223 or 5.56

[wylie won]

I think I may have made a mistake. So, I was loading some 69 grain match bullets for the weekend to run in my AR. I went through the process of case preparation. By the way, I HATE case trimming. It's a real pain in the butt. I was very careful with ALL my measurements.

As I was shooting and inspecting the brass after each shot, I realized that my brass was a mixture of 5.56 and 223. Would or can that make a difference in my accuracy results?

 

[muddocktor]

My personal results with 5.56 and 223 cases is that there is minimal difference, if any, between the 2. I don't bother separating them myself.

BTW, I bought myself a Little Crow Gunworks WFT in 5.56/223 for trimming the cases and it makes short work of the case trimming operation. To me, it was worth the expense of buying a dedicated case trimmer for 223, since it takes a lot of the pain of trimming the many cases to a lower level.

 

[Twoboxer]

Mixed brass of any kind are unlikely to shoot with the same precision that a single headstamp/batchnumber can provide.

The fact that some of your mix are 223 and some are 556 does not, on its own, contribute to the problem. Depending on the haedstamps, a piece of 556 and one of 223 brass could be more similar than two different 223 headstamps.

 

[bigedp51]

Below is a .223/5.56 case weight and capacity chart from a minimum of 28.0 to 30.6 of case capacity of H2O. Using Quickload the difference in chamber pressure with the same powder charge between these cases is 6,000 psi. Using 25 grains of H335 and 28.0 to 30.6 case capacity.

"BUT" the average American made .223/5.56 cases are very close in case capacity. Meaning the chamber pressure with mixed brass should not vary as much as above.

Bottom line many reloaders use mixed brass for "blasting ammo" without any ill effects when not loading at max pressures. The main deference between .223 cases and military 5.56 cases is the 5.56 cases are made of harder brass in the base.

To keep things simple and uniformity I buy processed once fired Lake City brass for my AR15s and bolt action Savage .223 rifles.

.223/5.56 - Cleaned, Deprimed & Swaged - LC Only - 500 Pieces $54.00
.223/5.56 Cleaned, Deprimed & Swaged Lake City Brass 500 Pieces

 

[Steve K]

It depends upon the accuracy you are expecting as to the use of brass. I shot High Power and expect the most accurate results. Therefore I use the same type of brass, LC. However, in my plinking and practice rounds I use LC brass shot 4 or more times. I also have commercial brass I use in bolt action rifles with excellent results.

 

[MichiganScott]

I use RCBS X-Dies for as much of my reloading as I can. With them you only trim once and forget.

Like Steve K., I shoot for accuracy so I separate all brass by headstamp, including by year for LC. I recycle all brass shot in semi-autos when it gets chewed up, usually after the fifth or sixth loading.

 

[mikld]

FWIW; accuracy comes from consistency, consistency is started with case inspection...

 

[hdwhit]

wylie won wrote:
...mixture of 5.56 and 223. Would or can that make a difference in my accuracy results?

It depends?

Are you trying for precision shooting over long distance? If so, yes.

If you are shooting out of a 16 inch barrel AR at targets 200 yards or less, then there are so many other things that will impact your accuracy beyond the difference between the cases that the cases become all but irrelevant.

Accuracy in shooting is dependent upon the capabilities of the gun as well as the capabilities of the shooter. Of the two, YOU are - by far - the variable least likely to be able to achieve consistency.

I suggest that until you can achieve 1) a consistent hold, 2) cheek weld, 3) sight picture, 4) trigger pull, and 5) follow-through on each of your shots, don't look to the rifle as a source of variability.

 

[otisrush]

To sort of add on to what hdwhit said....I'll offer my perspective and experience.

I shoot almost all mixed headstamp out of my Sport I. (I almost said mixed headstamp .223 - but it's a mixture of .223 and 5.56.)

Generally I don't worry about the fact they're mixed.....until I get to the point where I want to see if I can get better results than I am getting. Another way to say that: I don't worry about it until I've convinced myself I can't try anything else different to see if I could get better results.

A year or two ago I think I went through an exercise where I separated brass to see if results would be significantly different. The key word there is "significantly" - which depends entirely on what is trying to be accomplished. I don't think I even documented the results.

If reducing another 1/4 MOA is desired then separating brass might do the trick. I've found I generally shoot in two modes:
1. FMJ steel plate plinking. I'm just pulling the trigger to have fun. In totality it's a very expensive remote bell ringer.
2. "More serious" reload/shooting skill assessment. In this mode I'm using match grade bullets and I'm practicing my reloading and shooting techniques and skills....maybe looking for ways I need to improve.

