What are the best brass cases?

358156 hp

358156 hp

At large, whereabouts unknown.
I do agree with the Remington 223 brass idea, but around here all Federal rifle brass goes into the scrap bucket. Especially 223/5.56. I also have a lot of Winchester 223, and Lake City 5.56.

I probably should qualify my Winchester usage a bit. Most of my rifle brass is 15-20 years old. I sold off a lot of rifles some time back and have only loaded 223 the last several years. Now with the new 30-06 almost ready at the gunsmiths, I'll get to renew my acquaintances with some of my brass.
 
W

Walks

Well-Known Member
I guess we all have different experiences and opinions.

I have found some of the stuff that was great 40yrs ago......... ain't worth a fiddler's...." gas " these days.
 
CWLONGSHOT

CWLONGSHOT

Well-Known Member
Dunno about it being best. But I like Starline for average. I Always likeD Norma and Lapua is usually tops for quality

CW
 
Rick H

Rick H

Well-Known Member
I have always liked Winchesters....in my .308W, my 7mm. Rem Mag., and the 30-30 cases that I form to 7x30 Waters.
Remington for my 6mm Rem (only maker when I bought the rifle) and for my 45-70 (Winchester has a larger case capacity and that is something I don't need in a 45-70 with smokeless).
The shop I worked at gave me a lifetime supply of once fired Federal Gold Medal Match .223Rem brass free for picking it up. That was over 20 years ago and still have over 3000 of them. Free is good.

I do have Starline 44 mag cases and I am very impressed with them.

I have had good luck with all except S&B 380's I toss those out, not willing to fuss with the tight primer pockets.
 
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
yeah it does seem to wander some and they all seem to go through some rough patches.

Winchester used to be my number one choice for everything since once it was fire formed it stayed fire formed unless you really put the screws to it.

handgun brass?
I just send an order into star line it's been that way since the 90's and it's stayed consistent since then.
 
Rockydoc

Rockydoc

Well-Known Member
So Starline for pistol. EEnie, Meenie, Mynie, Moe for rifle brass.
I think I will go for Starline all the way since I can't find Lapua, Norma, or Nosler(my top choices) in 30-30 Win.
 
RBHarter

RBHarter

West Central AR
I had a Rem made 1903A3 that preferred FC over LC and Rem . The Savage likes LC and the Rem wanted Winchester ........ Sure glad the 03' found a new home hated that rifle . Yes I tweeked everything and nothing over 900 fps shot for beans .......
The Savage gets a start load it runs 200 fps fast and is getting a new barrel . As the special order 18.5 just don't get it done for me .
Who puts a match chamber in a 760 ? That has got to be the stupidest go together ever . It's great but it almost drove me to a SB die . When "we" settled up on Win brass , a happy trim length , and min OAL jacketed and admitted that cast just mechanically wouldn't fit and couldn't work things got a lot better for us .
 
Ian

Ian

Notorious member
Federal .30-30 has always been light on zinc and long on life. It needs trimming more often and annealing next to never. Low max pressure allows a different coin composition than high-pressure calibers. Winchester .30-30 is thinner than the others across my 30 years of working with it and of all the brands splits necks and shoulders with fewest firings. Remington has been pretty good and consistent. Nickel looks good but has problems in all brands.

I hate S&B .45 ACP brass because the primer pockets are ungodly tight and insufficiently chamfered. The rims are excessively chamfered. I like Remington brass (it ain't all the same by a long shot) but others with a lifetime of match experience sort it straight to the scrap bucket. I sort Winchester straight to the scrap bucket (hard, thin, cant be trusted to hold the bullet).

If I'm buying and starline don't make it I'm going with Lapua or Federal. Prvi Partisan's various headstamps are excellent but I've only used 1F, not sure they sell empty brass?

Starline is making a lot more rifle calibers now and word is it's good.

We all have our own experiences that formulate our opinions on these things. I think it's interesting how many times we see experienced and thoughtful handloaders having directly contradicting opinions with data on both sides to back them up. Just goes to show their ain't one right answer most of the time so we better always keep an open mind.
 
W

Walks

Well-Known Member
A lot of problems with rimmed-bottleneck brass wearing out can be traced to improper sizing and lack of correct brass prep of New cartridge cases.
 
P

Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
Personal opinion here, so be warned.

Consistency is the name of the game. A lot of the complaints about this manufacturer or that manufacturer come more from changing your supplier of brass than the brass itself.
I did run into a really bad lot of Winchester rifle casings one time (that stuff, all from the same lot number, was all over the map) but for the most part - staying with one make yields good results.

YES, some may tend to be better than others but for shot to shot consistency, using the same make, from the same lot, will generally produce good results; regardless of the make.

I rarely sort handgun brass by manufacturer unless I'm really trying to wring that last little (and I do mean little) bit of accuracy out of the round.

I'm a bit more cautious with rifle brass and sort that by head stamp and sometimes even lot number. Some of my rifle casings are confined to a single rifle and I keep track of the number of reloading cycles.

So, handgun brass - well that's not an area where I lose sleep over mixing different manufacturers. Occasionally I'll do everything possible to reduce the variables but most of the time, practice yields smaller groups than tedious sorting by head stamp.

YMMV
 
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Ian

Ian

Notorious member
MMDV. I sort everything by headstamp, lot, and loading cycles, even .45 ACP and .38 SPL. I pull out all the stops on my OCD when it comes to handloading because it lets me be more lax in other areas of my life where the affliction is less....advantageous.
 
Brad

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Ian never wants to see my sorting method for most handgun brass. I have it sorted by loaded, fired, and cleaned brass.
I am many things but OCD is not one of them. I actually tend to be obsessive about not being compulsive.
 
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
man I got both the obsessive and the compulsive problem.
sometimes they intersect and sometimes they are separate.
it can be a good way to kill an otherwise nice afternoon locked in my head if they decide to join forces.
 
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