Your brass manufacturer rating please?

Haven't used enough to say either way:
Lapua
Norma
LC
IVI

Favourites in order:
Hornady 308 Win Match
*RP (except 303B; they seem to get case head separations worse than Win)
*Winchester
* - about equal in my experience (except the RP 303B)
Prvi (hard, need annealing sooner than others, sometimes first firing)
S&B (hard like Prvi, often have tight primer pockets)
WW Super
FC (I use them a lot for cast bullet loads since I have a mountain of them and the low pressure doesn't cause the primers to fall out like normal loads do)
Hornady 30-30 (all I've bought or found have pistol-depth primer pockets)

I'm sure I'm missing some and of course there will be better and worse lots from the same manufacturer. This is just in general off the top of my head.
I've been meaning to buy a box of Lapua 308 to try out but have been putting it off.
 
Out of the box money no object... NORMA USA

If willing to do basic neck prep, PRVI

Most US brands no longer sell component brass. Not impressed with Hrn. Prefer to just buy Norma if going to pay Nosler' like prices.

Jerry
 
Sorry Nomad but it is Lapua and Norma for me now unless I can find someone with a stash of vintage brass
Don't like what I have seen in today's offerings from the others
Cheers
What calipers are you looking for
 
3macs1 said:
Sorry Nomad but it is Lapua and Norma for me now unless I can find someone with a stash of vintage brass
Don't like what I have seen in today's offerings from the others
Cheers
What calipers are you looking for
Click to expand...
Loading 30/06, 270 win, 308,243,204 and 300 sav at present .No dies for 30/30 yet. My new brass is all hornady. Can't seem to find rem anywhere.Going to get some Lapua for the 30/06,243 and 308
 
For what its worth at http://www.accurateshooter.com/ in the reloading forum a member by the screen name CatShooter who works in a ballistics test lab posted the Rockwell hardness of the different brands of cases measured in the base web area. Federal and Remington were the softest and U.S. military Lake City was the hardest followed by Lapua. This "hardness" rating relates to stretching and primer pocket usable life so hard brass is tougher and lasts the longest.

Below CatShooters posting on brass hardness to settle a "discussion" on which brass was the hardest Lapua or military Lake City.

"The actual measurements were (.062"x100kg, Rockwell "B")

LC 2008 = 96

Lapua 223 Match = 86

Winchester 223 = 69

Remington "R-P" = 49

For all you guys that have believed that Winchester cases were tougher than Remington... you are vindicated, they are a lot tougher!.... but LC and Lapua are the "The pick of the litter"!

The difference between Lake City and Lapua is NOT enough to account for the problems that the OP is talking about...

... but the difference between LC and commercial cases IS enough to account for what that Pesky Ed is talking about." (and I have no idea who Pesky Ed is) :evil:

And from reading the postings and the articles at Accurate Shooter Lupua is number one in brass quality and uniformity "BUT" if your on a budget then Winchester brass is a good choice.

Bottom line, the average shooter/hunter with a off the shelf factory made rifle will do fine with Winchester brass. If your shooting for benchrest accuracy and bug hole groups with a above average rifle then spend more for Lapua.

I'm a cheap bastard so I make due with Winchester brass because it is sold in all the sporting goods stores and gun shops. On top of this I quit hunting years ago and our longest range is 100 yards at our shooting club so Lapua brass would be over kill.
 
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PitBull1973 said:
Oh yes I forgot to mention LC brass 7.62X51 once fired. Beautiful cases and very thick can't wait to anneal them and resize.
Click to expand...

All Military ammunition is either made thicker or harder in the base to better withstand larger diameter military chambers. And if only our American military Lake City plant made .303 British cases the words case stretching and case head separations would be a distant memory. (so buy Priv Parizan, they sell .303 ammo to third world countries still using .303 machine guns) meaning it built Ford Truck Tough.

f-btough_zps3fdc205c.jpg


PISS_ON_CHEVY_zpseb7d18c1.gif
 
For precision, it's Lapua and Norma. I use a fair bit of LC for my ARs. It's mostly Winchester after that due to quality and availability. Next is Remington and finally Federal. Funny, I've always had exceptional accuracy using factory Federal ammo, but for reloading purposes, the brass is crap. I've got a bunch of Privi on hand for some milsurps, but haven't gotten around to annealing it yet. Oddman out is Starline. I picked up some for my. 45-70 Marlin last fall. With my own cast bullets the Starline has been performing very well. I'd definitely like to pick up some more to do additional testing in other calibers.
 
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