Henry Rifle Forums

Is .223 Remington a difficult cartridge to reload? My experience is limited to mostly larger cases such as .30-30 Winchester.

I have accumulated a supply of brass cases, mostly all Hornady, and I may start to reload because of expenses.

Can brass 5.56 NATO be treated the same as brass .223 Rem. cases for the purposes of reloading? I understand that 5.56 NATO brass may be, or is, thicker than .223 Rem and this may affect pressures. Is that true?

My interest in reloading .223 Rem, grows larger as my supply of russian steel-case .223 Rem. grows smaller. I will never buy russian ammo, steel case or brass case, again.

it is much like the 30-30, just on a smaller scale.
I've never really experienced much,to any difference in the two.
But I don't hot rod mine either. Don't shoot them as much as I once did.
And the factory stuff was fairly cheap to shoot until recently, but I do have plenty of components.
In fact there is two coffee cans with around 6-700 rds. between 'em, that have been sized and primed for a number of yrs. now.
They may just get filled & topped off this winter.

RP

HenryFan wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 29, 2023 7:43 pm

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Can brass 5.56 NATO be treated the same as brass .223 Rem. cases for the purposes of reloading?
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Yes except for the primer pocket. The primer pocket in 5.56 has a crimp ring that must be removed with a primer pocket reamer before inserting a new primer. I keep once fired 5.56 brass separate until the pocket has been reamed.

Mags - Thank You

Mags wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 29, 2023 11:14 pm

HenryFan wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 29, 2023 7:43 pm

...
Can brass 5.56 NATO be treated the same as brass .223 Rem. cases for the purposes of reloading?
...

Yes except for the primer pocket. The primer pocket in 5.56 has a crimp ring that must be removed with a primer pocket reamer before inserting a new primer. I keep once fired 5.56 brass separate until the pocket has been reamed.

Yeah, I guess I forgot about that, like I said it's been a couple years since I've loaded any of those.

RP

Loading is fairly simple if you're already loading another rifle cartridge. If you are loading for a gas gun, or anything other than a bolt action, then full length resizing is a good idea. For a bolt, you can neck size and bump back the shoulder every few firings, or just full length size and keep it simple. When selecting your bullet, make sure it'll stabilize in the barrel that you plan to shoot it from. the 55 grain and under bullets will work in almost any barrel, but heavier bullets need faster twist barrels. You can get barrel twists with anything from 1 in 6.5, to 1 in 14 on a .223, so make sure you know what your looking to have that ammo do for you, then load accordingly.
The previously mentioned primer pockets with the crimp can be addressed with a chamfer tool, but I've also used the RCBS primer pocket swage. I've found that it's a bigger deal for military 30-06 cases than for 5.56, but I could have been lucky.
I've also not been much of a hot-rodder for my loads, but I've shot some warmer stuff on occasion. Thicker brass, as you mention it, is a concern if you're loading on the high side for pressures. A load that works fine in cases that weigh less may be over pressured in thicker heavier cases due to the reduced volume of those cases. You can segregate your cases to avoid that, or just not venture up to those hot rod loads.

If you've been shooting the steel case ammo, then finding an economical replacement that equals or exceeds the performance of that steel case ammo should be fairly easy.

The above comments are valuable and are appreciated.

Even if steel case ammo would still be readily available in the future, I would not buy more because I do not find it to be accurate like quality brass case domestic ammo.

All good info above that I agree with 100%. I have loaded lots of .223 for both bolt and gas guns and follow all the above advice mentioned. Only item I will add is if you are loading for a gas gun like an AR it is recommended to use the military small rifle primer such as the CCI #0041. These primers are a bit harder which helps with the floating firing pin that can cause a slam fire. If you shoot an AR you will notice that an unloaded live round from the chamber after a previous shot has been fired will probably have a slight firing pin mark on it. With a softer primer this could lead to that cartridge firing thus a slam fire. Having said this, lots of people use standard small rifle primers with AR loadings just fine. But I like to error on the side of caution.

I'm basically cheap when it come to ammo. so I reload everything. I've been reloading 223/5.56 since the mid 80"s and continue to do so. Follow the advice from Vaquero and Mags and you can't go wrong. Like Randy, I don't load to the max so I never worry about smaller case volume in NATO brass. I just like to keep my expenses down so I can shoot more.

Paul