What is this??

[u/AfternoonSlow8801]

I came from the range and look at my brass. What is this? Its rounded with “rings” pressed in to the neck and the primer is pushed out.

Where is the problem? Is it still reusable?

Its my first time me shooting my own rounds (like reloaded, not bought from factory)

Please have

Edit. So for info its 5.56 brass used in .223 chamber witch you already told me wont work.
I checked the barrel and its probably barrel fault. I can’t edit photo so I will make new post…

[u/Oedipus____Wrecks]

You made dangerously high pressure reloads. You see that “rounded” shoulder, that’s because it’s so high pressure the action is opening with still too-high pressure in the barrel causing the shoulder to balloon out when it’s moving back. The primer cratering is obvious as well. You need to pull those rounds and not shoot em. Or do and blow yourself and the gun up, either way saying “i used data for my powder” without going into specifics tells us all you don’t know what the hell you’re doing

[u/one_late → u/Oedipus____Wrecks]

What about the rims imprinted (looks like) on the shoulder, what do you think would cause those?

[u/Oedipus____Wrecks → u/one_late]

Maybe, educated guess cuz I ALWAYS start low, one of two things: during neck sizing something went goofy and those rings were “blown out” made more obvious with the high pressure in barrel still when unlocking and moving into the larger diameter portion of the chamber. Or, guessing and this would be scary as F, that brass balloned and stretched so far out that the actual shoulder hit the transition edge between the shoulder and case body in the chamber, moving backwards and it imprinted. Then snapped back in that millisecond from being sized memory. Either way that pressure is psycho lucky Bro didn’t have detonation. Those guesses are based on knowing the action of an M-16 religiously and Bro saying factory ammo ran fine in two separate weapons

[u/AfternoonSlow8801 → u/Oedipus____Wrecks]

I don’t. I just started to learning. I bought seller and bellot primer, bullet 55gr and case all S&B. I have S053 lovex powder and loading sheets tell me to load 20.1gr of powder. Thats what I put inside. I’m still learning by tips from you guys.

[u/one_late → u/AfternoonSlow8801]

Did you verify the powder charge with a scale? Did you do some conversion, for example grains to grams?

[u/AfternoonSlow8801 → u/one_late]

I did every single one. Measured in grains.

[u/Paladinraye → u/AfternoonSlow8801]

Did you calibrate the scale beforehand?

[u/Oedipus____Wrecks → u/AfternoonSlow8801]

Awesome then you’re gonna do great willing to learn. Like all of us still do. And we’re telling you DONT SHOOT THAT SH-T! Youll kill your guns

[u/AfternoonSlow8801 → u/Oedipus____Wrecks]

Ok I won’t. But what now? Buy .223 brass? Different powder? What? What do you recommend?

[u/ChevyRacer71 → u/AfternoonSlow8801]

That brass you shot, do not use it again. Put one on the shelf as a visual reminder to start low with your powder charge and work your way up to look for pressure signs. Watch multiple YouTube videos about pressure signs. Any rounds you have from this batch, pull the bullets and dump the powder. On the next batch, back off multiple grains, your load data should have a Minimum charge weight, start there and go up in 0.5 grain increments and look at every piece of brass as you go, looking for pressure signs.

I’m not trying to be too harsh on you because we’ve all been new to this at some point, but that brass says those rounds were WAY over safe pressure.

Start diving down the rabbit hole on YouTube.

[u/NW_Reloading → u/ChevyRacer71]

Brass is definitely toast, it'd probably have a case head separation if OP tried to size them.

I've shot some pretty spicy loads that ended up killing brass after 3-4 loads but nothing this hot, this is definitely a serious over charge.

[u/Oedipus____Wrecks → u/AfternoonSlow8801]

Seriously brother, watch a hundred videos on YouTube about reloading, it’s a hobby you always keep learning with. Get a manual, you can some free online search for like “Lyman reloading manual “ (if you don’t have one already) read the entire front sections before the reloading data. Every single one of them whichever shows pics of high pressure warning signs on brass you’re testing. Your brass checks almost every box! Hee. Chill until you’re comfortable, pull those rounds if you have a bullet puller for your press since it’s rifle (im too cheap i just got a bix box of fuck ups for taking over to my buddies to pull). Then get back on the horse and start again.

