Rating brass

[wvbuckbuster]

Of the brands FC, Remington, Winchester and Hornady how would you rate them? No1 as best. No 4 the worst. Not counting Norma, Lapua, Peterson and the like just common everyday brass. Dan.

 

[ShadeTree]

You will likely get different opinions on this. Personally I've used a LOT of Remington brass. Mostly older once fired stuff. Have rougly 2500 of it in 30-06 and it's the primary brass I use in most other cartridges. Keep it annealed and I get a lot of life out of it, and have shot enough good groups with it that I have confidence in it.

I have some Hornady I use in 250 Savage and it seems okay. Nothing really stands out that I'd knock it on.

I know from personal experience that the new Winchester brass in the red & black bags can be down right awful. I WILL NOT buy it again.

Federal brass can be forgiving and accurate.......particularly on the first firing. Too soft to stand up to rigorous reloading in my opinion.

 

[ShadeTree]

P.S. Dan, some other brands you didn't mention that are not premium brass but is good quality in my opinion. Especailly at the price point it used to run at before this mess started. Both PRVI and Starline, the few times I've worked with it as new brass, I was impressed. Not cheap cut corners brass. They try to send a consistent product out the door and it held up well.

 

[RL338]

My experience -
1. Older Winchester pre red/black bagged , after prepped , very consistent in internal volume.
2. Remington again after prepped good brass.
3. Hornady hit or miss , some calibers good some too soft case heads , internal volume all over the place on some caliber to.
4. Federal - JUNK , soft , huge weight difference over the years
Not one of the 4 but Starline as mentioned above is good brass for the money.

 

[SJB358]

1- Hornady
2-Rem
3- Ww
4- Federal

as a few others said, Starline whoops them all. It’s very good stuff. I’d gladly take Starline over any Nosler brass myself. It’s like the WW of older days.

 

[michsteve]

I was happy when Starline finally made 30/06 and .270 brass. I was regularly sending them messages to start making it and probably quite a few others. It was weird since both cartridges are top ten for reloaders.

 

[jimbires]

It's been awhile since I've used this brass ,.when I did use it my preferred brand was blue bag Win . I always had good luck with it . Rem and Fed were to soft for me . I loosened the primer pockets in just a couple cycles . I don't have much experience with Hornady . I have a batch , but not many cycles on it . years back there was frontier brass . if I remember right it was an offspring of Hornady . that brass was pretty rough stuff . it held powder and bullets , and that's about all I can say about it . when I was shooting bullseye, I used a fair amount of starline in my 45acp , it held up well . I'm not a fan of nosler brass .

 

[ShadeTree]

It's been awhile since I've used this brass ,.when I did use it my preferred brand was blue bag Win . I always had good luck with it . Rem and Fed were to soft for me . I loosened the primer pockets in just a couple cycles . I don't have much experience with Hornady . I have a batch , but not many cycles on it . years back there was frontier brass . if I remember right it was an offspring of Hornady . that brass was pretty rough stuff . it held powder and bullets , and that's about all I can say about it . when I was shooting bullseye, I used a fair amount of starline in my 45acp , it held up well . I'm not a fan of nosler brass .

Jim, agree with you, the old blue bag Winchester is good stuff.

Don't know what to say about your results with Rem brass. Not doubting you but I haven't experienced the same.

Only thing I can say is I've used exclusively once fired factory brass........not purchased bulk brass. Without annealing it seems too brittle and split necks will show up first.

With annealing that goes away and I get a high number of reloads out of them until eventually they get tossed because of the thin stretch line ahead of the web. I don't toss any because of loose primer pockets.

I don't run overpressure but run up at the top with some loads.......particularly in 30-06 and 6mm.

 

[George Foster]

1. Rem Brass
2.Hornady
3. Fed
4. Win

 

[jimbires]

Jim, agree with you, the old blue bag Winchester is good stuff.

Don't know what to say about your results with Rem brass. Not doubting you but I haven't experienced the same.

Only thing I can say is I've used exclusively once fired factory brass........not purchased bulk brass. Without annealing it seems too brittle and split necks will show up first.

With annealing that goes away and I get a high number of reloads out of them until eventually they get tossed because of the thin stretch line ahead of the web. I don't toss any because of loose primer pockets.

I don't run overpressure but run up at the top with some loads.......particularly in 30-06 and 6mm.

my Rem brass would be bulk brass , some in bags others in bulk boxes . I do run things hard , so it's to be expected . over pressure is the only thing that loosens primer pockets . it can be high pressure , or pressure to high for that brass . since I've been using better grades of brass ,my loose pocket problem has went away .
I've often wondered if the first fire was a mid pressure load , if that would harden / temper the brass to where it could take more abuse . maybe this is what's helping your pocket life .


edit for spelling ; it's bulk , not baulk

 

[wvbuckbuster]

Good discussion guys. That's why I asked. Been loading some FC 308 Gold Medal brass lately and primer pockets seem to loosen up fairly quick. Hadn't used any for a while. Good for 2-3 loads. Remington, I have used a bunch over the years in different calibers with little to no trouble. The older Winchester and the newer nickel plated has done well giving good service. Haven't used much Hornady but it's close to FC in some calibers what I have experienced. Didn't list Starline but so far It has done really well in my 223. So here is my list in order of the brass I asked your onions.
1. Remmington
2. Winchester
3. Hornady
4. FC
Have a bunch of the FC 308 brass to use up then will be moving on. Thanks for everyone's impute. Dan.

 

[PJGunner]

Quite a few years back now, the late gun writer Bob Hagel did an article on brass. Long story short was Winchester brass was number one, Remington number two and Federal number three. Based on many years reloading it tend to go along with his findings with this caveat. I haven't had to buy any new brass for anything I shoot in the last five to seven years. At least none that I can think of.
Last batch was some Winchester and Remington 7x57 brass a guy had for sale at a gun show maybe five years ago. Both brands have held up quite well. On small batch of Winchester went through ten or more reloads before I put them in the scrap pile. To be honest they were still serviceable. For the record that brass was loaded well above book data which is normally kept low due to older weaker guns made in that chambering. I ran those using 7-08 data with no problems in modern rifles, mainly a Winchester M70 FWT, Ruger #1 and a custom based on an FN Mauser action. The Remington brass was still good to go at ten rounds but primer pockets weren't quite as snug as I would like so they too got sent to the scrap pile.
I did have some Federal brass that I'd shot as factory ammo a long time agao. Never did try them with 7-08 data but passed them on to a friend who wasn't as fussy. that brass was once fired.
The only Norma bras I ever worked with was for my 1903 M/S in 6.5x54. That stuff was quite soft and primer pockets were usually too loose after the second reload. Kind of soured me on Norma brass. A while back I got hold of some Herter's brass for the 7x57. Box said "Made in Sweden" on the side. I've since learned that Norma made much of Herter's brass back in the day. I wonder if it's as soft as those 6.5x54s were?
Paul B.

 

[clearwater]

When I would get the rarer calibers, like 7x57 or 30-40. the Remington brass would come in with the most consistent weights.
Frontier has been the most inconsistent. I think it is made by Hornady.
Federal brass is soft, at least in 223.