Western Cartridge 223 brass questions

[notropis]

I recently picked up a new batch of 223 brass. After sizing and cleaning I typically pass them through a case gage (Wilson). Quite a few case heads stuck up as much as .005" beyond SAAMI spec. I tried to resize and this did solve the problem for some which made me believe operator error was the problem (I simply didn't complete the stroke). I'm using a Lee full length die which is inspected -clean.

My questions here are:
Is this normal?
Can this be corrected?
Am I doing something stupid?

I presume the brass is safe being only .005" out of spec but maybe I'm wrong. If .005" out of tolerance is okay, when do you become concerned with this caliber?

I next found better than %5 of the cases had quite a lot of extra brass in the primer pocket. I used a primer pocket reamer but since the extra brass is on one side, it appears I began creating an oval in the primer pocket (this can't be good).



My questions here are:
Is there a reason for this extra brass?
Is there a way to remove it without damaging the primer pocket?
Am I being way too fussy about brass condition?

I should add that I'm new to reloading and really appreciate this forum. I've been reading and have already learned a lot.

I gladly listen to any advice given and thanks for reading.

 

[torqem]

do you refer to the crimp that the military insists upon putting on all its primers? I always just clamped the drill in the vise, locked the trigger on the drill, and had a rotary file of the right size spinning in it. hold each case up to the spinning cutter, and the crimp will be quickly removed, like 2-3 seconds, at most. I found that this process left a small burr inside of the primer pocket, so I reached in there with my knife point and removed that. of course, this only needs to be done once, and only on military once fired brass.

 

[witchhunter]

Hopefully, it is your sizing die adjustment that is keeping your sized brass from fitting in a case gauge. If you cannot adjust it down enough to fit the case gauge, it is either the die or the gauge that is out of spec. Use a sharpie to mark the case and it will rub off where it is tight. As for the primer pockets, I use a Sinclair reamer, it takes all of that out and makes em all the same. Looks like you could have some bad brass though, I have never seen primer pockets that look that bad.

 

[KansasSasquatch]

Seeing as it's WCC brass, it could be very possible that it was fired in a belt fed machine gun. That could be why the brass isn't sizing properly...or you might just need to adjust your sizing die down a bit. As for the primer pockets, those do look pretty bad. But, apparently they accepted a primer at the factory and still fired. If there's not too many of those casings with messed up primer pockets I'd just inspect all of them and toss (recycle) the funky ones. No reason to risk having problems to save a few pieces of brass.

 

[notropis]

Well I feel pretty stupid right about now. I inked a few cases and sized them. While sizing I noticed if I held my head just right, I could see just about .005" of light gap between the shell holder and die. It took a seemingly unusual amount of force to complete the sizing on these cases and wound up cracking a 1" tabletop. It looks like I'll be holding my head "just right" a lot to make sure I get a complete stroke in the future.

 

[Reloadron]

Excellent job with the pictures. Looking at for example the middle case (Column 2 #2) & (Row 2 #2) I can't figure out how the primer was even in there. It looks like the foreign matter brass extends out to where the primer anvil should have been sitting. Just sort of weird. Never saw pockets that looked quite like that.

If you have a good stainless dental pic you could try and dig the brass out or is it sort of welded to the cases? If you are only looking at 10 or 12 cases I would just trash them and let it go at that.

Ron

 

[notropis]

Ron, I tried to remove the brass deformities but they would not budge. After reaming I could see the deformity is part of the case (when coining or drawing the brass at the factory?). I guess chips out of the die? I'm not exactly sure how this happens much less passes quality control.

 

[45lcshooter]

As this was being fired though a machine gun, the bolt was getting hot and when it would hit the primer, it would almost weld a piece of the primer to the case. if your saying its a little better than 5% of the cases you have, i would just scrap them, because if those little brass pieces wont move, no one will but them to use for any wild cartridges like 300Blackout, and such.

You might be able to sell them to some whos kids or grand kids make ammo art.

 

[Ifishsum]

That looks to me like there was a defect in the original manufacture, and I would toss those. I've processed a lot of various .223 brass and never seen anything that bad.....

 

[moxie]

1. I've never seen primer pockets like that. I wouldn't waste time time on them other than to call Winchester and see if they are interested in the problem. This obviously isn't "new" brass as the crimp rings are there, but Winchester will probably want you send it in.

2. RE 45lcshooter post #7, what machine gun would have been firing .223 and has a bolt that behaves as you have described?

 

[notropis]

I should have mentioned in my last post - This came from a friend and local law enforcement. This was qualification brass and they don't yet have machine guns

I'm not sure where they source qualification ammunition to be honest.

I put all these cases aside and for curiosity sake, I'll see how some of the better reamed pieces accept a primer when I'm bored.

 

[Rangemaster]

I do all my primer pockets with a RCBS primer pocket uniformer.

 

[aklaunch]

IMO reloading is to time consuming to make marginal plinker rounds.

That being said.... I only load for superb accuracy.

If i was going for accuracy, cases like that would be recycled.

Primers and powder are hard to come by some months but brass is easy.

 

[788Ham]

Not on my bench, I'd throw 'em in the dumper! Why fool with something like that? I wouldn't spend the time, YMMV

 

[gamestalker]

I've run across a few that looked similar to that. I can only assume it's a very unusual, not to mention rare anomaly. I would load them personally, there is just no reason to mess around with brass in that condition.

Who knows, there may be a more serious, yet invisible flaw?

GS