.223 brass for Bolt Action

[WelshShooter]

I'll chime in with Lapua brass too. I've used UK milsurp brass (Radway Green) but find that it's too much effort to bother with. Sa far I am on 5 reloads out of my Lapua brass and I haven't even needed to trim them. I always full length size, but only enough to push the shoulders back 0.002" (setting the FL die up per instructions will push the shoulders much farther than two thou). Primers fit nice and tight in the primer pocket.

If you can get free range brass try that out first! Make sure you segregate by headstamp because wall thickness varies between manufacturers, and even more so between commercial and milsurp brass.

This is being shot out of my CZ 527.

 

[cheygriz]

Give these a try.

https://www.speer-ammo.com/products/bullets/rifle-bullets/target-match-rifle-bullet/1036

 

[Dudedog]

but my plan is to decrimp, size and load

You need to check the case length to be safe. (check after resizing), trim if necessary, to long can pinch the bullet raising pressures, a bad thing.
Also wise to check for incipient case head separation.
Even if the brass has only been fired once it could be in bad shape if it was fired in an out of spec chamber.
Probably ok after one firing but not checking it is a gamble and my gambling luck terrible when I go to Vegas so I doubt it's much better on the range.
Walkalong has a thread here on how to check it, hopefully he will add the link.
(or I will when I find it in bit)
700s are suppose to handle case failures well but I have never tried it in mine (7mm Rem Mag) to see if it is true. (and would prefer not to)

 

[Dudedog]

New thread started you should check out if you haven't seen it.
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...ly-for-incipient-case-head-separation.844830/

 

[CoalTrain49]

I've started sorting my range brass and decided to use LC brass for all of my .223 bolt rifle loads. Reamed out the crimps and trimmed to length. Loaded up some 62 grain bullets and tried them for the first time on Wed. Moa once the barrel warmed up and I settled down. I'm not sure if it was the brass, or the new 62 gr bullets, or both, but I sure do like the results. I'll be trying some 68 gr bullets next week.

The rest of the range brass gets loaded for my Mini-14. Probably a waste of time trying to get that rifle to shoot moa.

 

[Dudedog]

The rest of the range brass gets loaded for my Mini-14. Probably a waste of time trying to get that rifle to shoot moa

But they are loads of fun!

 

[Llama Bob]

I'd use LC, swage the primer pockets, size, trim, and then sort by weight. If you've got a bucket of range brass making a 100pc set that are within about 0.4gr of each other should be easy enough. That has the same effect as adding/removing 0.05gr of powder (give or take) which is better than you can throw a powder charge anyways.

 

[hdwhit]

Lee Q. Reloader asked:
I've read a lot on here about the best brass for .223, but these threads are always talking about reloading for an AR. Is the answer the same for a bolt?

In short, yes.

Unless you are part of the "five-shot, one-hole" crowd, the difference between various brass headstamps will be pretty much meaningless. A lot of people prefer Lake City (LC) headstamp brass because of its reputation for consistency, but they should not be taken as the final word on brass. I once encountered a reloader who traded me 1.5 LC cases for each PSD case I sent him.

In my experience, PSD brass was not 150% better than LC brass, but it was to him.

Bottom line is that you should stop asking people who may be shooting under very different conditions from you what the "best" of anything is. Buy some mixed range brass, sort it by headstamps, load it, shoot it, and then decide for yourself which headstamp performs best in the kind of shooting you do.

 

[CoalTrain49]

But they are loads of fun!

Yes, plenty accurate for a defensive carbine.

 

[Llama Bob]

Unless you are part of the "five-shot, one-hole" crowd, the difference between various brass headstamps will be pretty much meaningless.

Weigh them before you say that. An 8gr difference in case weight has a similar effect to throwing 1gr different powder charges and you will easily see that much variation across different types of 5.56/.223 cases. If you wouldn't tolerate weighing (or throwing) powder charges with a full grain of variation, why would you let your brass vary that much?

 

[CoalTrain49]

I'd use LC, swage the primer pockets, size, trim, and then sort by weight. If you've got a bucket of range brass making a 100pc set that are within about 0.4gr of each other should be easy enough. That has the same effect as adding/removing 0.05gr of powder (give or take) which is better than you can throw a powder charge anyways.

I've tried swaging (sp) but wasn't real crazy about it. I know lots of people prefer it but I found that sometimes it doesn't expand the case enough to allow hand priming using some primers. I just ream the crimps out with a countersink bit and it's way cheaper than a swaging tool. Everyone has their own method but that works better for me.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NOAH2W2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1