Reloading 223/5.56mm Question

[Fire4Effect]

I have reloaded 308, 50BMG and various pistol calibers, but I have never reloaded for 223/5.56mm. I have a set of Dillon .223 reloading dies (carbide FL resize) I purchased about 25 plus years ago and never used. I have been going through my 223/5.56mm brass shot over the years and have been running it through a Dillon virbatory cleaner. I have the following once fired brass and I was wondering which brass would be better for reloading. I like to shoot for accuracy, not volume.

Thanks

.223 Remington (no crimp)
.223 Winchester (no crimp)
5.56mm Canadian IVI 85 (crimped) (NATO Stamped)
5.56mm TZZ (crimped) (NATO stamped)
5.56mm Winchester (crimped) (NATO stamped)
5.56mm Radway Green (crimped) (NATO stamped)
5.56mm Winchester White Box (crimped)

[kcstott]

I have reloaded 308, 50BMG and various pistol calibers, but I have never reloaded for 223/5.56mm. I have a set of Dillon .223 reloading dies (carbide FL resize) I purchased about 25 plus years ago and never used. I have been going through my 223/5.56mm brass shot over the years and have been running it through a Dillon virbatory cleaner. I have the following once fired brass and I was wondering which brass would be better for reloading. I like to shoot for accuracy, not volume.

Thanks

.223 Remington (no crimp)
.223 Winchester (no crimp)
5.56mm Canadian IVI 85 (crimped) (NATO Stamped)
5.56mm TZZ (crimped) (NATO stamped)
5.56mm Winchester (crimped) (NATO stamped)
5.56mm Radway Green (crimped) (NATO stamped)
5.56mm Winchester White Box (crimped)

[Fire4Effect]

OK, so you are saying all the military brass is not worth reloading for my purposes. I can sell it.

I do have 1,000 new Remington223 cases I picked up about 25 years ago. I will start with these. Is the Remington brass the equal of the Hornady brass? I am not shooting in competition. I just enjoy shooting accurate ammo.

[JackEllis]

Agreed.

If you care about the difference, then you're headed down a deep and potentially spendy rabbit hole.

There are some magazine articles floating around the ether that talk about the impact of using mixed headstamps. IIRC where there was an advantage using a single headstamp at any typical shooting distance for .223, it was pretty negligible.

[stevec223]

Military brass definitely worth keeping and reloading... If you have 1k Rem cases use those for your premium loads... Your Win commercial brass will probably like your premium load too... Sort your mil brass by brand and find a practice load... I have had great luck loading mil brass into premium loads... Have fun and be safe ...
Cheers...

[kcstott]

OK, so you are saying all the military brass is not worth reloading for my purposes. I can sell it.

I do have 1,000 new Remington223 cases I picked up about 25 years ago. I will start with these. Is the Remington brass the equal of the Hornady brass? I am not shooting in competition. I just enjoy shooting accurate ammo.

I didn’t say that.
What I said was take all your Winchester marked brass and throw it in the same bag box tray as the Remington and treat it as the same stuff. Even the nato stamped Winchester.
The rest keep but work up loads in individual batches as military brass can be thicker and that will send a close to max load over the top.

People think about this crap too much. The first rifle round I started reloading for was the 5.56 .223 Rem mixed head stamp range trash pick up brass, a can of 4895 and some 62 gr SMK’s I adjusted the load till I got the velocity I wanted and stopped. No ladder test. No pressure node, no nothing. The loads worked, they worked well enough for me 25 years ago.

[capo602002]

If your rifle has a barrel with a Wylde chamber - verify that the resized brass actually chambers in it. A Wylde chamber barrel can require a small base sizing die.
Found this out the hard way!

[smoothy8500]

IIRC where there was an advantage using a single headstamp at any typical shooting distance for .223, it was pretty negligible.

That is the predominant view in NRA Highpower circles, even with their 600yd slow-fire ammunition. My experiment with single headstamp vs mixed brass came to the same conclusion.

[Fire4Effect]

If your rifle has a barrel with a Wylde chamber - verify that the resized brass actually chambers in it. A Wylde chamber barrel can require a small base sizing die.
Found this out the hard way!

I don't believe any of my rifles would have come with a Wylde chamber unless it was special ordered. Thanks.

[kcstott]

I don't believe any of my rifles would have come with a Wylde chamber unless it was special ordered. Thanks.

you'd be surprised. but in any event. Wylde chambers are becoming more common place.

[17+1]

[Fire4Effect]

That is the predominant view in NRA Highpower circles, even with their 600yd slow-fire ammunition. My experiment with single headstamp vs mixed brass came to the same conclusion.

Well, all my once fired brass is now sorted by manufacturer. I think I will stick with with the new Remington brass and sell the other brass. I don't shoot large quantities of ammo so I don't need so much brass. I see I purchased the following bullets decades ago and try these out to get started.

Sierra 52 gr HPBT MatchKing ( I will shoot these from the 1:9 barrels)
Speer 62 gr FMJ Boat Tail ( I will shoot these from the 1:7 barrels)
Sierra 69 gr HPBT MatchKing ( I will shoot these from the 1:7 barrels)

I also have Winchester 748 powder and CCI and Winchester small rifle primers. I think I am good to go as soon as I have some time to reload.

Thanks everyone.

[Fire4Effect]

you'd be surprised. but in any event. Wylde chambers are becoming more common place.

Most of my rifles are close to 30 years old. I do have a LMT and a Daniel Defense rifle that were manufactured about 4 years ago.

[Ki6vsm]

If your rifle has a barrel with a Wylde chamber - verify that the resized brass actually chambers in it. A Wylde chamber barrel can require a small base sizing die.
Found this out the hard way!

I've never heard this. I thought the Wilde modification is only around the throat and wouldn't affect the case. FWIW, I've fired plenty of ammo through my Wylde chambered uppers, with cases resized using a plane jane Lee FL die.

[17+1]

I've never heard this. I thought the Wilde modification is only around the throat and wouldn't affect the case. FWIW, I've fired plenty of ammo through my Wylde chambered uppers, with cases resized using a plane jane Lee FL die.

I remember my gunsmith saying Wylde was originally a reamer called 5.56 target, which like you said was a modification to the throat with the back end of the reamer the same so the rifle maintains its reliability while enhancing accuracy potential.

I also use a standard Lee FL and fire through 5.56 NATO and Wylde chamber rifles and never had an issue.

If you need small base the dies are probably set up wrong or something is slightly out of spec somewhere. I feed 10+ rifles with standard FL dies and never have problems.