So I opened up a new bag of 300 Win MAg brass tonight and was thoroughly disgusted with what I saw. Almost every round had heavy tarnishing (possibly even pitting) where the neck and shoulder meet, some had it the full length of the case and some on the case head. Numerous cases also had a flash hold that was not centered in the primer pocket. Has anyone else noticed a decline in the quality of brass from Winchester lately? I have a new bag of 218 Bee and 22-250 yet that I am dreading opening. I have always used their brass and have never had issues with this yet. The brass I bought last year was still good. I am thinking it may be time to change manufacturers.
Winchester brass
- Thread starter Jeromey
- Start date
I had this issue with some Winchester 270 WSM brass and a Lee shellholder. Ended up being the shellholder, their sizing dies also didn't work. You had to rotate the brass 90 degrees until you sized each case 4 times so the round would chamber again. Bought RCBS dies and it is all good now.
hugh manuell
Regular
- Location
- Central Ontario
I have had a lot of Win brass that was dented. No such problem with Rem. Also the Win stuff seems rough compared to others.
Hugh
Hugh
I agree. I have recently bought brass from Winchester in a number of calibers. All were fine. That said even the best manufacturers will have problems. Uncentered flash holes is a clear quality problem, take them back and get proper ones.
Mount Sweetness
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Southern Ontario
Can't believe you guys buy brass..
The last 3 bags of Winchester 25-06 brass I have bought have been so undersized I cannot use them for fireforming.Length was 10 thou short,across the base was 6-7 thou off and the necks were 10 thou too narrow.I had to run them through a .280Rem die then back through the 25-06 die to form a false shoulder.I've never had to do that before. Mur
MapleSugar
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- On the loose from NIMH
Why not? How else are you going to get enough for serious load development
I also don't want to count on unmatching, range pick-ups for consistency. Especially when you don't know if they have already been loaded a dozen times and were tossed out by the previous owner.
BigUglyMan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- New Scotland
Cheaper to start with 4 bags of new brass than to blaze through 10 boxes of factory ammo. Plus less wear and tear on your rifle while getting the loaded ammo into reloadable casing state.
I continue to favor Winchester brass for my reloading if I am using domestic. While I have had the odd bad case [folded neck, dents, etc] Overall, I have been very happy with it. I also have had reasonable success with Remington, but got a real surprise with Remington 7x57 cases. They were 25 grains heavier than the Winchester offering, and I had to adjust all my loads to use them. Lapua gets the nod for some chamberings, particularly my long range target rifles. I find Federal and Noma cases to be a bit "soft" in most chamberings. Frontier [Hornady] brass seems pretty good. Regards, Eagleye.
If you can find it, PRVI makes excellent brass, hard enough, consistent, even necks and consistent weights. It is also much less expensive than most of the Euroean competitiors and often less than the domestic brass. I like it so well I buy their loaded ammo and use it for target practice, just to get the brass.
Same. I have always had positive results using Win brass... I use it several rifle and pistol loads.
As mentioned.. tarnish would be a retailer / retailer storage issue or maybe they got wet in transport and sat in water???
I have never seen this with any of the new brass I have purchased.
Regards,
Need to read the original post closer. Tarnished PLUS OFF CENTER flash holes. That is a QC problem not a retailer issue.
Mount S
As to buying brass, I load 2-3 thousand rounds for a 4 day gopher shoot. Never going to find matching headstamps in that quantity with pickup brass unless you have access to a military range.
blacksmithden
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
There's a reason it's the cheapest stuff out there. I've never had one undersize, but lots of it with minor dents. What really speaks volumes about their quality control is when you find a piece of 308 brass in with a brand new bag of 300 win mag. I don't think I'm the only person that's happened to.
FWIW the best .303 brass I have ever encountered anywhere is the Defence Industries stuff made between late 1941 and late 1945. The late 1942, all 1943, 44, 45 is stamped ust the date at 12 o'clock and "DI" and "Z" at 8 and 4. Boxer primed. EXTREMELY consistent. All rims very close to max.
Excellent price, too: people still think it's not reloadable, throw it away.
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Excellent price, too: people still think it's not reloadable, throw it away.
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