Crimped 223

if it seats, it yeets. the nice thing about 223 is that it has such small capacity and the ARs are so overbuilt to handle full auto, the worst the can happen is the case will split.

There is a reason why AR's are legendary.
 
You should be able to see the crimps if you look at the primers. Depriming crimped brass generally takes more effort - sometimes a lot more. If you're planning to reload, you'll want to remove those crimps, either by swaging them or grinding them out. This step takes a while, but you only have to do it once.
 
Yes, you can feel the extra effort to deprime a crimped primer because it is crimped in the pocket. On 223, you will find that about 75% of the brass has a crimped primer pocket.

For reference:

Non crimped headstamps
RP
GFL
PMC
A USA
Hornady 223
Super Vel
Sig
S&B 223
Fiocchi (this is a separate one from GFL)
PPU (one with no date)
U (this is one that looks like a horseshoe that goes to the edge of the brass)
Norma 223

The ones with "223" have both a 556 and a 223 variant, and the 556 usually is crimped...but even the 223 is crimped sometimes.

You will find different levels of crimping. Wolf, Aguila, FC and LC have very heavy crimps, but PPU (ones with the Year) have lighter crimps. Then there is the "staked" crimp that feels about the same as the ring crimp.
 
If the crimp is a ring type that is all the way around the primer pocket, you definitely need to ream or swage. I'll use a small hand held reamer and do a batch while watching a show or doing something similar. If the crimps are simply 3 stake marks, I'll try simply seating right through those. Most of the time that has worked for me.
 
paulleve said:
You should be able to see the crimps if you look at the primers. Depriming crimped brass generally takes more effort - sometimes a lot more. If you're planning to reload, you'll want to remove those crimps, either by swaging them or grinding them out. This step takes a while, but you only have to do it once.
Click to expand...
This.

A simple deburring tool chucked into a drill works fine. My prep station has military crimp remover
 
I have the Lee APP swage kit....blasts right through them.

One other thing to keep in mind (and off-topic of swaging)....FC and the LC 223 headstamp tend to be shorter after sizing than 1.750 (usually between 1.740 and 1.750). Since max length is 1.760 and min length is 1.740...no need to trim unless you want to. So, I sort for non swaging and non trimming...too bad I haven't found one that is both non swaging and non trimming.
 
IMO, crimping 223 primer pockets is a bit of a dick move by the makers. It won't stop die-hard reloaders, but it adds at least another step into the process. Plus more time to get your cases fully ready.
 
I use the inside chamfer side of the care deburring tool for a quick ream on the 3 staked primer pockets
For the full circle crimp I use a primer pocket swager although I’ve used a countersink in the past too
The nice thing is you only have to do it once
I’ll load most brass 4x times, 4th time being put away for a rainy day
Almost gone through a few hundred MKE cases with the 3 stake crimp
Next up is a pile of LC destin for the swage tool.
 
I use a countersink by hand .
I tried the drill and blew out the pocket.
A nice sharp carbide countersink and about 3 turns by hand seems to do the trick.
 
I’m relatively new to loading 223 but I don’t waste my time or my eyesight looking at each case to see headstamps or if they have crimped primers.

I size and trim on my Dillon 650 using an RT1500 and everything gets decapped and sent through the size and trim die. If it’s loo long it gets trimmed, if it’s short then it’s not touched.

Then I swage everything with a super swage 600. Again, I don’t look at each case. I can swage them faster than I can look and identify the headstamp and what it needs.

Then I wet tumble with ss pins and back to the press to be loaded up.
 
ddeck said:
Even headstamps that have 223 on it has crimped primers some of the time. FC 223 is all crimped
Click to expand...
Yup, I gotta whole bunch of Remington 300 black out made with Nosler brass and crimped in primers, gave up trying to figure that one out lol. Been using the Dillon swager for years now, don't know if there is anything better/faster these days.
 
peterk123 said:
I have a bag full of random 223. The only 223 I have cramped. In the past is new brass that I have purchased.

So question for you guys regarding random brass. It seems like I can feel when popping out the primer if it is crimped or not. Is that a safe assumption? BTW, most feel crimped.
Click to expand...
if you did not brake deprimer pin - it will work. :)
pay attention to some military brass where it is marked with red, it may be difficult to deprime. usually it helps with random 223 brass after depriming to run it through sizing and primer pocket edges trimming, so primers will not go in sideways later.
 
paul73 said:
if you did not brake deprimer pin - it will work. :)
pay attention to some military brass where it is marked with red, it may be difficult to deprime. usually it helps with random 223 brass after depriming to run it through sizing and primer pocket edges trimming, so primers will not go in sideways later.
Click to expand...
IK stamped brass has extremely small flash holes. I scrap it....
 

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