Brass too short?

Hi guys, just a couple of questions regarding some once fired brass that I picked up at the gun show Saturday. I bought 200 223 for $12.00. About 100 of these are Federal, at least I think they are. Head stamped F C 223 Rem. I tumbled the whole lot and FL resized them. I set up the trimmer and most of the Fed brass was shorter already than the trim to length, some were even .010 shorter. There was no sign of them being trimmed before, as the edges of the case mouth were rough like factory brass, they had not been worked on with a deburring tool. Anyway, do you think it's alright to load and shoot these, or should I cut my losses and recycle them? There was also 50 nice Remington brass and 40 LC and 10 mixed up. If the LC brass head stamp is just LC on top and the year on the bottom, so how do you know if it's 223 rem or NATO brass? I never used to buy once fired brass, but times are tough. Many thanks for any replies.

Irv

not to worry they will grow as you use them

drybean

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bad Irv

so how do you know if it's 223 rem or NATO brass?

Irv

---

Military brass will have the letters and 2 digit year on it and commercial brass will say 223 rem.

Thanks for the info fellas. I've been reloading for a long time, and I'd never seen brass that was shorter than the trim to length before it was trimmed. I never used to buy one fired brass. I always bought new or used brass from ammo that I bought new. Money is much more of an issue now, but I still gota shoot. :) I'm loading these for a Stevens 223 that I put a Timney trigger in. It's a fine shooter, I get smaller than minute of angle groups with several loads, and if every thing is just right I get 1/2 minute of angle. I'm using 60, 68, and 69gr bullets and RL 15 and Varget powder. I'm sure that I can still reach the lands with the shorter brass, especially with the 68 and 69gr bullets. I don't crimp, I use Forster bench rest seating dies. But I will still sort the brass according to length for consistency. I'll even give the Lake City a go when I have time to remove the primmer crimps. Thanks again.

Irv

Just think of all the money they saved by shorting a whole run of brass. LOL Soon it will by like buying a 2x4!

There actually is a reason that a 2x4 is the dimension that it is.

SAAMI spec for allowable brass length on .223 allows for up to 0.030" shorter than ax case length. Trim length is stated as the standard 0.010" shorter than max.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by helotaxi

There actually is a reason that a 2x4 is the dimension that it is.

SAAMI spec for allowable brass length on .223 allows for up to 0.030" shorter than ax case length. Trim length is stated as the standard 0.010" shorter than max.

---

I would like to know...just out of curiosity....why is a 2x4 less than 2'' x 4" ?

Modern 2x4s are meant as wall studs for home construction. An interior wall is 4" thick. Add a sheet of standard interior drywall to either side of the "4" dimension and you end up with a 4" wall. I don't remember why the 2" dimension is reduced, but I used to know that one as well. Similar logic.

:focus:

Trim length is 1.750 I have a cutoff of 1.745 anything less ends it's life either as a 7.62x25 or now
I'm looking into a 300 blackout so that's another avenue to go down with "Shorts"