223 brass is one of the most common reloaded calibers these days and it is no wonder why. Rising cost of ammunition leaves the AR-15 shooters emptying their piggy banks just to go shoot. The days of picking up a box of steel cased .223 for 3-4 bucks are over. So reloading is more common than ever. Many people collect their once fired 223 brass and sell it to reloaders. But, is there really any way of telling if it truly is once fired?

Finding once fired 223 brass for sale is like finding gold to some people. Buying bulk 223 brass is basically buying range pick-ups. You never will know what you are buying until you get it. The shipment could arrive with 20 cases of Winchester and the rest lake city 223 brass. So how can you tell if it truly is once fired? Well, the only way to say for sure if the brass is once fired is to buy military brass. Military brass has primer crimps. These primer crimps must be removed before reloading the cartridge. So if a lake city case does not have a primer crimp, then someone has reloaded that case before, making it not once fired 223 brass. But, what about commercial brass?

Commercial brass is not as easy to tell if it is once fired. Some signs of reloading are dents in the neck shoulder, signs of head separation, and primers that stick slightly out of the pocket. Dents in the neck shoulder are caused by using too much lube when sizing a case or dirt build up in the die. Signs of head separation are caused by a case being exhausted by sizing or caused by too much case pressure when being fired, either way, reloading a case with signs of head separation is a bad idea. Head separation is when the base of the case separates from the case walls. The tell-tale sign of head separation is a lightly colored ring around the base of the cartridge.  If you pick up a case that has the primer sticking slightly out of the pocket, this can be a sign of oversized primer pockets caused by a case being repeatedly reloaded. A good way to determine this is to run your nail across the back of the case, is you feel your nail go up, this is usually a sign brass being fired multiple times. Should you encounter brass with oversized primer pockets, it may not be once fired, but you may still be able to load it as a plinker round. Usually, using military primers such as the CCI #41 primers or the Wolf .223 primers will make for one or two more loadings.

Military primers have a thicker cup and will likely seat into oversized primer pockets. Military primers are designed for rifles that have a floating fire pin like the AR-15, M1A, M1 Garand, MAS 49/56, and other military style rifles. They help reduce slam fires. While somewhat uncommon, slam fires are caused by the bolt being cycled; energy of the bolt slamming forward can cause the firing pin to nick the primer of the chamber round discharging the round. These can be dangerous because they are an unplanned discharge. This is one of many reasons firearms are always pointed in a safe direction whether they are loaded or not.