Is the brass Hornady uses in their factory ammo the same brass that is sold to reloaders? Specifically, I'm asking about the 223 Remington 55g SP packaged in 50 rnd boxes vs the 223 Remington reloadable brass sold in boxes of 50.

The reason I ask is Sportsmans Warehouse has the loaded factory ammo listed at $29.99/50 and the reloadable brass at $29.99/50. I don't normally buy factory ammo any more, but if the brass is identical then I'm essentially getting "free" ammo out of it.

Thanks.

Same

Unless the brass-only has a big middle finger on it, yeah, same thing.

It's hard to believe that they can sell loaded ammo cheaper than empty brass

Correction, its hard to believe loadable new brass is as expensive as loaded ammo....with the same brass...

of course guys who are complaining that they can't brass for certain cartridges.. if they can find loaded ammo for the same price... they shouldn't be complaining...

I bought a bunch of that loaded Hornady 55 grain stuff for around $21-$23 a box from Midway on sale not long ago. Fireformed in the 223ai, the brass is producing AI groups of sub .5 moa. I like it, a lot.

That's very good to know. As of yet, I haven't purchased a single piece of brass for my 223. I have a decent supply of range scrounged R-P, FC, and LC brass.

But that Hornady ammo is tempting.

I've bought quite a bit of Hornady's Creedmoor brass, as well as their loaded Match ammunition, over the past three+ years. The brass is visibly and obviously different between the two in terms of where annealing coloration ends on the body. It was always easy to separated my fired brass on that basis. I have never taken close measurements to see whether any dimensions are different.

I also haven't bought any component brass for some months, which I say in case there's been a very recent change I'm unaware of.

The point stands, though, that in some instances the brass _is_ different, even if only in terms of final anneal flaming. ...or the component brass and ammo brass could be coming off of different lines...

I worked up a load for my 6.5 CM using boxed hornady brass and the results matched the published data. Then I tried that same load in brass that I had from a box of hornady factory ammo and the result was much hotter over the prochrono and gave some sticky bolt lift. The factory ammo brass was thicker and heavier. I assume it was just a difference in lot numbers.

I loaded some brass after it was shot as factory loaded ammo, split necks on about 10 of 50 brass. Some split when sizing some split when fired, never wanted to waste my money on their brass after that although a buddy of mine has excellent luck with their Creedmoore brass.

I must be the lucky one then. I have used factory loads to break in my 358 Win. I also have some boxed Hornady brass for the same caliber. Results have been identical between the two.
Same with my 25-06 and 30-06.

Cabelas has the 223 50 packs on sale for $22.99 right now.