Neither of those cause me to go through the trouble of separating brass. It's just not worth the effort and headache. There are clearly shooting situations where that IS worth it. But for me it hasn't even occurred to me to try it again, as my current methods are giving me results that are good enough for me.

(This is, in contrast, to my .243 bolt action that has an 8 oz trigger. For that gun I do sort and keep consistent my brass. 1/4 MOA - or whatever - is a much bigger deal to me on that platform as compared to my AR.)

OR

 

[wylie won]

Accuracy in shooting is dependent upon the capabilities of the gun as well as the capabilities of the shooter. Of the two, YOU are - by far - the variable least likely to be able to achieve consistency.

Agreed! However, I'm not new to shooting, but I am new to reloading. I'm a pretty decent shot, but I can ALWAYS use practice on my mechanics. I'm just trying work up a load for a 69 grain match bullet for my 18" 1:8 twist match grade barrel. The first recipe I tried yielded about 1.5" groups at 100 yards. I'd like to shrink that about half an inch or more. It occurred to me (after I assembled them)that I used a mixture of 223 and 5.56 brass. I just didn't know if that would have an appreciable difference in accuracy.

Thank you all for sharing your information. Being new to reloading, I seem to have a lot of questions AFTER THE FACT.

Next batch I will increase the powder to the next level and use all Hornady 223 brass. Let's see what happens...

 

[Kodiakco]

Here's a good article on 5.56 vs .223 Remington

https://www.luckygunner.com/labs/5-56-vs-223/

Sent from my SM-T377V using Tapatalk

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

I you and your rifle are up to it, then brass makes a difference. In a wildcat bolt gun chambered for 6x284, I went to all the trouble to make 10 brass from Winchester, Norma, and Lapua brass. I found a good powder/primer/bullet combo and was trying the same load in the three different types of brass. Norma and Lapua, both shot 1/8" groups at 100 yards. The Winchester was 1 1/4" with same everything!

Don't use this example to discount all Winchester brass (that and LC are my "Go To" 223. Even better than Lapua!!!) Just don't get married to a single brand for everything!

A few years ago LC had several million 5.56 brass over run and was sold off. My 1000 yard load uses Virgin LC 5.56 and Varget and 75 A-Max and 7 1/2 primer. I have gotten 3" at 1000, and 5" are common place! (Bolt gun only load!)

My everyday AR load (most of my components are no longer available!) is with mixed 5.56 brass. Out of my AR it is 1/4 to 3/8 MOA, out of bolt gun <1/8 to <1/4 MOA. The secret is good powder/primer compatibility, this is WW748 and CCI primers (no longer made to this spec.) The only way to find the good combos is to research and experiment! (if you can use a load using Rem 7 1/2, CCI BR-4 or Federal 205M, they are the best out there now, but may not be hot enough to get your needed velocity!)

In 1998 the EPA outlawed all primer compounds containing ANY lead, this did away with all the great primers. I still find full bricks of the primers, but the primer shortages forced people to use up their reserves, so no 5000 cases have been seen since before 2005. (my good load used a CCI Small Rifle Mag primer from the early 80's that I had several cases of. I have less than 2 bricks left.) When you find something that works well, buy lots of it because: 1) the price is only going up & 2) they may quit making it!

Ivan

 

[DwayneV]

Mixed brass will work well for most purposes out to 300 yd. This past Saturday I shot a 200 yd. rapid fire service rifle score of 198-9X with match bullets, metered ball powder and mixed brass. Those two shots in the nine-ring were all me.

 

[WR Moore]

The greatest impact on accuracy is the shooter. Having said that, I've noticed that Federal commercial and Lake City brass have essentially the same capacity. I've managed to get less than MOA with mixed brass with no issues in .223/5.56.

One thing I did note make a notable difference was using Remington 7 1/2 bench rest primers. OK, it was a 1/4 inch tighter group at 200 yards, but I've noticed much more uniform velocities when doing load development too.

 

[H Richard]

When I build my Prairie Dog ammo (22-250) I need very accurate ammo as shots are often in the 500 yard + range. I always start with new Winchester brass, re-size, trim, de-burr flash hole, ream primer pocket, before I load. Normally I don't turn the case necks, but have found some lots of brass that needed that also. I expect groups between 1/4" and 1/2" at 100 yards.