Brass Opinions

I don’t care for Winchester brass

Hornady, starline, federal and Remington has been good for me.

Lapua Nosler and Norma are out of my budget to try. I am not a precision Guy either.
Sun moa hunting is my game.
 
Older Winchester is good stuff, when it still came in white boxes. Otherwise, Lapua, RWS, Norma.

I've had some Norma in 7x57 that seemed a little soft. The only Hornady brass I've tried is in .223, and it seemed ok in that caliber.
 
I like Lapua, Norma and Sako because I shoot a lot of 6.5x55, and these cases have the correct dimensions.
For US brass I like Remington for .308 and 22-250 because the primer pockets feel very consistent when seating primers. Nosler and Hornady are decent too, but Hornady you have to deal with crimped primers if you're using once fired.
 
In this order:
1) Lapua, Sako
2) Norma, Nosler
3) Starline, PPU
4) Remington, Hornady
5) Federal, Winchester
Most expensive these day is Nosler brass, I don't know what they are thinking. Best quality/price is PPU, it is 1/3 of Lapua's.
 
Lapua sets the standard for all brass, unfortunately, their cartridge selection is limited. Lapua is followed by"
Peterson
Sako
Norma
Nosler
I just acquired Privi (PPU) for the first time. I read positive results, for an inexpensive brass. I'll give it a try, if good, I'll place it in the top 5 of my list.
 
Not real sure how I would know which is best or not - was my impression that Lake City 30-06 and IVI 7.62 NATO and 5.56 NATO were decent, so I had been accumulating them. My choice most likely because I read they were good, not because I proved it one way or the other - typically used to be cheap to buy.

I bought several "red/black label" bags of Winchester 22-250 - in only bag of 100 I have opened, about 25 of them needed much fussing to even be useable - and is two more unopened bags - some case neck mouths were shaped like "pour spout" as if taken off some sort of forming die without completely removing - would not even chamber into rifle as removed from the bag - several show signs what I think are, or might become, splits on case mouths. Several had folds on the shoulders as if annealing was not sufficient while being formed? Never saw that previously on W-W "blue label" bags - I have gone through multiple bags of R-P and W-W over the years - is so many for any one cartridge that I doubt that I have reloaded any of them more than about 4 times - can not say how I would know one to be a lot different from another, so far.

Then reading on Internet that many sellers / brands actually have jobbers or contractors to make the brass, now-a-days - recently bought three bags of 7.62x39 - sold as "RUAG USA" brand - head stamps say "MFS" - so sold by USA company (owned by parent company in Switzerland?), but made in Hungary. Is alleged that the various Weatherby headstamped brass here is made by Norma - at least at one time.

Before prices went all stupid about most reloading things, I bought 4 boxes of 20 Weatherby brand 7mm Weatherby Magnum brass for $2.94 each case (Oct 2020) - mailed to me - I loaded up 20 - 19 of them worked, one would not chamber into a 7mm Weatherby Mag, and the rifle was also a Weatherby branded Mark V. I have not yet opened the other 3 boxes to try for fit into the rifle. So like Winchester brand ammo and Winchester brand firearms - not made by same company, at all, any more.

So far as I have experienced, brass "dies" by necks splitting or primer pockets getting loose. I only know to back off from "hot" loads to make pockets last longer. I never used to for many years, but recently started to anneal case necks - I believe that helps avoid splits. But I can not say that any particular brand of brass responds better or worse than another brand - totally am confounded today as to who even makes the stuff - brand appears about irrelevant - is as if two or three brands could actually be made in same factory, by same jobber. Then from year to year, brand stays the same, but is likely a different jobber used. Even within a factory is different lines - so no real reason to believe what comes off Line #1 is same as what comes of Line #8 - but both are likely within whatever tolerances are required, if there are any.

But I did satisfy myself that there is volume variation - even among brass from same box or bag - as well as one brand to another - by weighing cases and weighing a second time when full of water - even from same box/bag have not been identical - my relatively crude scales can easily measure difference among them.
 
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1) Free Brass
2) Cheap Brass
3) Available Brass

:p

All I know for sure is it isn't the brand of brass that is making me miss my target lol
 
Some of you have mentioned Sako and RWS brass. Are these available to us now in Canada? Years ago, I used RWS brass in an 8x68S and a 9.3x64 Brenneke. It was very good. I have some loaded Sako ammunition that I could shoot, I guess, to get the brass, but would rather start with virgin brass. I've found both Lapua and Norma brass to be of very uniform weight. These are about all I'm using these days.
 
South Pender said:
Some of you have mentioned Sako and RWS brass. Are these available to us now in Canada? Years ago, I used RWS brass in an 8x68S and a 9.3x64 Brenneke. It was very good. I have some loaded Sako ammunition that I could shoot, I guess, to get the brass, but would rather start with virgin brass. I've found both Lapua and Norma brass to be of very uniform weight. These are about all I'm using these days.
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I still see RWS and Norma, though not in the amounts that we used to see. I too used RWS primarily in my 8x68, it was very good brass. - dan
 
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