Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles 223 Brass Should I Scrap It?

I am going through a bunch of fired 223 brass. It was out my dad's stash. I am unsure of the history of the brass and the ammo. Dad usually kept good records but this stuff is a mystery. He passed last September so I can't ask him.

Anyways I burned up around 500 rounds. All went bang no issues. But I did not pay much attention when I was shooting. Was just burning ammo through a couple new AR builds.

I also shot some old stock Remington factory. I am sorting the brass. Remington all looks great. The mystery ammo is assorted LC. I am finding about ten percent with seriously split necks. And about half have majorly flat primers.

Always been a hoarder and try to get as much use out of brass as possible. But thinking this stuff is better off in the scrap bucket to avoid future headaches. But damn tossing 500 rounds of 223 brass right now is tough.

What you think roll the dice or deprime and take it to the scrap yard?

LC is crap anyhow, so no loss

LC is crap?
Yes, we all know that the military only accepts crap.

LC is probably the most sought after 5.56 brass by reloaders who don't mind having to swage the primer pockets.
That said, if you don't know the history of the brass, and don't want to go to the trouble of carefully inspecting each piece you should probably scrap it.
With the issue of the split necks it sounds like annealing is in order if you decide it is worth keeping.

I agree with NV Ray

I’ve got a BUNCH of LC, both 5.56 and 308, and it is NOT going in the trash.

LC is my preferred brass..

Being LC is the only reason I considered keeping it. Think it will be best to scrap it. With the unknown history probable not worth the work to make it usable. I got plenty of other new brass of various makes.

Right now I am not scrapping ANYTHING at my house... no matter how much in components I have....

I'm also not being Mr Generous and giving away anything....

Don't scrap it............take it to your local range and dump it on the ground. then back off a hundred yards and watch the scavengers move in. guys like 1776BS Kchunter will gloat for years how they won a match that nobody but them has heard of using that brass. you can grin and get some enjoyment out of it.

To just scrap it sounds like a waste

Lol damn.. those outlaw matches his club runs are legendary.. Annual club meeting somewhere along Oregon-Washington border well guys we are going to use NRA high power rules this year. A loud voice from the back says bull chit! Them rules are for them rich Vancouver idiots. We need to stick our made up rules and stick to them..

That sounds like fun. Now should I bait the weekend warriors who should not be allowed a sharpened pencil let alone a gun. Or the 70 plus midweek before their morning coffee meetup at Mcdonalds crowd.

In the same boat w/more than enough. So gave couple thou to someone who will use it. Friendships are built, more important than brass value.

Brass history is decisive. If I knew brass to be once fired (primers all crimped) might be worth the hassle. Failing that I'd skip the aggravation.

Sorry for the loss of your father, BTW. Object lesson to better label stuff. While there's time.

Inspect each, scrap those with split necks and anneal the remainder. Brass is too hard to come by at present scrap on a
" what if"

Pretty much my thoughts too.

I would be inclined to go this route but I have no clue how many loads are the bass. For now I am going to sort the splits out and put it in my maybe I will do something with it some day pile or pass it along with full disclosure to someone that wants to try and salvage it . I have a bunch of new winchester and LC. Like at least a five gallon bucket full. So for now I don't need to scrounge questionable brass.

Save the good pieces until you get time to anneal it

If you want a batch, you should go ahead and first, take your ring hook (a paper clip) and feel inside the case near the base for the stretch ring. Six any case with a tactile ring, you don't want those.
Next, tumble pretty and clean.
Weigh three random sets of ten for an "average weight." If there's a lot of variation, do a couple more sets of ten. Idea is to have an average batch weight as a target for each case plus or minus a certain small percentage. Keep an eye on your primers, if the "heavy" cases have flat primers, that's affimation that weight-sorting cases does in fact matter in performance loading.
Scrap the weigh culls, just do it. You set your own parameters, but culling IS a good thing. Take the cases that made weight and now anneal them, FL size them correctly for the recipient rifle, and trim/chamfer the neck to length. That should give you a "good enough" shooting batch.

Why would you bother to weigh sort the brass before it is processed and trimmed?

-Sort out the split necks
-De-cap and clean
-Swage primer pockets as required
-Anneal
-Size
-Check for incipient case separation with a bent paper clip
-Trim, chamfer, deburr
-Lastly, weight sort if you wish

If you're going to feel for partial separations, best do it after sizing. Makes them more obvious.

I see they've legalized marijuana in Michigan.