223 brass is trimmed to short??

StevenF

New member
I just received a lot of military brass from an acquaintence for reloading and upon initial inspection I noted that it appears to have been trimmed with some kind of power trimmer and the necks look a little short. At least it doesn't look the same as my brass does from my Lyman manual trimmer.

So I took some measurements and it is all over the place. I got measurements from 1.720 to 1.745. My Lyman guide says trim-to-length is 1.750. I can verify with certainty that this is once fired brass, it has military headstamps and has been deprimed, sized and trimmed. Primer pocket crimp has also been removed.

My question is: Is this brass ok to reload? or is it just scrap in the bucket. I have reloaded brass that I have trimmed short before with no trouble at all, but I only trimmed it short by a few thousandths (not .020 or .030 over). I really hate to throw it all out but I will if it would be unsafe. Thanks for any input.
 
In my opinion, if it has enough length to hold the bullet securely, it's not going to be "unsafe" to use. It might not be the most accurate, but I can't imagine how it could hurt anything. The .223 doesn't headspace on the neck like a .45 ACP.
1.720 is getting awfully short, though. If you use them, pick a 1.720 and make sure you can't unseat the bullet with your fingers and that they won't push back into the case with reasonable pressure. I think that's your biggest concern. Wait for a couple more opinions, just in case anyone has a horror story of short cases. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Your accuracy will probably stink until the brass flows to lengthen the neck, and that may take a few re-loadings to do, but they should be safe if the bullet seats. You might try annealing them, the brass should flow better that way.

On the other hand, .223 brass is cheap, so why suffer through 3 or 4 inaccurate reloads.
 
A lot of sources recommend trimming to 1.740, and I've shot a few trimmed to 1.735, some of those you have are pretty short, I would probably discard anything below 1.730, just my thought.
 
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A lot of sources recommend trimming to 1.740, and I've shot a few trimmed to 1.735, some of those you have are pretty short, I would probably discard anything below 1.730, just my thought.



Good advice.

Martyn
 
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A lot of sources recommend trimming to 1.740, and I've shot a few trimmed to 1.735, some of those you have are pretty short, I would probably discard anything below 1.730, just my thought.



Good advice. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif

Martyn

 
Thanks guys. I was hoping to be able to use atleast some of it. I think I'll separate it into lots first, deburr and run through my sizing die and go from there.
 
You didn't state what bullet you would be reloading in the suppossed short brass, but if it's a short 35 or 40 grainer, they may not give enough grip to be an accurate load as was stated earliet. However, if your loadiing a 60 gr or even a 68 69 gr projectile, by all means use them. Take a look at a 69 gr bullet loaded to factory specs and see how far into the powder chamber it goes. You will have a little less hold on the longer bullets ,but they are about bearing surface more so than holding pressure in the case. I've had excellent results with short cases and 69 Sierra bthp's in my 1-9 mini 14..
If you don't want the brass, e-mail me and I'll pay the freight to my location.
They can also be formed to fit a 222 221 17 machIV 20 VT, so don't throw that good mil brass cause it's to short for you. Recycle /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif
Later
DF2
 
I intentionally trim my .223 brass .010 shorter than book minimum. I've experienced no problems with this practice, and when done in conjunction with neck-sizing only, it pretty much eliminates further re-trimming.

Mike
 
I'll be using 55 grain spire point bullets from hornady and a case full of Hodgdon Varget for the powder. I know there are better powders but I have this on hand and I used it before with my previous Bushmaster and it was a nice combo. Don't know why but I kinda like to use a powder that fills the case just short of a compressed load. Varget with military cases, I'm hoping will give me just about that combo.

My gun is still on order for a while though so right now I'm just wanting to work up some reduced loads for sight in and barrel break in and maybe some test loads. I'm getting ready right now to go drag it all out of the tumbler and measure/debur it all into lots so I can use the longest ones (in the 1.740 range) for my testing. Right now I'm thinking anything under 1.725 might get thrown into the recycle bucket.
 
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Don't know why but I kinda like to use a powder that fills the case just short of a compressed load.



Because it makes it obvious if you overcharge a case. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif

That's a safe practice, I try to find that combination myself whenever possible.
 
Droopy, I'll keep you in mind. I just finished separating them all and I have a whole bunch of cases in the 1.720 to 1.728 range. I'm going to try to load a couple and see how the bullet holds but if I can't make them work and you want them I will pm you. Midway says my bullets have been backordered for the second time now. They were supposed to be in stock yesterday but now it says Feb 12. So it might be a couple of weeks before I know where I'm at with it.
 
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