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Posted: 3/1/2011 5:44:36 AM EDT
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I can not believe my next question has not been answered many times over here, but a search or three did not find it.
With that disclaimer in: I have 20+ years of reloading, but will be starting to load for .223 in the next few weeks. I have no brass at all. So, if you were buying for the first ime, what once fired would you be buying? Die preference? (dillon 650, with every imaginable bell and whistle attached) JCD |
How come you haven't been saivng your .223 brass!?!?! 
Shame on you! If your gonna buy some brass LC (Lake City) is some of the best brass typically, however it does have crimped primer pockets, which is actually a good thing because you can tell for 100% sure if it's 1x fired or not. If the primer pocket still has the crimp, you know it's only been 1x fired, where as commercial rounds with no crimp, you'll be hard fetched to tell if it's been reloaded and how many times. If you do go with LC brass, you will need a way to remove the crimp, the Dillon primer pocket swager is by far the best/easiest/fastest way to do this and it's actually fairly cheap. I used commercial non-crimped primer pocket brass to work up my loads untill I got them dialed in, then I used all LC brass to make my stash. As for die's, The Redding .223 2-Die Set with the Carbide Sizer Button is by far the best die set I've found to date. The carbide sizer button will make a HUGE difference in creating consistant headspace as it allows MUCH smoother extraction from the case, I would highly suggest the use of Spray lube as well, Dillon spray lube or RCBS spray lube work great! The 2-Die set can crimp bullets with a roll crimp in the seating die, which is easy enough to adjust but if you want seperate the crimp process, then you'll either have to buy a seperate Taper Crimp Die OR you can buy another Bullet seating die and remove the bullet seating plug (Unscrews from the top), which will give you a roll crimp die. As an alternative, some people like the Lee Factory Crimp Die. *I* personally do not like the Lee FCD, I use the Redding bullet seating die with the seater plug removed in station 5 to give me a roll crimp. If however you plan to use any bullet's that don't have a cannelure, then you'll probably want to go with the taper crimp die or FCD. Another alternative is that you can buy any 1 of the many available 'dial' type competition seating dies ($$) and just take the seating plug out the of the seating die that comes with the 2-die set, install it in station 5 and you'll have a roll crimp. die. -Masta |
| For commercial brass, I like Winchester, but getting a lot of it on the cheap would probably be kinda tough. The best value is probably once fired LC off of the equipment exchange. IIRC I saw fully processed, 1x LC (cleaned, sized, trimmed, primer pockets swaged) for like 70 or 80 per thousand on the EE... In my opinion that's a bargain, but unprocessed 1x LC will sell for as little as 55 per k shipped. Keep an eye out for deals on there, as they seem to come and go pretty regularly. |
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Wideners has brand new LC brass for $175/1000
Otherwise get some once fired military brass. |
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When Natchez has them, they are the cheapest.http://www.natchezss.com/category.cfm?subCategory=214&catLevel=2
Midway has them now, but a little more $$. |
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Here's one I found. Might be a deal?
once fired unprocessed once fired processed |
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Totally not interested in new brass, unless you just wanna give me some. I aleady found 1500 rds for $123 shipped. All LC. Now all I need is a Dillon swager and I am set. Brass and new toys, gotta love that. Thanks all I agree, new brass is way too expensive and I see no point when 1x fired brass is soo easily available. As for $123 for 1500 rss of LC brass, that's an okay price, but not a great price. If you look around in the EE and on the web you can find LC brass for about $55/k pretty regulary. From time to time you can find it even cheaper. I personally sort my LC brass by year. I'm a little OCD though. -Masta |
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There are lots of sources for once fired Lake City. Prices are usually $55.00 to $70.00 per thousand.depending on how much you buy and who pays the freight. Gunbroker always has some available as does members here in the Equipment Exchange. A search engine for "once fired 5.56mm" should get you lots of hits.
I am a fan of Redding and Forster dies but any brand will do. The only brand of dies I won't buy is Lee's. Their like going in a time warp to RCBS circa. 1965. If you are going to shoot fmj's any seater will do. If you want the best accuarcy available buy Forster's Ultra Seater of Redding's Competition seater. Good Luck. |
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Assault rifler, I too am a few months into reloading. I have a pretty good mix of once fired (from me) LC, PMC and RP brass. I also have been collecting brass from the range. I have a fair # of FC brass. is there something about them I need to avoid? It has been discussed that FC brass has a thin web. I made a tool like the one in the post to measure my FC brass. Link |
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Decent once fired brass is available readily. LC is good.