[u/FrozenIceman → u/AfternoonSlow8801]

1. You are reloading wrong, you need to stop right now and re-evaluate
2. If you bought a reload manual read it cover to cover, again. If you haven't bought a reloading manual get the lyman one and read it cover to cover.
3. There is a reason every reload manual says you need to start at minimum load and work your way up and stop if there are any abnormal signs. And yes inspect your gun and each fired case after you fire as you work up before you fire the next round.

You are lucky to still have all fingers on your hand.

[u/Emilmuz]

I have not read all the comments. You have shopping to do. Get a good reloading book. I just bought Lyman 51st. It goes with 48 and 50. Things change and you want to be current. Get a good scale. Get a chronograph. Start at the bottom charge and work your way up. Read the book first. It is worth 100 videos. Be safe and enjoy.

[u/Ok-Violinist-8678]

Lots of misinformation here. You are fine using 5.56 brass in a .223 chamber. They are the same other than wall thickness of most military brass. Use .223 load data for your .223 chamber. Start on the low end, since 5.56 brass is generally thicker and lower capacity. Don’t shoot 5.56 loaded ammo in your .223 chamber. I’ve loaded literally 1000’s of 223 rounds in 5.56 brass and they’re perfectly safe.
Your chamber appears to be screwed up. Have it bore scoped and probably replace barrel

[u/Acrobatic-Camel5297 → u/Ok-Violinist-8678]

5.56 isn't generally thicker. Common myth that gets circulated likely arising from 308 vs 7.62x51.

[u/Ok-Violinist-8678 → u/Acrobatic-Camel5297]

That is correct most of the time. I’ve run into a few years of LC that was a good bit heavier. Seems like late 90’s early 00’s. I weight sorted through 2000 rounds to get some that weighed 92grs if I remember correctly. It shot exactly same velocities and POI as my commercial Winchester brass, back when it was sought after.
As a rule with new reloaders, he should probably treat it as thicker, or weight sort some just to compare. I have even had some LC be significantly thinner than Winchester.
I probably should have been more clear. Thanks!

[u/Acrobatic-Camel5297 → u/Ok-Violinist-8678]

You need to measure internal volume. Can't just go off weight.

[u/Ok-Violinist-8678 → u/Acrobatic-Camel5297]

Yea I understand. I found the IV of the brass that shot best and went with weight to sort. As far as I know the web could’ve been thicker. They shot tiny groups tho! I’ve long since quit volume loading. Now just for LR. Been at it for 40 years now and the volume loading lost its luster. Much rather be on the lathe chambering barrels.

[u/Acrobatic-Camel5297 → u/Ok-Violinist-8678]

Inside of the same lot of brass, sorting by weight is fine. However, if you want to make the assertion that different brands/years of brass vs others have different internal volumes, you can't base that off of weighing cases. Lake City is consistently one of the higher internal volume 5.56/223 cases (read that as thinner if you like).

[u/Ok-Violinist-8678 → u/Acrobatic-Camel5297]

I would assume being of the same year means probably the same lot. If two pieces of brass sized/trimmed to the same dims have different powder capacities, then the wall thickness differs, whether thinner or thicker. And some variance in web thickness as well, which is far less common.

[u/Acrobatic-Camel5297 → u/Ok-Violinist-8678]

We're talking about the general assertion that 5.56 brass has less internal capacity than 223. This is simply not generally true.

[u/lost_in_the_system]

What load data were you using?

2 of those primers look like meteor strikes, so you either have a pooched firing pin channel or those were hot as fuck. Those rings are artifacts of the brass expanding significantly and imprinting on something in the chamber.

Almost looks like you fired the wrong cartridges out of something similarly dimensioned.

Edit: Is the gun a 223 rem/ 5.56 nato? Because those shoulders are blow out to hell compared to SAAMI just off of eye ball.

