223 Range Pickups...Would You?

[DRAGON64]

I am looking at getting a bolt rifle in 223. I have no stock on any 223 components. I have some CCI #34 primers that an individual needs, and he is willing to trade me with some small rifle primers and some 223 cases. When I asked about the history of the cases (i.e. how many firings), he said he did not know, that the cases are various range pickups he has acquired over the last two years.

Would you trade for range pick ups?

Questions cross my mind such as: Are they discared by non-reloaders, or are they on their tenth and last reload, thus discarded? I am new to reloading, and I am trying to keep unknowns in check, lest they become a safety concerns.

I have not laid eyes the cases yet; only viewed in an image, which I have attached.

 

[Temp9]

I would pass on the brass. Rifle brass that is past its case life is dangerous to fire. The only time I shoot range pickup brass is if the primers are still crimped in (meaning once fired).

 

[DRAGON64]

It is evident that some of the brass in the image has their primer removed... I emailed the guy and said no. He wants my primer pretty badly, so maybe a simple cash in hand trade is best.

 

[elfster1234]

I look for primer sealer on ranged picked brass.... If it has primer sealer then you are usually gtg

 

[427Cobra]

I use a ton of range pick up brass in my blasters(pistol and AR15), but not my bolt guns, 40 gets run threw a Lee Bulge Buster, and 223/556 gets sized with a small base die, 9 and 45 nothing special, as long as the primer goes in with some resistance it's GTG.

 

[BIPMaster]

I would keep the primers and look elsewhere for brass.

 

[bigedp51]

If you find brass with the primer still crimped it is once fired and OK to reload. BUT you can never find enough of the same headstamp to have uniform brass. I would order once fired military Lake City brass and use that only.

I have three five gallon buckets of once fired .223/5.56 brass I got when our local police and SWAT teams were practicing. It was approximately equal amounts of Remington, Lake City and Federal. Federal brass is noted for soft brass and oversized primer pockets after the first firing. And I had a lot of problems with the Federal brass and many people will not even reload their brass for this reason.

Again, buy bulk once fired Lake City brass and use any Lake City range pickup brass you find with the primers still crimped. "ANY" fired brass you find at the range with uncrimped primers is too big of an unknown to be worth reloading. You simply do not know how many times the brass has been fired.

I have two AR15 rifles and a bolt action .223 rifle, you want uniform brass to make quality reloads and mixed brass is only good for practice ammunition in the AR15 for 100 yards or less. With mixed brass you will have variations in internal case capacity and variations in brass thickness and annealing. All of which will effect accuracy and make your groups bigger.

If you don't mind a little Zombie humor, mixed brass makes it very hard to make accurate head shots and there's a good chance you will be bitten and end up dead meat.

And if you have been bitten your doomed.....................

 

[Thump_rrr]

If it's precision rifle brass you are looking for buy Lapua and be done with it.

Keep those # 34 primers unless you can replace them or no longer need them.

That being said I have no problem finding thousands of rounds of once fired .233 brass at our range.
It looks like the ground just belches the stuff up.

 

[BoilerUP]

I've used range pickup brass many times, in both bolt guns and gas guns.

Various head stamps...RP, LC, Fed, Win, S&B, etc.

I inspect the brass pretty closely, including aforementioned primer pockets, and if something is suspect it gets tossed. Generally, if it looks like a non-original primer, I let it lie.

"Once fired LC" works well...but I'd rather use range pickup brass than LC that was fired through a SAW.

 

[kansas]

Wish I could find a bunch of range pickup brass for free. I'm paying .06-.07 a round for brass. I don't shoot a .223 bolt gun but if I did I'd at least buy some new Winchester brass and use it only in the bolt gun but like Thump said buy Lapua and be done with it. I use mixed headstamp brass for my ar, which may be a mistake, but I look at it several times before and after loading it and it's for hoser stages in 3 gun matches where we are only shooting 30 yards or so and it works fine.
For my bolt precision rifle matches it's Lapua only. Easily pays for itself with the quality and number of reloadings I get.

