223 Highest quality brass for reloading

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ob1coby

Guest
Hi all. I'm having some trouble making a decision. I need to buy a lot of 223 ammo. Who makes the ammo that I can reliably reload the most times with quality results? PLEASE UNDERSTAND that this is not for long range bench rest. This is just for good quality brass that I can reload reliably several times.

I've heard that Federal isn't so good but that Remington or Windchester is better. I would even consider the smaller guys like sellier&bellot. Thanks
 
223 Brass

Scharch MFG., INC Top Brass

Get processed 223 1800-836-4683

For anything better you will have to go with Lapua brass.

Rustystud
 
I second the new unfired black hills recommendation. If you get their remanufactured stuff it is lake city brass which is also of good quality. Whatever you decide make sure you stick with that company. There is a fair degree of variance in capacity between the brands. Personally, I bought lapua brass for my .223 and haven't looked back. I used to shoot black hills which is fantastic factory ammo. I actually had to work pretty hard to find a handload that would out shoot them, but eventually the accuracy bug got in me and I wanted to eliminate as many variables as possible. I have also loaded winchester brass and have not had any problems. I have just found the best accuracy with lapua. You just can't beat lapua for consistency and durability.
Good luck,
Mike
 
it all depends on what you expect in the end. John Feamster wrote the book "black magic" about the ar rifle and did a section on loading. he used a batch of new winchester brass for this book. i bought the brass and weight sorted it. while most of the brass was between 91 and 93 grains in a nice bell curve, the ends of the curve were long! from 89.6 to a high of 94.5. this spread easily explains some of the flyers seen in his data.( put a 89.6 in with 9 93's and you will have a flyer).

my recomendation would be to buy brass and reload. most commercial ammo has crimped in primers and you will have to remove it to reload. if you start with new brass and load your own you will be ahead of the game. buy a bunch of win or rp, sort by weight in a big window(as in dont wait for the scale to stop. in my lot 91 plus or minus 1 grain covered aprox 440 of 500. use the outsiders for blasting .

having said that i'm loading 4000 223 in 55fmjbt/wcannlure. its mixed brass all once fired, less an ocassional black hills reload on lake city brass. i have shot this as a mix. the lake city mixed yrs shoots well, but the commercial stuff opens the groups. my plan is simple. when i get done loading, sort the lc into one batch and the rest in one batch.
the issue with most brass is its parentage....who made it and what has it done before i got it. i'm lucking in that my source only shoots new ammo and ocassionally black hills reloads on 06/07/08 lc brass.
and right now loaded ammo is expensive, even reloaded ammo is expensive.
mike in co
 
ob1coby said:
Who makes the ammo that I can reliably reload the most times with quality results?
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One name: Black Hills. The Blue box is mostly Lake City Arsenal brass fired once. The Red box is BHA Match brass that's never been fired. If you're looking for the best brass look no further than LAPUA. 39 cents each here: http://www.brunoshooters.com/. Art
 
In my experience FC is heavy and soft, the primer pockets will open up pretty quickly. RP is heavy and harder than the FC. Win (WW) is light and hard. LC brass is light and harder than the hubs of Hades. Although I've never used Lapua .223 brass their .220 Russian and 6 BR brass is the best there is.

Before things went completely sideways in the Middle East the Israeli IMI brass with the .223 headstamp was excellent, very uniform and hard. Their SS109 brass was hard, but not very uniform in neck thickness. No IMI brass has been available for several years though.

Some new unfired LC06 brass was available from Widener's and Cheaper than Dirt recently for about the same price as domestic commercial brass. You might want to check their websites to see if it's still available. It comes in boxes of 500 only, and Cheaper than Dirt has it for about $10 less than Widener's.

The only .223/5.56x45 brass that has crimped in primers are military and some "milspec". Wolf Gold (brass cases) has crimped primers, and that's the least of it's problems (heavy, non-uniform, etc).
 
Lapua

I have 20 rounds of Lapua brass that I've been using to dial in a 6BR. It's on it's 6 loading and shows no sign of wear. This includes turning the necks down for a .265 chamber. I've heard of guys getting 10 loads and the stuff is still going. In the long run it's probably a best buy.
 
I have 20 rounds of Lapua brass that I've been using to dial in a 6BR. It's on it's 6 loading and shows no sign of wear. This includes turning the necks down for a .265 chamber. I've heard of guys getting 10 loads and the stuff is still going. In the long run it's probably a best buy.
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I built a 268 neck 6BR for a friend and he has over 100 firings on 5 pieces of brass. He says that the primer pockets are just now getting a little loose. I would never shoot brass for that long, but it shows the quality of Lapua brass.
 
