I am just getting into reloading and I've got a question about brass. I have been saving .223 brass shot from my bolt action .223 for a while. I now want to reload that brass and shoot it out of both my bolt gun and my AR15. Is this a good or bad idea?

Yes, it will be fine. You will need to resize and trim the brass though.

understood thanks for the answer I plan to FL size the brass per my reading on here and other places.

I'm leaning towards the RCBS Rockchucker supreme master kit. The kit doesn't include a case trimmer. Suggestions on case trimmer?

If you can swing it, the motorized RCBS trimmer is a luxury you'll apreciate.

You should separate the bolt action(BA) brass and the semi-auto brass(SA). This is not necessary but I do it for a couple of reasons: Accuracy and longevity.

You could FL size all of them and fire them from both weapons and have no issues....but there is no need to FL size the brass fired from your BA and used in your BA. Once brass has been fire formed(fitted exactly to your chamber due to expansion) in your BA...you only need to neck size it to re-fire it from the BA. This will increase your brass life (brass becomes work hardened after resizing/firing and will eventually crack) and increase accuracy because you have a more precise fit to your chamber.

You will need to FL size all brass fired from your SA to insure proper feeding.

If you pick up range brass...you will need to FL size all of them initially because they are most likely fired from a SA and are not fire formed for the chamber of your BA.

If you have multiple BA .223's, you will need to separate cases for each of them since there could be a difference in your chambers.

FL resizing of .223 brass requires you to lube the cases and can be a mess. Neck sizing does not usually require lube. Separating the BA and SA brass will save you this step for the BA cases.

Hope that helps. Good luck and good shooting.

BTW...for case trimming, especially for bulk ammo like .223, I like the Lee case trimmer. I chuck the lock stud in a drill and start trimming away. Tedious...but less tedious than using a precision, bench mounted trimmer.

This. Can't go wrong with the Lee trimmer, been using it for years without issue.

Can you anneal the necks to increase longevity as well?

yes

I would also seperate the brass from the 2 rifles. I would also seperate the brass by head stamps. If accuracy is the goal, you will want to shoot one head stamp brass. When you mix head stamps (brands of brass), you have different neck thicknesses and different internal case volumes, which will change up the pressure and velocity of the round, and effect the consistancy of the groups. If it's for just plinking ammo, then it won't matter. Just load and shoot.

This^^^
Also while you have brass chucked up you can get a foam sanding pad from your local paint store and run it over your cases and it will shine it up and make them pretty.

Thanks for the advice guys! I'm glad Ive been saving brass since I can't find it anywhere right now. Am I mistaken or is .223 brass very difficult to find right now?

Also reduce starting loads in military brass 10% and work up. Its thicker than commercial and has less case capacity generally. You can drive pressures up in a hurry.

If you decide to separate bolt action and semi-auto brass, the finished SA rounds will need a crimp. Not so much on the BA rounds. If you choose to shoot the same rounds out of both, FL size and crimp them all. I separate brass by head-stamp and also by weight. You'd be surprised at the variance in weights of cleaned, de-primed brass. Already mentioned, but worth saying again, heavier weight brass with same external dimensions equals higher pressure. Not really a safety issue if you're using good load data, but important for accuracy. I also use the Lee case-trimmer/guage chucked in a cordless drill, followed by in/outside champher/debur tool, a Scotchbrite pad, and a bottle brush run through the inside. Remember that each time you handle the brass is a chance to do a quick check for imperfections or variances. More handling slows the process down some, but you'll weed out some "questionable" brass that way and get far better accuracy. Be safe and have fun!

I see this come up now and then, but I havta say that I just don't sign off on it. About all I shoot is LC brass and while I do start out when developing a load with less than max loads, they will usually end up near or at max loads before I am satisfied. Still shooting the same batch of brass too.