robocop10mm
Active Member
After some disagreement between myself and another member about what if there was any difference between .223 and 5.56 brass I offered to do my own comparison.
My stance is that 5.56 brass is thicker than .223 brass. Thicker brass means less internal space and less powder needed to attain a given velocity.
I took samplings of prepped brass that had been cleaned, sized, decapped and trimmed. 10 cases of each headstamp were weighed and averaged.
I
I only had a four brands of brass available for comparison. R-P and Winchester represented the commercial .223 cases. WCC-87 and LC-01 represented the military 5.56 variety. The results were not very surprising to me as R-P brass has a reputation of being softer and or not standing up to repeated reloadings like others. Winchester has a reputation as being inconsistant.
Win - Average weight 92.3 gr. Extreme spread 3 gr (91 - 94 gr)
R-P - Average weight 91.3 gr. Extreme spread 2 gr (90 - 92 gr)
WCC-87 - Average weight 92.6 gr. Extreme spread 1 gr (92 - 93 gr)
LC-01 - Average weight 92 gr. Extreme spread 2 gr (91 - 93 gr)
What do these results tell us? The differences were not as great as I had anticipated. The differences between the Win and the R-P were greater than the differences between the Win and the Mil cases. The Win cases were even heavier (thicker) than the Mil cases.
WCC-87 was the most consistant of the sampled cases. The Winchester was the least consistant. The Winchester cases were from the factory 69 gr "match" load. Not very match worthy IMHO.
The R-P was the lightest (thinnest). Perhaps the reputatuion for being "softer" is actually a result of being thinner.
I, for one, will worry less about different head stamps and more about the variences w/in a single headstamp.
My stance is that 5.56 brass is thicker than .223 brass. Thicker brass means less internal space and less powder needed to attain a given velocity.
I took samplings of prepped brass that had been cleaned, sized, decapped and trimmed. 10 cases of each headstamp were weighed and averaged.
I
I only had a four brands of brass available for comparison. R-P and Winchester represented the commercial .223 cases. WCC-87 and LC-01 represented the military 5.56 variety. The results were not very surprising to me as R-P brass has a reputation of being softer and or not standing up to repeated reloadings like others. Winchester has a reputation as being inconsistant.
Win - Average weight 92.3 gr. Extreme spread 3 gr (91 - 94 gr)
R-P - Average weight 91.3 gr. Extreme spread 2 gr (90 - 92 gr)
WCC-87 - Average weight 92.6 gr. Extreme spread 1 gr (92 - 93 gr)
LC-01 - Average weight 92 gr. Extreme spread 2 gr (91 - 93 gr)
What do these results tell us? The differences were not as great as I had anticipated. The differences between the Win and the R-P were greater than the differences between the Win and the Mil cases. The Win cases were even heavier (thicker) than the Mil cases.
WCC-87 was the most consistant of the sampled cases. The Winchester was the least consistant. The Winchester cases were from the factory 69 gr "match" load. Not very match worthy IMHO.
The R-P was the lightest (thinnest). Perhaps the reputatuion for being "softer" is actually a result of being thinner.
I, for one, will worry less about different head stamps and more about the variences w/in a single headstamp.