Quick question. 223 brass

Eagle Eye · Apr 13, 2019

I bought once fired brass, deprimed, and cleaned. All of the brass has a ring on the shoulder. Looks like it stems from the depriming process. The ring is not removed after FL resizing. I imagine it will be removed in the chamber once the round is fired. Question is, is it safe to fire?

Case in left has the ring, case on right does not.
Yes, case on left needs deburred.

NightShade · Apr 13, 2019

As long as the ring isn't a deep indention it should be safe to fire but if you see it separating when it comes out of the chamber or large amounts of stretch in that area I would discontinue. The best thing I can think of is run a thumbnail across it at a right angle to that section and see if it catches. If it does I would send it back/chuck it. If not it should be ok.

It could be just some powder or crud built up or due to a flawed die. However I would guess that it does shorten the life of the brass unless it's just a surface scuff. If that is the way I received it from someplace I probably wouldn't be buying any more though.

dennishoddy · Apr 13, 2019

I can't say I've ever seen a ring like that on the shoulder of any bottleneck cartridge I've loaded since the 80's. It could be from a universal deprimer die set too low, or possibly a seating die that is hitting the shoulder before completely seating the bullet. I don't have any definite experience with that issue so without trying to duplicate it, that opinion is just speculation.
I have seen some brass in our scrap brass containers at the range that have been separated in that area though.
I'd be leery of shooting it. If you do want to try it, I'd anneal it first, and wouldn't load more than a few for testing.
How many rounds did you buy? Mixed brand range pickup stuff in .223 or is it military surplus machine gun in 5.56?

Shadowrider · Apr 13, 2019

I've never seen a resizing die leave a ring like that either. Are you using a trimmer that indexes on the shoulder like a Possum Hollow?

Eagle Eye · Apr 14, 2019

This was a bag of 500, all same headstamp LC 14. Every single piece has this ring. Ive never fired any of them, and i wont. They are all in the trash now. I am trying to figure out where I got the brass, without success. Thanks for the advice.

Reloading Rod · Apr 14, 2019

Use it for 300 blackout brass

indi · Apr 14, 2019

My fl sizing die was leaving a ring similar to that on the first 223 rounds that I deprimed and sized. After loading those rounds up I loaded em in a magazine to cycle em through my ar15 and they were very hard to extract. Figured out I didn’t set my fl die correctly, it was not setting the shoulder back at all. I got a headspace comparator and corrected the headspace issue, now the ring is lower on the shoulder. The ring wipes off(at least the ones I encountered did), I think it’s from dirt and lube from the reloading process. I can’t tell but is your ring actually shaped/ indented into the brass?

indi · Apr 14, 2019

I get this ring after checking headspace with my comparator. Left pic is the after pic. Right pic is before.

Reloading Rod · Apr 14, 2019

I'm thinking it is a trimmer that is leaving the mark like Shadowrider said. I've got a trimmer that indexes at the very top of the shoulder, and running a piece of dirty brass through it left a small ring, in my case it is caused by the brass spinning when it touches the cutting bit. If the brass is retrievable check inside for bits of brass, to me it looks like they sized and cleaned it and then trimmed it and that is why it has the ring. Does it wipe off? or can you feel a groove? As I stated above it could be made in to 300 blackout brass.

Reloading Rod · Apr 14, 2019

indi said:
View attachment 135314 View attachment 135313 I get this ring after checking headspace with my comparator. Left pic is the after pic. Right pic is before.

Looks like we might have a bingo..

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