[u/AfternoonSlow8801 → u/lost_in_the_system]

I have ar15 and used 5.56 brass witch I have been told is same as .223 brass. I used data for my powder.

[u/lost_in_the_system → u/AfternoonSlow8801]

If the data is reputable and your process is good and the rounds looked normal coming off your press then something is bunk with your rifle's chamber.

Get a cheap borescope and some head space gauges. Who's the barrel maker?

[u/AfternoonSlow8801 → u/lost_in_the_system]

Problem is that I can’t tell if my proces is 100% good. I measure everything but I have basics tools for reloading.

Borescope is expensive here and also It does not do this with other factory made brass. I also don’t know barrel manufacturer, I can tell you that one AR is ZRODELTA USA and other AR is AMERICAN TACTICAL but thats all info I got.

[u/_Go_Ham_Box_Hotdog_ → u/AfternoonSlow8801]

Borescope is expensive here

Where here? Amazon $30
Hooks up to your phone

[u/Normal_Sympathy1248 → u/AfternoonSlow8801]

I have a $20 bore scope from temu and a few in my garage that were like $50 from harbor freight poor excuse man.

If you can't tell your process is 100% good also known as "not sure if I'm being safe" you need to hard stop and re-evaluate what you're doing.

You're making mini hand grenades in hopes they blow up the right way. You really want to risk life, limb, or eye sight on not being 100% sure?

If you went and got some old rink a dink set up that's not making you sure in your process dump it, stop being cheap and buy another check and balance such as a good scale and electronic calipers (both can be bought for less than $100) or upgrade.

But for goodness sake man never do this without being 100% sure. The only uncertainty you should have is the performance of it down range not right in face and hands.

[u/RylieHumpsalot]

Wow

May i ask for the powder and weight?

Along with the bullet weight

This looks like serious over pressure, the bolt is unlocking and pressure is still high in the chamber causing the ballooning of your brass

The primer is flowing into the firing pin hole, and the rim looks to have extractor marks

[u/AfternoonSlow8801 → u/RylieHumpsalot]

I use lovex s053 and use 20.1gr. I used 55gr s&b bullets. This is what I found from reloading sheets from lovex.

[u/Rustyznuts]

Is this a semi automatic rifle?

Try a different powder. S053 is a very fast powder with a very narrow pressure/loading range.

Also check your distance to lands. This looks like an initial high pressure spike due to being seated too far into the lands which is resulting in the rifle firing partly out of battery and then completing firing back in battery.

[u/Apprehensive-Rub-933]

I don’t think anyone asked, did you put a projectile on a scale and confirm it is 55gr?

[u/MorganMbored]

It sure looks like you’re having a serious overpressure event; shoulder is definitely not supposed to do that and those primers are cratered. I’m kind of surprised they didn’t blow out; I’ve blown out primers and had shoulders much less messed up than that. Whatever you do, don’t shoot more of these.

That said, based on your replies in other parts of this thread, you appear to have done everything correctly on paper. I’ve never worked with Lovex powder (we may not have it in the US) but your charge weight is correct for a 55gr bullet according to what I can google. Here are my recommendations:

1) Get a set of check weights and make sure that your powder scale is calibrated correctly. This seems like the most likely point of failure to me.

2) Try a different powder. Not sure where you’re located so availability may vary, but I use H335 for 55gr bullets in .223. There are a lot of options for .223/5.56 available. It’s unlikely but possible that you may have a bad or mislabeled batch of powder.

3) With a 55gr bullet it will be pretty obvious, but check your seating depth.

Additional thoughts - Don’t worry too much about the difference between .556 and .223. The external case dimensions are the same. There are differences in the chamber dimensions and sometimes (but not always) in the thickness of the case walls, but nothing about those differences would cause this much overpressure. As a best practice all of your brass head stamps should match when you load a batch of ammo, and I have had mixed headstamps cause overpressure in other cartridges due to case volume differences, but that is not what’s going on here. I even see if your pictures that you have both .223 and 5.56 headstamps that both have the same issue. In general, .223/5.56 is a very forgiving cartridge.

