5.56mm Lake City steel cartridge cases...
Experimental cases made at the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in 1969. These are unfired, and never been loaded. Headstamped "LC69" at 90 degrees, with a small "c" and small "w" at 180 degrees for cold worked. Brass needs to be annealed between steps when drawing cases because it has a tendency to work harden. But cold rolled steel does not work harden, so annealing is not necessary. The drawn pieces could be cold worked. It wasn't even necessary to body anneal the cases before forming the neck and shoulder.
These cases are from production prior to any surface treatment. That is, they have no plating or lacquer to prevent rusting. The priming machine also punches the flash hole in the case, and these cases have not been primed so there is no flash hole.
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