# federal civy .223 cases



## neb_bo (Feb 3, 2007)

i have some federal 223 cases, not governmet stuff, just regular that i bought as loaded ammo right when i got the gun (you know, i had to shoot it, so i got a box of the first stuff i could find). anyway, the primers wont seat in it after i sized them. they have what appears to be a circular crimp around the entire pocket, and the had sealer applied to them. i ran an inside chamfer in the pocket, but they still wont seat. anyone know why, or had this experience before?


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## m.o.a. (Mar 26, 2008)

I've seen this in .223 as well as other military calibers (30.06, .308) My guess is and this is only a guess, even though the box you bought looked like any other box of civilian ammo it's really dual purpose, the military requires a crimped primer so it's just as easy for the ammo companies to sell us the same stuff, at least the brass part of it, the bullet or projectile itself is another story.
Did you notice the extra force required when resizing, thats the crimped primer. I learned this lesson some years ago with some .06 ammo that was given to me, you need to ream the primer pocket with a pocket reamer more than one would think to get the new primer to go in with out a fight. I found it to be a pain, so I just look for the non crimped stuff. I had been out of shooting and reloading for a while and the first box of amo I bought was federal .223 just like yourself, as soon as I remembered the primers I took them back. I found that remington's umc mega pack does not have the crimped primer.

Brian


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## neb_bo (Feb 3, 2007)

well, theyre deffinetly crimped, but i ran a mouth chamfer in them, and they still wont seat. i see the lake city brass i have from ultramax, and b.h. has a very beveled primer pocket, so that must take care of it.


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## ND_RC (Jan 6, 2005)

This is a Federal Cartridge issue. I saw this with the Federal 223 Value Packs I purchased from Wal-mart.

According to the message a Federal rep left me, as of about three years ago all Federal 223 ammo is this way.

That includes the Bonus Packs, American Eagle and Federal Premium 223 ammo.

He said they have a staked primer pocket and you need a staking removal tool to remove the staking material.

He also said RCBS and others make a staking removal tool. I looked on the RCBS website and Catalog I have and found no such thing. They have the military crimp removal tool.

It has been about three weeks since I left a message for the Federal rep asking where I can get this staking removal tool or what part number he had or if the military crimp tool is what he was talking about.

Still waiting for a reply from Federal Cartridge.


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## MNGOOSEER (Jun 12, 2006)

i have ran into alot of the mand yes you need to swedge them dillion makes a great one RCBS has a good one or if you have a RCBS trimmate they have one that gose on there as well the dillion works the best but it is spendy around 100.00 the RCBS one is around 35.00 but you will find that one not to fun to use hope it helps anyone


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## johngfoster (Oct 21, 2007)

I'm not clear about the original poster's problem. Is it that the primer pockets are loose and the primers won't seat snugly, or won't they go into the pocket in the first place? 2 different problems. The loose primer pockets is a Federal 223 problem. The brass is apparently thin enough that after one or two firings it stretches to where a primer gets loose and won't work properly anymore. All they are good for is to be thrown away. No good for any more reloading. Others experience here?

The other problem is more of a brass prep problem. You just need to make the hole bigger to where the primers will fit in the hole snugly. A primer pocket uniformer should work for this (small rifle size). Hope this helps


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