223 Question

[L T C]

Two questions for the 223 Rem. I found a bunch of 223 cases left on the ground at the range the other day. They are brass, I think... a magnet has no effect on them, they have F C 223 stamped on the end of the case but they are very dark like they are coated with something. I ran them through my tumbler for a couple hours and they still look the same with a dark coating on them. I put them through my full length sizer and that went smooth. Primer pocket did not appear to be swaged... Think it'd be ok to reload these cases? At first I thought they were Wolf steel caseed ammo, thats what they looked like on the ground, but they aren't steel. 2nd question. My Ruger Mini 14 is rough on my brass. Throws it 20 feet away and puts a dent in all the cases. I run these cases through the full length sizer and it nearly removes the dent, but it leaves a little nick in the case afterward. The case will fit into a Dillon case gauge ok with no hang-ups. Are those cases OK to reload? Anyone with a MIni 14 changed their gas block to an adj. style with any luck? If so what/whose did you use? The Mini is about 5 years old, post #180 serial#. Thanks for any replies!

[Xringshooter]

With what you described you should have no problems with them. You cleaned them up ok, they went through the sizer ok, they're not steel, go ahead and reload them for the mini. On the cases dented, if the dent comes out ok then they should be safe to use, a minor dent will fire form back to shape. If it looks like a heavy scratch or nick then put it under a good magnifier and take a look. If it looks like a crack then toss them in the scrap bucket. If the nick or scratch is real deep then toss them. If they look ok, reload and use.

[MrBi11]

FC head stamp could be:

Departmento de la Industrial Militar, Mexico City, Mexico
Federal Cartridge Corp., Anoka, MN 55303 (also produced in Germany and Austria for Federal) or
Prvi Partizan, Titovo, Uzice 31000, Yugoslavia