Poor Winchester brass quality control.

[6mm Remington]

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.

 

[RL338]

Red and Black bagged brass is complete crap for them. On the flip side I contacted them , sent the junk brass back and did receive a check for the full amount I paid for the brass.

 

[Joec7651]

The new Winchester brass I have tried To use lately (and that was the last bag I had) has been sub-par to put it nicely. I don’t mind a neck being out of round because I size first regardless, but many of the cartridge heads wouldn’t fit in a Lee or Redding shell holder because it was oblong and not round. I haven’t had any issues with the older blue bag brass but the red/black has been a gamble at best. Seems like while other manufacturers have been improving quality Winchester has fell a bit. At this point they are disappointing.

It’s not a deal if you have to buy two bags to ensure 50 rounds of in spec ammunition. Buy quality brass to begin with. It may cost a few dollars more per package, but all 50 or 100 pieces of brass will be usable. You’ll also only need to buy one package, not 2. I’ll spend a couple bucks extra to forego any headaches.

 

[GregoryB.]

I have also gotten some less than stellar brass from them as well. Had to full length resize them before I could load them.

 

[JD338]

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.

David,
It might be that they have to make a run of 6mm Rem brass. Maybe Winchester can give you a time frame for the replacement brass.

JD338

 

[michsteve]

This is weird in a way because their factory ammo must be up to par? I wonder do they sell the leftover brass that doesn't meet spec for their own reloading.

 

[Joec7651]

This is weird in a way because their factory ammo must be up to par? I wonder do they sell the leftover brass that doesn't meet spec for their own reloading.

I think this is precisely what they are doing. I would do the same thing. I’d use my best components in the ammo I put my name on. Their quality on brass will return but the question is when.

 

[PJGunner]

My preference on brass has always been Winchester first, Remington second and Federal last. I also loads for some oddball cartridges like the 7x57 Mauser and .358 Win. which are only made on a seasonal basis and Winchester decides when it's the season. I was at a gun show when I ran into a fellow who sold strictly reloading components like brass, bullets and loaded ammo. I'd bought bullets from him in years past so we knew each other somewhat. He had a goodly sized amounf of Winchester andRemington 7x57 brass in bulk and a nice pile of .358 Win. to boot. I asked him what he was asking for the brass, all of it? He said some price then showed me the paperwork wth the prices he paid. He said give me $50 over what I'm into it and it's yours. I had to borrow his hand truck to cart it out to my vehicle.Over 500 round of 7x57 and 300 rounds of ,358 Winchester brand brass. The only bad thing I found was 5 ot 6 rounds of .356 Win. brass head stamps as .358 Win. That went in the collector's brass box. fact is that brass will outlast me. I've used so little of it because it's been so good. I load 7x57 on the very hot side and I finally dumped the last set used after seven hot loadings just on general principle. The Remington brass has also held up very well. I use the Winchester for one rifle and the Remington in another rifle.
Paul B.

 

[KinleyWater]

You said the bags were maybe four years old - I wonder if the quality has improved. We've seen quality in the industry was an wane over the years - thinking Remington - so I'm just curious if they've improved their QC since then.

 

[RL338]

I believe the bagged brass being sold is culled from their production lines. There is way more money in quality loaded ammo for them.

 

[Alderman]

I’ve used quite a bit of Winchester brass and have never had an issue other than an occasional funky piece. Haven’t bought any in a while and I have been reading about quite a few failures lately.

 

[Lazy Bushman]

I've never had much problem with Win brass. I find the necks thin out a little sooner but that could be distorted as I shoot more of it. I'm not reloading for on paper accuracy and most of mine gets used in the bush and because I rarely return from a hunt with all my brass, I sure as heck don't buy expensive stuff. I guess I'm lucky not to have experienced some of the war stories and experiences that I know a number of people have with Winnie brass

 

[gerryaz]

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. I also mentioned that I hoped for a quick resolution, as I had heard good things about Grant Stone customer service. 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.

It’s frustrating when you invest in quality components and don’t get what you expect, especially after waiting so long to use them. It’s great that you reached out to Winchester, and it sounds like they initially handled your complaint well by offering to replace the brass. However, the delay in receiving your replacement is understandably disappointing. Hopefully, they will resolve the issue soon and send you the new brass. If you haven’t done so already, it might be worth following up with them to check on the status of your replacement.

 

[badaxeriverman]

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.

It doesn’t shock me that it’s taking so long. I sent them a 1000 count brick of browning re branded 1260 fps 33 grain hollow points a couple months ago and haven’t heard back yet other than they said eventually they’ll send me a check for a refund. I opened one of the 500 count boxes in the first 200 round less than half of them wood fire. The ones that did I have them on video and you can see the bullet fly across the screen from inches away from the barrel like it was a slow BB gun . I sent them some defective ammo years ago and it almost took me a half a year to get a refund.

 

[filmjunkie4ever]

The blue and white bags on the late 90’s and early 00’s seemed to be good stuff. It wasn’t until around 2010 that I began to see an increase in culls in Winchester brass.

I won’t buy another bag of Winchester after buying 100 rds of the Black/Red bag brass a few years ago.

Nosler and Starline are my favorites these days. Have had good luck with R-P as well but it’s unobtainium these days.

 

[Lou270]

I haven’t had any issues with recent 6.8W and 270 wsm brass. However on 6.8w FB page have seen some complaining. Any case, Have seen no new Win brass except 6.8W in a while so they can probably sell everything they make in factory ammo and only make 6.8W since it is their recent intro

Lou

 

[truck driver]

I've had some bad brass and primers over the years. In had gas burns on the bolt face of one of my rifles and they paid for repairs and refunded the cost of the primers.
I still use their primers and brass but have also found other brands that worked as well so when what I have on hand is used up I will find other brands to fill in the void.

 

[badaxeriverman]

I’ve always had extremely good luck with their brass, but I’ve gotten a lot of the old bags as stated above. The stuff I won’t buy is federal. Too many cracked cases after once fired I’ve seen since I started getting into reloading 25 years ago. I remember buying one bag of 223 during the shortage and all the case necks were WAY shorter than Sami minimum to the point they looked goofy. Needless To say I sent them back for a refund. I had a buddy who had a couple boxes of 243 federal ammo fired and gave me the brass and almost every one of necks were cracked in the sliver coated cases. I would’ve blamed his gun, but he’s had it for years and I’ve reloaded for him without cracked neck issues. Also pick up a lot of range brass and federals are normally the ones that have the most cracked necks when I pick them up.

 

[RL338]

The blue and white bags on the late 90’s and early 00’s seemed to be good stuff.

+1 on that.
Also a lot of my 375 Wby brass is made from Winchester Western white boxed 375 H&H brass. Again good stuff.

 

[wvbuckbuster]

I’ve always had extremely good luck with their brass, but I’ve gotten a lot of the old bags as stated above. The stuff I won’t buy is federal. Too many cracked cases after once fired I’ve seen since I started getting into reloading 25 years ago. I remember buying one bag of 223 during the shortage and all the case necks were WAY shorter than Sami minimum to the point they looked goofy. Needless To say I sent them back for a refund. I had a buddy who had a couple boxes of 243 federal ammo fired and gave me the brass and almost every one of necks were cracked in the sliver coated cases. I would’ve blamed his gun, but he’s had it for years and I’ve reloaded for him without cracked neck issues. Also pick up a lot of range brass and federals are normally the ones that have the most cracked necks when I pick them up.

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.