Poor Winchester brass quality control.

badaxeriverman · 2024-10-21T08:02:43-0700

6mm Remington said:
I've had a couple bags of 6mm Remington Winchester brass (50 rounds each) sitting on the shelf in my reloading room that I've had for maybe 4 years and just got around to prepping them to be loaded. In doing this prep work I found that out of 100 rounds of brass that I was truing up that 32 of them were defective to the point that I could not safely use them. It appeared that not enough brass was used in the cases and there were gaps and lines in the neck/shoulder area. You could actually see through some of the gaps. I was pretty unhappy to say the least. Brass is not cheap!

I contacted Winchester and told them of the situation and I included pictures of the brass. The woman I spoke with was very helpful and informed me to send the brass in and once they had it they would have it replaced and shipped back to me. I guess that's another part of the equation. I felt like man they were right on this and would help me out but it apparently hasn't worked out that way as I still haven't seen the replacement brass after a few weeks. I think I expected better results than this.

If you heard back yet? I sent my ammo in the beginning of September and I still haven’t got a response.

badaxeriverman · 2024-10-21T08:35:34-0700

I emailed right after this and got a response saying that my refund check is processing and I’ll see it in 1 to 2 weeks. They didn’t tell me how much it was for though. So if it shows in two weeks, it’ll be a little over two months turnaround time.

PJGunner · 2024-10-21T13:09:36-0700

wvbuckbuster said:
Last Federal brass I have used the primer pockets loosened up after a couple of firings. Was Federal GM match brass for the 308Win. Was surprised. Hopefully just a bad lot. Dan.

I'm not surprised. One of the guys I used to shoot with was an officer in the Border patrol. He knew i shot .308 so he gifted me 1,100 rounds of once fired Federal GM .308 brass. When I loaded some, the primer pockets were too loose to be safe for reloading purpose or shooting. All I can say is Federal must load that stuff awfully darn hot.
I've found most Federal brass for rifles has been a bit softer than Winchester or Remington yet I have 100 rounds of .300 Win. Mag. loaded with the older semi-round nosed 200 gr. Partition and milsurp H4831 that have kept tight primer pockets in spite of how hot they were loaded. That's a bullet I wish Nosler HAD NOT discontinued as it was extremely accurate in a Ruger #1B .300 Win mag. Their current 200 gr. bullet is also accurate but just not quite as accurate as the old version.
Paul B.