.

http://www.300blktalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=88599

[floydboy]

I have never experienced changing brass make much of a difference in accuracy for most of my 30 years reloading. I usually tried sorting by headstamp. Never shot anything smaller than a 22-250 which has a pretty generous case capacity.

I have a 222 that I was shooting Remington commercial brass in. Would hold MOA with the load I developed. After that brass wore out I made some brass out of mixed military 223 brass. Wouldn't shoot less than a 2" group at 100 yds. Went down a half grain of powder and got my MOA back. That experience made a believer out of me. Brass does matter.

Granted this was a drastic change. Using a small case and shrinking down thick walls to make the shoulders. Necks of course had to be turned. I now make brass for my 6.5 Creedmoor out of 308 brass. I use LC with the same year headstamp. This seems to work pretty good.

I would recommend staying with the same headstamp when possible.

Floyd

[BAGTIC]

It is unlikely that military cases have thicker walls to contain higher pressures. They have always been thicker. Furthermore thinner walls would produce lower pressures. Base and head thickness represent most of the weight difference. The thickness of the side walls, shoulders, and neck have little influence on the strength of the case. Thicker brass in those areas may be desirable for reloaders but the military is not interested in reloading. As far as they are concerned all cases, centerfire or rimfire, are use once and discard.

The so called increase in modern 5.56 ammo is illusory. It does not represent actual increases in chamber pressures but merely a different protocol of measuring pressure. Another example of what happened when pressure measurements were changed from c.u.p. to piezoelectric.

[GONRA]

GONRA sez - sort 'em out by HEADSTAMP before reloading, case caliber conversions, etc.