As for dies, depends on what you are loading for more than what you are loading with. RCBS dies are good. Lee are cheaper and still good, Hornady are good for plinking rounds. Redding competition dies for match grade ammo. I would recomend adding the Lee FCD to whatever set you get. It is cheap and does a wonderful job of crimping in a seperate step. Good luck. |
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Try first class brass - they don't trim - so be aware, or some other place you can get processed .223 brass cheap.
It's a PITA to process IMHO and the round where I save the least money reloading. Many claim LC is always THE brass to get, but I haven't found much, if any, differnce except for the name. They can keep their name and I'll keep the extra money. Admittedly, I am pretty new to this game - so either I bring a fresh outlook, or I am full of shit. In any case, that's my 2 cents. |
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Yeah and a case of ammo is $300, so I am not priming/loading/charging and supplying the bullet as well for the $125 difference. |
I cashed in my cans at the recycling center today and I saw a barrel that was full to the brim. The guy that worked there said had 242 lbs of brass in there. 
I would have considered buying it to sort and resell, but there was way too much variety in there to take a chance. I saw everything from 22 magnum rimfire, 38/357's/.44's/9mm's/270 brass. It was purdy though.  
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First tier brass: LC, Winchester, RP, Lapua, REM-USA (also Remington), and most all other commercial brass. Brass I'd avoid: AMERC, FC, and that one with the small diameter flash hole, ING ? IK brass PPU brass as well. Ask me how I know
PMC brass and WCC are also good brass in my experience. |
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..... you can get processed .223 brass cheap.
I'd avoid the processed stuff. I just bought 1K processed brass and, although it looked nice and the primer pockets were done for me, the whole lot is not re-sized enough. The rounds were a tight fit in my Dillon case gauge but seemed ok. A dummy round chambered in my weapon as well. I loaded 50 rounds and after shooting 15 rounds they stopped chambering (I assume because they are too tight as the chamber gets dirty). I now have to re- resize, re-tumble and re-trim the whole lot. For this I paid extra. Just get once fired. If they are crimped you will know they are once fired. |
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..... you can get processed .223 brass cheap.
I'd avoid the processed stuff. I just bought 1K processed brass and, although it looked nice and the primer pockets were done for me, the whole lot is not re-sized enough. The rounds were a tight fit in my Dillon case gauge but seemed ok. A dummy round chambered in my weapon as well. I loaded 50 rounds and after shooting 15 rounds they stopped chambering (I assume because they are too tight as the chamber gets dirty). I now have to re- resize, re-tumble and re-trim the whole lot. For this I paid extra. Just get once fired. If they are crimped you will know they are once fired. Good point and I haven't gone this route, but the few places I looked at - I thought were worth a try. Just the sheer amount of work on .223 really makes it a break-even proposition for me unless I get ready brass. |
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The money is saved on the multiple reloadings not on the first round. My $0.02 but bulk packages of remington ammo. Shoot it and have fun. Then prep and reload.
If you anneal the brass it will last longer. You don't have to anneal every time every second or third will do the trick. After three or four loadings the savings will start to show. If you want cheap brass, make friends with the local indoor range and see if they will sell it to you at scrap rates. This involves sorting and preping and you get a bunch of stuff you don't need and can sell on the EE. |
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I buy M193 for plinking, then process the cases for reloading.
But when I do actually buy brass... I generally only pay for it because it's cheap. My local range sorts and sells brass cheaply by the pound, and if it's at all dirty, it's even cheaper. I bought 750 rounds of .45ACP brass the other day because it was only $20, and couldn't pass it up for low- to mid-range practice loads. |
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First tier brass: LC, Winchester, RP, Lapua, REM-USA (also Remington), and most all other commercial brass. Brass I'd avoid: AMERC, FC, and that one with the small diameter flash hole, ING ? IK brass PPU brass as well. Ask me how I know
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff170/perimedik/100_1596.jpg http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff170/perimedik/100_1602.jpg PMC brass and WCC are also good brass in my experience. PPU ruined my Hornady dies so many times I had to call them to have them send it back the 3rd time. I use a Lee die and it goes like nothing. I have a universal decapping die as well, but am too lazy to pull that handle twice for the same job. |
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I buy M193 for plinking, then process the cases for reloading. But when I do actually buy brass... I generally only pay for it because it's cheap. My local range sorts and sells brass cheaply by the pound, and if it's at all dirty, it's even cheaper. I bought 750 rounds of .45ACP brass the other day because it was only $20, and couldn't pass it up for low- to mid-range practice loads. Sell me some 
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