 

[DRAGON64]

If you find brass with the primer still crimped it is once fired and OK to reload. BUT you can never find enough of the same headstamp to have uniform brass. I would order once fired military Lake City brass and use that only.

I have three five gallon buckets of once fired .223/5.56 brass I got when our local police and SWAT teams were practicing. It was approximately equal amounts of Remington, Lake City and Federal. Federal brass is noted for soft brass and oversized primer pockets after the first firing. And I had a lot of problems with the Federal brass and many people will not even reload their brass for this reason.

Again, buy bulk once fired Lake City brass and use any Lake City range pickup brass you find with the primers still crimped. "ANY" fired brass you find at the range with uncrimped primers is too big of an unknown to be worth reloading. You simply do not know how many times the brass has been fired.

I have two AR15 rifles and a bolt action .223 rifle, you want uniform brass to make quality reloads and mixed brass is only good for practice ammunition in the AR15 for 100 yards or less. With mixed brass you will have variations in internal case capacity and variations in brass thickness and annealing. All of which will effect accuracy and make your groups bigger.

If you don't mind a little Zombie humor, mixed brass makes it very hard to make accurate head shots and there's a good chance you will be bitten and end up dead meat.



And if you have been bitten your doomed.....................

I was under the impression that LC (556) brass was not good to use for bolt gun developement do to restrictions in case volume (thicker brass wall)... is this not the case entirely?

If it's precision rifle brass you are looking for buy Lapua and be done with it.

Keep those # 34 primers unless you can replace them or no longer need them.

That being said I have no problem finding thousands of rounds of once fired .233 brass at our range.
It looks like the ground just belches the stuff up.

I have sourced some Lapua brass on the order of $60 per 100 unprimed. This may be a course of action to take. I can get a 100 here and a 100 there as I progress.

I've used range pickup brass many times, in both bolt guns and gas guns.

Various head stamps...RP, LC, Fed, Win, S&B, etc.

I inspect the brass pretty closely, including aforementioned primer pockets, and if something is suspect it gets tossed. Generally, if it looks like a non-original primer, I let it lie.

"Once fired LC" works well...but I'd rather use range pickup brass than LC that was fired through a SAW.

I have asked the other party about what the head stamps are contained in the bags... still waiting to hear back. In the image I posted, there are cases with and without primers... Not knowing at what stage of rework these cases have seen, if any, is just a chance I'm not willing to take.

I am now asking myself about why I do not jus reload 308, and build a 308 precision rifle... I already have the cases, some bullets, and the #34 primers work great (in my other bolt guns), I just need the dies.

Wish I could find a bunch of range pickup brass for free. I'm paying .06-.07 a round for brass. I don't shoot a .223 bolt gun but if I did I'd at least buy some new Winchester brass and use it only in the bolt gun but like Thump said buy Lapua and be done with it. I use mixed headstamp brass for my ar, which may be a mistake, but I look at it several times before and after loading it and it's for hoser stages in 3 gun matches where we are only shooting 30 yards or so and it works fine.
For my bolt precision rifle matches it's Lapua only. Easily pays for itself with the quality and number of reloadings I get.

I have sourced both Winchester and Lapua brass through Champion's Choice... they are rather local to me, and I get excellent service from them... they also have plenty of bullets on hand.

 

[Thump_rrr]

I was under the impression that LC (556) brass was not good to use for bolt gun developement do to restrictions in case volume (thicker brass wall)... is this not the case entirely?



I have sourced some Lapua brass on the order of $60 per 100 unprimed. This may be a course of action to take. I can get a 100 here and a 100 there as I progress.

I am now asking myself about why I do not jus reload 308, and build a 308 precision rifle... I already have the cases, some bullets, and the #34 primers work great (in my other bolt guns), I just need the dies.



I have sourced both Winchester and Lapua brass through Champion's Choice... they are rather local to me, and I get excellent service from them... they also have plenty of bullets on hand.

