Alright, just ordered my AR and trying to figure out what ammo to buy. Looking at getting some surplus / bulk ammo right now, maybe 1000 rounds. I reload for my .308 bolt rifle but dont have any of the set up for the .223.
What I would like to do is buy some ammo that I could at least save the brass from so I could reload it later. I am confused on alot of the surplus stuff.
Mind ye this, I have only reloaded .308 win. I use win brass all the time so here are my questions…
What do I need to stay away from?
What does non-corrosive mean?
What does boxer primer mean?
What about “berdan” primers? I think I saw that somewhere.
Anything else I might need to know.
Thanks guys and great forum for this newbie so far.
There isn’t much difference between .308 and .223 as far as reloading is concerned.
Stay away from steel cased ammo.
If you buy military ammo like lake city you will need to remove the primer crimp.
When you size the case make sure it is sized down properly or they may fail to chamber. You can get away with it on a bolt gun but less likely on an auto.
If you are looking to reload .223 or 5.56 you need to avoid certain things.
If you buy once-fired surplus 5.56 brass to load, make sure the primer pockets have been processed (5.56 mm ammo has crimpped primer pockets which have to be processed before you are able to insert another primer). If you are a high-volume shooter (several thousand rounds a year) it would be economically feasable to buy a tool so you can decrimp the primer pockets yourself, rather than pay the 20 or so dollars per 1000 to have them processed by someone else.
Any steel-cased ammo isn’t going to be able to be reloaded, so don’t bother.
Boxer Primed cases are re-loadable, Berdan primed cases are not.
Corrosive ammo means that it was loaded with corrosive primers (these were used extensively during the Cold War to increase shelf-life for massive stockpiles of ammo).
If you are wanting to reload, some powders meter better than others in progressive presses (avoid stick powders if you are using a progressive loader because they don’t meter well and usually require individual case trickling, which I do anyway with all my 5.56 reloads. It’s a little time-consuming, but I feel better about it when it’s done).
Most 5.56 is going to come in two varieties: XM-193 (55 grain bullets), and the more modern M-855 (which is a 62 grain bullet with a steel penetrator point that is just behind the tip of the copper jacket and sits just in front of the lead core). Traditionally, you need at least a 1:9 twist to stabalize the M855 because of the length of the bullet, whereas XM193 will stabalize in pretty much anything. If you are reloading, the SS109 bullets (used in the M855 rounds) will punch through a little better than other bullets, but due to the steel insert in the bullet, they tend to be less accurate than other 62 grain bullets.
Personally, I use once-fired Lake City 5.56 brass to load my 5.56mm loads. If you are loading .223 loads, the Winchester brass you are used to loading will do just fine.
You will run across frangible ammo every now and then. It is usually much more expensive and is used for shooting steel targets at close range to prevent backsplash in close quarters battle drills. If you shoot paper, you have no need for that stuff.
I like using CCI primers when I reload for my AR because the AR-15 has a free-floating firing pin which will dimple the primers a little when a round is chambered. I’ve never heard of a slam-fire when using brass primers (like Winchester primers), but I always worry about it.
Do a search to explore your powder options to reload. BL-C(2), Tac, Varget, etc are all good powders to use in hand-loads.
Wideners has lowered their prices on 5.56. The IMI ammo is good stuff especially at these prices. I would also jump all over this Hornady ammo for training.
Just a note. Slightly faster powders like H322, H335, 2064, etc work better for 55/62 gr 223 than most of the above, which are really 308 type powders and heavy bullet 556/223 powders. Not saying they won’t work, but they are not ideal.
Govt 55 gr is loaded with WC844 which is very similar to H335 for example. I believe WC446 is used to load some Govt 308 rounds and that is similar to BLC2