FC....04 headstamp

[Tony Sopranno]

I ran into a bunch of these .223 cases recently - all presumably once fired - every one of them measured out +1.775" - which seems really long to me.

I'm wondering why the manufacturer left them so long to begin with. That can't be all stretch! Does anyone know anything about the background of this brass?

I'm thinking they are from a reloading company like Ultramax or Blackhills.

 

[Randy1911]

They are military. The FC 04 stands for Federal Cartridge made in 2004.

 

[Walkalong]

Check inside for the dreaded groove (just in case they aren't once fired), size em, trim em, deburr & chamfer, load em, shoot em.

 

[Tony Sopranno]

okay thanks... I thought the brass was rather robust looking/feeling.

 

[evan price]

Military surplus, as mentioned above. May have been shot in a SAW full-auto so there will be more than normal stretch. Should be good brass once trimmed, primer pocket crimp removed, etc.

 

[kelbro]

I think they lengthen due to being a softer alloy. I spent a lot of time prepping a couple hundred pieces of that brass and the primer pockets loosened up after two firings. Much looser than I was comfortable with. Since then, Federal 223 brass is worth whatever the scrap dealer is paying that day.

 

[Borg]

Are you sure it wasn't LC instead of FC?
I didn't realize the Mil was using the FC headstamp.
Borg

 

[kelbro]

Federal has the contract now and are also making the LC since (I think) '04.

 

[rcmodel]

ATK owns Federal (FC) and they also have the current contract to run Lake City Army Ammunition plant (LC).

More then likely, it is not military surplus, as there hasen't really been any released since Slick Willy ordered it stopped.

What they do is sell mil-spec ammo loaded in whatever cases they have an over-stock of at the time, and call it XM-192, etc. instead of M-192, etc.
XM denotes that it is a commercial or Law Enforcement version of the military load.

So, it could be XM-193 commercial ammo with an FC headstamp rather then a LC headstamp.

rc