I have nearly 1800 rounds through my .308 precision rifle and I only have gone through 200 Lapua cases stopping at 10 reloadings.
I just purchased a case annealer and will see how many more reloadings I can get out of them.

I am looking at going in the opposite direction to .223 to maybe reduce the cost.
I currently shoot about 2,000 rounds of .308 a year and that's all SMK's, BR-2 primers and Varget or IMR 4064 depending on the rifle.

You can save 30% on bullets, powder, and brass compared to .308.

 

[BoilerUP]

I was under the impression that LC (556) brass was not good to use for bolt gun developement do to restrictions in case volume (thicker brass wall)... is this not the case entirely?

LC brass works just fine in a 223 bolt gun.

7.62 LC brass has less capacity than 308 commercial brass, but 5.56 LC and 223 commercial are mostly similar.

For a precision bolt gun, Lapua is easiest but good results are possible with prepped LC too.

 

[JRM83]

I was under the impression that LC (556) brass was not good to use for bolt gun developement do to restrictions in case volume (thicker brass wall)... is this not the case entire.

This is true for 7.62 military brass. 5.56 has similar case capacity to commercial.

 

[bigedp51]

I was under the impression that LC (556) brass was not good to use for bolt gun developement do to restrictions in case volume (thicker brass wall)... is this not the case entirely?

Lake City 5.56 brass is made to higher quality standards than commercial brass. Military brass is made harder in the base to better withstand larger diameter and longer headspaced military chambers.

As you can see below Lake City brass has the most internal volume, and weighs less than any other case.

The Advantage to Lupua is there is less weight variations between cases and better consistency and accuracy.

The controversy to the above case weights is many people say there is no relation to case weight and internal volume.

If you want the utmost in accuracy and not have to do any case prep buy Lapua brass, BUT it cost more. Many competitive shooters do nothing to the Lupua brass and just load and shoot.

You can get by cheaper using Remington, Winchester or Lake City and sort your cases by weight and internal volume and doing a some case prep. I use my once fired sorted and prepped Remington cases in my Savage .223 with a 26 inch bull barrel and get very good acuracy. BUT sorting and weighing cases and prepping cases takes time so its your time and choice of brass.

I would NOT buy someone else's brass, you need volume and consistency when working with brass and a little of this and a little of that will cause too many variations and cost you in accuracy. Your always better off with brass from the same lot and work from there. The type of brass you have pictured is only good for blasting/practice ammo for a AR15 and not precision work in a bolt action.

Below is a very good link and the webpage at accurateshooter.com is a wealth of information. I have been reloading for over 46 years and learned more at this website and forum than anywhere else about making accurate ammunition.

223 Rem + 223 AI Cartridge Guide within AccurateShooter.com

 

[Shoots 700's]

I have used range brass for yearsbinnall my AR's. you just need to be careful

 

[DRAGON64]

The original deal is officially null. I am now considering 100ea of Lapua for $65 or 500ea of LC (2009) once fired for $65. Thanks for the links, info and recomendations on how I should handle this issue.

 

[Cornholeo]

Also Carolinabrass.net. He has Lake City 11 or 12 headstamp , your choice, for 150.00 swaged and stainless tumbled. I picked up some 300blk brass from him and he does good work.

I looked after posting the above and found good deals on unprocessed LC brass for 79.00 per 1k at Widener's. Is it very labor intensive to swage the unprocessed brass and if so would something like the RCBS kit do a good job?

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Range-pickup brass can be used for low precision applications (where policing your own brass is impractical, etc.), but sorting it and preparing it for use involves (sometimes a lot of) extra work. I have done a lot of that in the past, but these days, with better guns and a bit more economic resources, it just doesn't make good sense for me to do anymore. Stick with known sources of good quality brass with a known history. In my instance, I use PPU Match ammo to train my Grandkiddos, and reload it for actual Match usage.

I even reload TulAmmo Boxer Primed .223 Steel Cases, and would clearly prefer that to using pickup brass with an unknown history; the reloaded TulAmmo Steel cases actually work pretty well, and if I lose some, it's a lot less disturbing.

Greg