Larry Elliott said:
The only .223/5.56x45 brass that has crimped in primers are military and some "milspec". Wolf Gold (brass cases) has crimped primers, and that's the least of it's problems (heavy, non-uniform, etc).
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larry,
i sell brass for a living. last month i sold over 40,000 pcs of once fired 223/5.56 brass.
there is very little new 223/5.56 ammo that does not have a crimped in primer, all military and MOST commercial either 223 or 5.56. most manufactuers think thier ammo will be shot in a semi auto.

mike in co
THE COLORADO BRASS COMPANY
 
A quick spin with a deburring tool, after the primer has been punched out, will remove the crimp.

Back when we could buy brass on eBay, I bought boxes of primer crimped brass, to include IMI. I would simply full length size it then give it about a half second with the inside deburring tool connected to a drill.
 
Several years ago - -

I use to go to Wyoming a week in the Spring and a week in the Fall. I mixed Fishing and "Dog Shootin". I would carry with me several hundred rounds of 223 rounds I had loaded to shoot in an old Savage 110 that, as far as I know, will digest about anything one stuffs in er. I shot nothing but brass I had picked up @ the range and simply did whatever I had to do to get a new primer and bullets in them. Any of them would kill "Dogs" the very best.

I am one who thinks "Brass" is an over-rated part of the shooting equasion. I believe that brass is simply a container that holds the important stuff that makes thing happen. Sure, there are differnt case capacities but seldom do jamming cases full of powder give the best accuracy and assuming most .223's won't be used to try to break the Group records, well, I think all-yall can see where I am going with this.
 
There has been a theory out there about mil brass being 'thicker' and thus less capacity.

Take a couple hundred mixed brands w/ mil and weigh them. Get rid of the top and bottom weights. You will find that most mil weighs just about the same as the 'commercial'. I dont believe the lines about less capacity. I read an article that confirmed that. I wish Id have saved the article.
 
langenc said:
There has been a theory out there about mil brass being 'thicker' and thus less capacity.

Take a couple hundred mixed brands w/ mil and weigh them. Get rid of the top and bottom weights. You will find that most mil weighs just about the same as the 'commercial'. I dont believe the lines about less capacity. I read an article that confirmed that. I wish Id have saved the article.
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i really do not care what you believe, but if you shoot milsurplus cases in 30'06 or 8mm with max book loads, i will not be anywhere near.

if you are talking 223/5.56 there is less differences...but there is a diff.
in 308/7.62x51 accurate says aprox 4% reduction for lake city match brass from book loads.

the 10 percent is from the 50's or so when both 30'06 and 8mm was available in bulk.

using "mixed" brass is not condusive to accuracy, and not much of a "test" either.......try a single lot of a commercial brass against a single lot of mil surplus 223/5.56.....and see what you get.....i have/have the data......like i said i aint shooting next to you, but will likely out shoot you if this is how you load.....

mike in co
 
You need to consider cost.

I purchased a new rifle and 100 WIN brass back in July.

I have several boxes of this brass that I have reloaded as many as 7 or 8 times at this point. I have not gotten my first split neck yet.

Look at your prices. Who cares if Lapua is theoretically better.

I would say, just buy a bag of the WIN.

Can't remember the caliber of gun you are loading for. Maybe you have some special issue-- ?
 
Brass

Lapua is not theoretically better, it is better. Go to a B/R shoot and see if you can find anyone using Winchester brass. It's one of those many little things that add up to accurate shooting.
I'm off track here. Look for the best deal on loaded ammo and reuse the brass.
 
Unless your shooting an autoloader
Quality is always cheaper in the long run.

Just retired with honor 150pcs of Nosler in 204R. Reloaded 27 times.
Two split necks last time out.
I wish Lapua made brass for the 204R.
 
Montana Pete said:
You need to consider cost.

I purchased a new rifle and 100 WIN brass back in July.

I have several boxes of this brass that I have reloaded as many as 7 or 8 times at this point. I have not gotten my first split neck yet.

Look at your prices. Who cares if Lapua is theoretically better.

I would say, just buy a bag of the WIN.

Can't remember the caliber of gun you are loading for. Maybe you have some special issue-- ?
Click to expand...

Just to avoid the level of frustration I get using WINCHESTER brass, I'll spend the money for Lapua. The last 1,000 rounds of WINCHESTER I loaded, caused me hours more work due to the poor quality of the brass. If RWS or Lapua has the brass available for what I need, I'll gladly pay the difference. I continue to anneal after every three shots, Life of this European brass is just beyond belief.
 
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