duck911
Member
Hi folks,
I am a new reloader, in fact, have not yet reloaded a round. but I have everything together and I am ready to load some .223.
I saw an add from a guy selling "500 once-fired Federal match Gold .223 brass" for a decent price, so I bought the brass.
In hindsight, I believe it would have been much better for my first batch of .223 to have known good brass right off the shelf, rather than having to deal with the uncertainty of what I ended up with. but what's done is done. The brass itself looks great, so no complaints there.
Anyhow, I tumbled the brass then went to decap (RCBS de-capping die in Lee CAST press).
It became obvious that some primers were more snug than others. The really snug ones took more force to kick out and the tops of the primer pockets look different, too.
Here is a snapshot of 2 rounds I have not decapped:
The brass on the left would be the one that would be harder to decap.
Here is a shot of 2 other pieces, sans primers. Again, the one on the left would be the brass that was harder to decap.
I hear everyone talking about primer crimps on military brass, but I am new to reloading and for the life of me can't find pictures or even a description of crimped primers, but I'm pretty confident that's what I've got.
Can anyone confirn or deny?
This issue brings up a whole other set of questions for me. If I do indeed have 1/2 military brass and 1/2 commercial brass, I assume I need to separate them into 2 different lots because of the difference in case capacity? And, if they were sold to me as "Federal Gold Match" brass, then either I don't understand something (likely) or my seller was alittle less than honest (less likely)
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
--Duck911
(ps - I just about feel that it may just be best to start over with a known variable for my first batch of .223, so I'm debating selling this brass for what I paid for it just to get out from under it. Call me nervous, but this ismy FIRST ATTEMPT at reloading!)
I am a new reloader, in fact, have not yet reloaded a round. but I have everything together and I am ready to load some .223.
I saw an add from a guy selling "500 once-fired Federal match Gold .223 brass" for a decent price, so I bought the brass.
In hindsight, I believe it would have been much better for my first batch of .223 to have known good brass right off the shelf, rather than having to deal with the uncertainty of what I ended up with. but what's done is done. The brass itself looks great, so no complaints there.
Anyhow, I tumbled the brass then went to decap (RCBS de-capping die in Lee CAST press).
It became obvious that some primers were more snug than others. The really snug ones took more force to kick out and the tops of the primer pockets look different, too.
Here is a snapshot of 2 rounds I have not decapped:
The brass on the left would be the one that would be harder to decap.
Here is a shot of 2 other pieces, sans primers. Again, the one on the left would be the brass that was harder to decap.
I hear everyone talking about primer crimps on military brass, but I am new to reloading and for the life of me can't find pictures or even a description of crimped primers, but I'm pretty confident that's what I've got.
Can anyone confirn or deny?
This issue brings up a whole other set of questions for me. If I do indeed have 1/2 military brass and 1/2 commercial brass, I assume I need to separate them into 2 different lots because of the difference in case capacity? And, if they were sold to me as "Federal Gold Match" brass, then either I don't understand something (likely) or my seller was alittle less than honest (less likely)
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
--Duck911
(ps - I just about feel that it may just be best to start over with a known variable for my first batch of .223, so I'm debating selling this brass for what I paid for it just to get out from under it. Call me nervous, but this ismy FIRST ATTEMPT at reloading!)
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