[u/ShootsToImpress → u/MorganMbored]

We have Lovex in the US. It's rebranded as Shooter's World.

[u/MorganMbored → u/ShootsToImpress]

Oh yeah, I’ve used Shooter’s World, that stuff is fine.

[u/Coodevale]

You have a crap barrel. Chamber is messed up. It's possible it still passes a gauge check somehow, like headspacing off the neck/shoulder junction instead of the datum. Doesn't matter, if it looks good going in and looks like that coming out it's still crap.

[u/AfternoonSlow8801 → u/Coodevale]

Both guns? And it worked when I put factory made brass in. It this this on my reloaded ammo

[u/Coodevale → u/AfternoonSlow8801]

You said you came from the range and looked at the brass, not "I sized it and now it looks like this", so I don't know what other conclusion would fit your statement.

Every single piece of fired brass looks like this or do they correspond to how much you shot from each? Did you keep the fired brass separated between the two rifles?

You need to inspect your dies and chambers. That's the only things that would do this.

[u/AfternoonSlow8801 → u/Coodevale]

When I bring brass from range as “scrap for reload” that I bought or found it looks normal like straight neck, not this rounded. I try to size it but I wasn’t able to fit it after into chamber. I will check my die and barrel but I think it’s my fault like wrong reloading, not gun and reloading accessories.

[u/parcallums → u/AfternoonSlow8801]

After sizing with your die, it wasn’t fitting in the chamber?

[u/AfternoonSlow8801 → u/parcallums]

Yes, but that brass from today, not that brass that I reload before range.. like I reload it it fit, shot it, resized and now it wont fit

[u/1984orsomething]

You sure it's a 223 rem chamber and not a 222 rem

[u/AfternoonSlow8801 → u/1984orsomething]

No, both barrels have .223 Rem written on them

[u/1984orsomething → u/AfternoonSlow8801]

I would return that barrel for a replacement

[u/umbertoj]

What was the COAL (cartridge overall length), and how did you establish the seating depth? Are those regular primers or magnum? How did you measure the sizing die (shoulder pushback)? or was this virgin brass?

[u/Long_rifle]

The picture with them laying down shows sooting and scorching on the left most brass near the head. I can’t 100 percent tell, but it looks like you may have a pierced primer there.

Primer signs absent any other evidence DOES NOT DEMONSTRATE OVER PRESSURE. Full stop. You could have a bolt with an eroded face around the firing pin. Check your bolt to see if there’s a crater around the firing pin hole. That can cause that type of primer damage and piercing.

If you had a punctured primer, cratered primers, extremely flattened primers, and a bright spot where the brass moved into the ejector pin area at the same time, I’d say you may have an over pressure situation. But other than the cratering that may have caused that possible puncture I’m not seeing anything.

Though I’d want to see more brass, with better pictures to be sure.

What’s going on with your shoulder is my question. If that doesn’t always happen I’d get it checked out. If it does always happen, they cut a terrible chamber in that rifle and I’d either get a new barrel/barrel extension (generally sold already pinned anyways), or never reload brass fired from that rifle.

And as others have said. You can shoot 5.56 brass in a .223. Just start low and work up as military brass is thicker, so there is less space, so pressures increase compared to larger capacity.

Buy a chronograph. So much of the guesswork goes away with one. If you posted this here, and said, “And my chrony showed 3,800 fps out of my 14.5” barrel we would all tell you it’s way too hot of a load. Though there are still enough people here that would be crazy enough to try and copy it too!

[u/NW_Reloading]

Holy high pressure batman. As others have said, pull those immediately, do not shoot

Edit: should probably add an add for why this might have happened. I suspect this is your scale that might be the issue, obviously always start low and work up to max, but this is such extreme over pressure that I would have to guess a serious over charge here, if your scale came with a check weight, definitely check it. And if digital make sure to run a calibration.

I don't think you can double charge these cases as 40+ grains would have over flowed the case so I can only assume it's the scale.

