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Posted: 1/30/2009 12:26:28 PM EDT
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i know this has been asked many times i just am too lazy to look
alos i dont want throw 400 peices in the scrap bin is it ok to reload once fired brass i know it is once fired bc i bought it and fired it my self and what is the diff between FC marked .223 and FC with the date on it <ie fc05 > thanks and please dont shit on my thread |
| sounds like you have made your mind up...go ahead and load it. I have loaded once fired FC without any problems. I do notice that the primer pocket loosens up fairly quick so depending on your load you may not get much life out of 'em. Since they require removal of the primer crimp (in american eagle line) I dont waste my time on them anymore (I do have quite a few already loaded). Case head seperations have been reported but it hasnt happened to me. if it does, oh well, I've got a cleaning rod to get the other half of the case out. |
| My cetme eats brass (fluted barrel). I am not comfortable reloading it, so I just scrap it. I buy once fired 308 fc brass only planning on using it once. I have never had a problem. You may benefit from selling it. Somebody may use it and with the money you get for it you can buy some lake city. You may not get similar quantity's, but you would be better off. Just make sure that you tell people that it is fc brass. |
| This is the secret with loading any pickup brass. When seating the primer, if there is very little to no resistance then the primer pocket is stretched and the pieced should be discarded. With all reloads they need to be chamber checked before firing. Just pop the primer and reuse it in a different piece of brass. I've had FC and a host of others fail this test and shitcanned them, and I have had FC pass without problems.Stretched primer pockets = blown primers = fail at the worst time |
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Quoted:
This is the secret with loading any pickup brass. When seating the primer, if there is very little to no resistance then the primer pocket is stretched and the pieced should be discarded. With all reloads they need to be chamber checked before firing. Just pop the primer and reuse it in a different piece of brass. I've had FC and a host of others fail this test and shitcanned them, and I have had FC pass without problems.Stretched primer pockets = blown primers = fail at the worst time 1+ |
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I also have a few hundred FC cases that I got for free. They're all FC/.223 headstamped and all still have a crimp on the primer. I'm having a machinist buddy make a gauge rod to stick in my Hornady Lock-n-Load comparator body and am going to use it to measure the web thickness of all of the FC that I have. I might just report my findings.
Made it big and blue so it's easier to see with all the 'extra' stuff that's been added. |
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Because of the warnings and such I always separated 223 FC brass, but thought it interesting to run some controlled experiment. I am starting to come around to the notion that much of this is overblown and an internet legend from someone who got a bad lot of the stuff. I look at ALL brass closely.
To be honest, I have not had one fail, have a loose primer pocket, or anything else in my test lots, which were reloaded 4 times so far. The extractor grooves are chewed up (if I can't fix it in 20 seconds, they go to the recycle bin) and some had to be trimmed, but for the most part they're holding up as well as anything else. Really. Granted, the loads were 24.7 gr H335 on a 55gr FMJ, which is pretty mild, so maybe that's it too. I also have some FC 308 brass, that has been neck-sized, fired, FL sized, trimmed, and shot a few more times in a bolt gun, and nothing terribly exciting happened to the case. I now have a bucket full of this stuff, most of it fired only once, and I'll load that up for the next big 3 gun match. I keep going to IDPA matches where the ground in the stage areas looks like the set from Lord of War, with all the 223 brass all over the place. I swear there are some guys with AR's blowing off a couple of Wal-Mart value packs the evening before, every time... |
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