What exactly do I have here?

BigWaylon

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Posting in this forum as I believe I have some reloads here...

My father-in-law got a mess of stuff from a guy on his death bed, and passed along the .223/5.56 ammo to me:

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Probably 2/3 loose, and 1/3 on strips. Everything on the right side is green tip, and the left is not...with a few strays in each pile.



Isn't the green tip 62gr and lead core? And I'm not sure I can assume the non-green is 55gr? They're definitely different sizes:

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But it also looks to me like the green tip stuff is reloaded? Isn't that what the discoloring on the brass would indicate?

And then even with the same (green tip vs non-gt), some of the length look different:

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Would this probably be safe to shoot? Or at least the non-green tip?

I could even leave it in a dedicated non-suppressed ammo like (which means it might take years to shoot).
 
The green tip stuff is annealed, causing the brass discoloration. That is more than likely factory loaded good stuff. Is the head stamp LC?
 
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Yes. The green tip is 62 grain lead with a steel penetrator. It isn’t technically AP, but don’t shoot steel targets with it.
 
The green tip stuff is annealed, causing the brass discoloration. That is more than likely factory loaded good stuff. Is the head stamp LC?
I grabbed several out of the box. Some are LC, some are PSD?

IMG_1158.JPG

I also have two bags I bought several years ago when I couldn't find anything on the shelf. $75/100rd :oops:, but it's Win brass.

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To be safe I’d still take a magnet to the ones with no green just to make sure they are not steel core ... it’s likely not but just a couple could damage steel targets.
 
The primer pockets look to still have the crimp, so I would say it is factory loaded.
Yeah, that is what I was going to say. It does not look like the crimps have been removed, so I would say they are not reloads.

One nice thing about crimped primer pockets - one way to know they are only once-fired.
 
Green tip is M855 62 gr FMJ ball loaded with the Belgium SS109 projo as mentioned already. Other plain bullet looks to be M193 55 gr FMJ ball. Stripper clips can be reloaded for use. When using the spoon on a magazine, push down at the base of the cartridge case/stripper. If you push at the front, bullet will tip and bind in the stripper clip. On the stripper clip there is a small brass tab on each end to keep the rounds secured. Be gentle if your going to reuse them.

CD
 
You guys know better than me, but isn’t all m193 annealed? Why would there be no indication of it on factory rounds?
 
You guys know better than me, but isn’t all m193 annealed? Why would there be no indication of it on factory rounds?
No, I seem to recall some that don't. Check the headstamps. M193 is also loaded commercially in .223 Rem, just not labeled as M193.

CD
 
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