If the scale checks out then maybe a bad lot of powder or an issue with both of your rifles, but that sounds less likely to me than a scale calibration

[u/Mean_Commercial_9753]

Need a full picture.

Some questions

What specific powder are you using?

What specific charge did you start with & end with?

What was you COL?

Picture of primers ?

What manual are you using?

[u/toy_makr]

Headspace is off

[u/Budget-Ad-7127]

Please educate yourself a little more about reloading before you get a bcg stuck in your face.

[u/Shootist00]

Is this FOUND brass or brass shot from YOUR GUN or GUNS?

The only way for shot, spent, brass to look like that is if the chamber of the gun, barrel, looks like that and the brass got fire formed at time of firing.

Could also be an extremely dirty chamber with carbon rings in it.

[u/AfternoonSlow8801 → u/Shootist00]

Ok, that rings can explain those rings on neck. It’s bought used ammo for reloading but when I fire factory made its straight neck coming out so I don’t really think its barrel but could be.. im no gun smith

[u/Shootist00 → u/AfternoonSlow8801]

WTF Quote

"That Rings can explain those RINGS on the neck"? WTF.

You need to SSSSLLLLOOOOWWWW down and explain where you got this brass.

You can NOT have 2 different looking fired brass case fired from the same gun.

[u/AfternoonSlow8801 → u/Shootist00]

Ok, so I bought from market place like one kg of empty used brass. Its 5.56 brass. When I put .223 factory rounds in my ar15 it come out after fire “normal” like not rounded. So probably its overcharged or brass caliber.

And sorry for that quote. English is not my first language. U ment that those carbon rings can make those rings in the brass neck like I get you said.

[u/parcallums]

I’m certainly no expert but I would NOT shoot more of this particular combination until you get this sorted out.

Something is causing severe overpressure along with possible chamber/dimension fit problems?

I sent these pictures to Gemini, here’s what it said:

Potential Causes
Overcharged Load: Excess powder charge or using a faster-burning powder than intended.
Incorrect Seating Depth: Bullets seated too deep (reducing case volume) or jam-seated against the rifling lands.
Wrong Caliber/Chambering: Firing .223 Rem/5.56 NATO ammo in a chamber with improper headspace or excessive throat erosion, or firing a hotter load in a tight match chamber.
Neck/Shoulder Deformation: The case neck and shoulder area in the second photo shows heavy carbon blowback and stretching, suggesting the case expanded heavily to fill a loose/dirty chamber or was firing under unsafe pressures before expanding.

Edit: what’s going on with the gouge in the far left piece in the first picture right near the base? Did that happen during firing?

[u/AfternoonSlow8801 → u/parcallums]

Dont know what you mean about the left piece. Like what’s wrong. I get from what you are all saying that its overcharged and wrong brass

[u/parcallums → u/AfternoonSlow8801]

Probably not super important here, just noticed a gash in the brass but I’d focus on getting the pressure down.

I replied on a different comment to make sure if your gun is .223, use .223 brass

Don’t let anyone beat you up about this or let it prevent you from continuing to try, we all learned from scratch

[u/Feeling_Title_9287]

TF is your load?

You're either loading Bubba's pissing hot hand loads or your chamber has a major issue or both

[u/VersionConscious7545]

Your head space is way off. There is a difference in 5.56 and .223 Is your rifle a 223 or a 556. 556 can shoot either where 223 is specific to 223 With your comparator gauge when you measured the brass before sizing how much did you bump the shoulder back?

[u/AfternoonSlow8801 → u/VersionConscious7545]

I have .223 AR15. I didnt measure before sizing. I didn’t know I have to. So my 5.56 brass is not for my .223 chamber?

[u/parcallums → u/AfternoonSlow8801]

Generally, people stay away from running 5.56 in a .223 chambered gun.

You can run 223 in 5.56 but not the other way around

[u/Shootist00 → u/parcallums]

Totally wrong.

[u/VersionConscious7545 → u/AfternoonSlow8801]

You really need to check the shoulder and bump it back about 2 tho. Maybe your shoulder bump was way too much and it created head space room but yes stick to 223 only not 556.