Opinions on range pickup brass .223 with picture

[3d deader]

Annealing appears severe. Picked up after laying on ground for less than 2 weeks.
I assume this is manufactured from factory looking like this?
Did someone anneal this case in their garage?

Head stamp

 

[MichiganScott]

New to .223 are you? Federal runs the Lake City arsenal and loads at least the cheaper .223 at the arsenal. All brass is annealed and the annealing is left on military brass because removing it adds additional costs to the process. I can't tell from your photo, but there is probably a date on the head stamp.

 

[fredj338]

JMO, I have never seen factory brass annealed like that. Could be, I just haven't seen it. While it is diff to tell how many times a case has been fired, it is easier to tell once fired from fired 10x. A lot of glare on that pic but that case doesn't look like it was fired enough to need annealing by the reloader. Brass is cheap though, so if I suspect it, it gets tossed.

 

[GB]

Looks a little darker than normal but the primer looks to be crimped in, so I think it is once fired. Probably American Eagle by Federal. Annealing is a mechanical application of heat to effect a molecular change in the metallurgy of the brass alloy used in cartridge brass(but you know that) and done on a mass scale by people who don't always have their eye on the ball. Stuff happens!

If you are not comfortable reloading that case, then don't. Just scrap it and be done with it. There are several hundred billion replacements out there and your sample case is a good example of why we inspect cases before processing. A few years ago, I would have reloaded that case and never thought about it again. Now days, I have more brass that I will ever use up, so I would probably pass and drop it in the bucket. Just my thought and thanks for the picture.. GB

 

[lrrifleman]

Your cartridge case should be fine to reload, but you will have to do some extra work preparing it. What you have is once fired military cartridge case. Do not use a regular sizing die to deprime. I would suggest a Lee depriming tool and hammer. Once you deprime the case, you need to remove the crimp or you will crush primers when you try to reprime the cases. The crimp can be removed either by a primer pocket reamer (potentially expensive) or via a primer pocket swaging tool (easier and less expensive). Once the crimp has been removed, load it like any other case. However, I would segregate the military cases, and keep them separate ... develop your reload for the military cases, don't just use the load you use for commercial cases, the military cases could generate higher chamber pressure.

 

[3d deader]

Thanks for everyone's info.

 

[jgh4445]

Wolf Gold looks lot like that too. Heavy annealing marks.

 

[jake1945]

Toss it! 223 brass is very plentiful especially after a cop shoot at the local range. Heck, they'll even help pick up their brass for you. All their 223 brass is military with crimped primers. Their 40 S&W brass seems to be all commercial with no primer crimp. Each year I pick up at least a 5 gallon bucket of range brass. Some I use, the rest I take to our scrap yard and average $35-50 per bucket full. Helps pay for my hobby.