Just opened a 100 pack of Federal .223 from Walmart to load into some mags for a range trip tomorrow.
Well, I loaded one mag and was on the second when I noticed that a round or two has very small dents in it. Well, i started looking at the rounds not loaded and about 50% of them have very small dents in the shoulder of the case and along the long edge.
Is this ammo safe to use? I’d hate to chunk 100 rounds because I cannot return them to Walmart, but then again I do not want to blow up my Colt. Opinions?
Second Heavy Metal answer.
I have used about 600 rounds of the federal wal-mart bulk pack never noticed any big dings in the cases so far. Small dings are to be expected and pose no problems. Notice that federal does not use any dividers in the box most of the dents are probably from shipping.
Most likely they are from banging into eachother during shipping. They are also mass produced, and “economy” type ammunition so I wouldn’t expect the cases to be as good looking as BH Match, Lapua, GMM, etc.
I wouldn’t worry about a dent unless it was very large or caused the overall dimensions to be off. Like the round leans one way, bullet is noticeably off center, etc.
Exactly. You’d be shocked at the case dents that I pressure form out of my brass by firing them. Brass that’s been run over by vehicles at the range, etc.
Have any of you tried reloading those Federal cases? Any issues with tight/crimped primer pockets? I have a swager, but if it’s an additional step I don’t have to take, that’s more time saved…
Thanks,
Pat
All the Wally FC I’ve recently used has crimps. But the brass is well worth the effort. Good tight primer pockets, and depending on your load/loading dies, you may not need to trim the brass for several loads.
I use an RCBS neck expanding die. I got rid of the expander ball in my Resizing/decapping die. The FC brass is very short… like 1.73" I believe. My loads are mild, so I get a couple of loads without trimming.
unless its gouged or cracked or the bullet spins in the casing, shoot those puppies with glee in your eye and spittle running down your chin! Theyre completely safe.
If you post pics of what you’re talking about we could probably offer more. As ammunition quality declined with declining supply, this was seen a lot. Especially in the economy lines. Small dents/dings won’t create problems in most cases.
The brass could have been fired out of a Sig556. Seriously though, that is wierd. I do know from firsthand experience that a Sig 556 will put a small ding on the brass when it ejects it, but I have never had a problem reloading that brass.
I was in the gun section of a Wally-World for the first time ever yesterday. Picked up some CCI Mini-mags I can not even find online. I was happy to find them, and I cleaned their shelf off.
I noticed a box of 100 Federal in .223 for $23 something yesterday. Not being familiar with bulk .223, I didn’t get any, but this is an extraordinary price from what I’ve seen online. It sounds like this is good ammo from this thread, and I’m sure it’s the same thing I saw yesterday. Nice to see this thread less than 24 hours later. If I get up to that store again, I’ll pick up a box, but I wonder, does Federal make more than one type of bulk .223? These were 55 grains.
I’d say you might have been looking at the wrong price. The FC 100 round bulk pack .223 at my Wal Mart is close to $40.
Also, reloaders, watch out for reloading the FC stamped brass multiple times. On another board I post on, it was found the the cases are thinner brass and have caused over pressure and case-head failures.
I’m sure I was looking at the right price. I suppose there is a possibility that I wasn’t reading the box right. It looked awful small to contain 100 rounds of .223. I seem to be becoming mistake prone a lot lately.
I’ve been paying $9.95 for boxes of 20, which makes them $0.50/per round. $40 for a box of 100 would make them $0.40/per round. I don’t see it that cheap online, so maybe I will get up to that store again, and take a closer look. Their ammo prices were good.
Funny to see this link today as I just picked up a 100rd box of Federal .223 from WW just yesterday. I loaded it up in the mags last night and I have a habit of checking out the brass & bullet for damage and commented to the Wife that the rounds were clean and shiney with NO dings in the brass. I must have gotten lucky.
If you are worried about them I’ll take them off your hands and despose of them properly…
They are fine, I shot 500 rounds a few weeks ago of the same stuff from wally world and all of it went boom none went KAboom.
Good stuff for range and pratice.
I have some xm-193 that has the same small dents in it also.
Seriously though, that is wierd. I do know from firsthand experience that a Sig 556 will put a small ding on the brass when it ejects it, but I have never had a problem reloading that brass.