Q regarding FC Military 556 brass

[C5M1]

Just purchased a thousand 556 once fired military cases. Was expecting a mix of LC, WCC and FC. 99 percent are FC. Just wondering if the military FC cases are as soft as their civilian stuff? Have had bad luck with Federal primer pockets stretching in the past, but never used their 556. Is the stretching problem as bad in their military brass? Wouldn't think so but not sure.

Any one have experience with this brass?



regards, dennis

[joem]

I've reloaded FC, LC,WCC and others. I have not had any problems with softer than normal brass. As far as primer pockets getting loose, I switched to CCI primers which seem to set tighter in the pockets.

[C5M1]

Thanks joem; Have loaded many thou of LC and WCC without problems but the FC is new to me. Might have to switch from Winchester primers, The last case is about gone. Thanks for the reply; Feeling a little easier about the purchase.


regards, dennis

[Hefights]

There is not the plethora of negative reports on 5.56 mil spec brass on the internet that there is on commercial brass. As Parashooter says on another thread herein (Federal .30-06 Brass), problems with the commercial .223 brass are well documented. Thus I would proceed with caution but not feel too bad.

[Jim in Salt Lake]

I would recommend you measure your chamber with a "Mo" gauge (Mastercraft Sports, 203-775-1013, Mo Defina) and size your cases a couple thousandths smaller. Reducing the stretch will make your brass last longer.

[C5M1]

Use the brass in several auto loaders which leaves me no choice but to full length size. Thanx anyway.


regards, dennis

[da gimp]

my Dillon 550B loves CCI primers & dislikes Winchesters............ so I reserve those for use in our old Rockchucker...........We picked up some Federal small pistol & some large pistol primers about a year or so ago when our supplies of CCI was getting rapidly diminished , but haven't used any of them so far............

[Jim in Salt Lake]

Use the brass in several auto loaders which leaves me no choice but to full length size. Thanx anyway.

We have 3 ARs in the house, Rock River NM, White Oak Armaments, and a generic gun show special. We measured the chambers of all three using fired cases and the Mo gauge. The chambers measured .004 over SAMMI for the Rock River, .003 for the White Oak, and .007 over for the gun show AR. I set my size die to resize to .001 over SAAMI and load for all three with no problems. We had problems case head separations with LC brass after only 3 firings. When I got the Mo gauge, I measured cases I had sized and they were sized .011 under SAAMI. The brass was getting overworked and failing prematurely. We haven't had the problem since. On your original question about loose primer pockets, I haven't had those issues with Lake City brass but I have had, like you, that issue with Federal commercial brass.