Need a little reloading help...

[centerfire_223]

I have loaded tons of shotgun shells and a few rifle rounds. So I am not totally wet behind the ears with it, but I will have to admit I'm am still damp.

I am planning on loading up some .223 rounds. I have a prairie dog hunt in the planning stages and want to start getting prepared and finding rounds that my rifles shoot well. I was wondering when buying the bullets do I get the .223 or .224? What is the difference besides a .001"? What are the .224 bullets used in?

Another thing, I have lots of brass from what we shoot here at work. The rounds we shoot here are Federal 5.56 with a 55 grain FMJ bullets. Do these brass have the crimped primer pockets? Is it something that is noticeable to the naked eye ?

I am sure I will find more questions as I go along. Thanks for the help.

[Dan Carey]

Some of the real old 22 centerfire caliber rifles has a 223 bore, that's why they still make 223 bullets. However, all the currently made 22 centerfire caliber rifles have 224 bores. In short you will be using 224 bullets in your 223 Remington. I also shoot PD's to the tune of about 5000 a year. I like Hornady 50 grain VMax bullets and Hodgdon Benchmark powder.

I doubt the Federal brass has crimped primers, you can easily see the crimp if they are.

[Greenside]

Not real complicated but I think it has to due with bore diameter versus groove diameter. Most of the .223 bullets are  lighter weight and have thinner jackets so the grooves don't cut as deep into the bullet like they would with a .224 bullet. Your application probably would be a .224 bullet.  Bore diameter is usually .22  Make any sense?

[Hawks Feather]

The crimped primer might depend on where you work.  If you work for the military you could have crimped primer pockets that would need to be swagged.  If it is commercial brass, you are in good shape. 

The current production  .223 rifles all use the .224 bullets.  The, now very old, .223 bullets were used in some of the early rifles such as the .22 Hornet.  While I am not an expert, to my knowledge, even the early .223 rifles used the .224 bullets.

Hope this helps,

Jerry

[centerfire_223]

Thanks for the replies. That answers up a lot of the questions I have. But I am sure I will run into some more as I go along.

Hawk the brass I am using is made by Federal. I am going to look at some of it when I get home just to make sure.

[fuzz624]

     If the brass you have does have crimped primers just punch the primer out and use a chamfer tool to cut the crimp out.It takes a little time but it is not hard to do.