reloading .223 FC brass

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backy33

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Has anyone had trouble priming this brass in a .223 caliber when reloading? I cannot get winchester or cci primer to seat. Every other type of brass i have no trouble with. Do i have to do something extra here??
 
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It's possible that you have brass with a crimped primer.

If you look at the primer pocket, do you see a ring around the outside, or 3 little notches spread around the pocket? If the brass has a crimp, you can remove it with your chamfering tool, or there are several tools on the market specifically to do this job.
 
RCBS makes a swagging die that is really easy to use and it presses the crimp ring out of the way..you may still have a slight problem getting some primers to seat, but it sure makes it easier to deal with a lot of that brass...

Back when things were really heating up in the Middle East, Federal started crimping all of their .223 brass on a cost cutting basis and I have some civilian commercial rounds (about 1,000) that have it as well as the military ones..

I think there is also a crimp cutting tool that will actually cut the crimp out that works on the RCBS prep station, but I haven't bought it for mine...probably should..

If you only have a few cases like that, your deburring tool will cut them out by hand...
 
If it's federal american eagle brass then it's crimped. I'm not sure about the other federal brass but I do know for a fact the american eagle is crimped.
 
I've had the same problem with federal brass. All of it had a blue ring around the primer. It's like they used a primer that was a couple thousands smaller than normal. It's doesn't seem to have a crimp, or if it does, it's not like a military crimp. I took a RCBS primer pocket uniformer and opened them up and they were still hard to prime. Next I took a deburring tool and beveled the the edge just a bit. Bingo, slick as glass.
 
Originally Posted By: boone3380Some how I got alot of the Federal .308 brass with the blue ring and it's even worse than the .223 brass.

The "Blue ring" is just a primer sealant. Basically watered down nail polish.

Pretty much all FC 223 brass is crimped these days. Even many of the commercial hunting loads. It is simply comes down to the fact that so many rounds are being loaded on .gov contracts. Make all the brass uniform, prime, and crimp it all the same, then see what load is in need at that time. Might be gov/LE might be commercial.
 


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