30-06 Brass which one is best

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morenc00

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Short story i purchased a mixed lot of 30-06 range brass and would like to get your input in which one to use as plinking and which one to keep for higher quality reloads.

The lot contained the following brass headstamps

Winchester ( winchester and wwsuper headstamp
Remington (same markings but 2 different letter types)
Barnes ( silver and brass colored primers)
Federal (silver primers with blue and red lacquer and brass primers)
Hornady ( some have silver primers,some brass, some primers pretty flattened out)
Sako (some say sako 100 ,some sako only)

From the look (no measurements yet) sako seem to be the best and hornady the worst
 
I would throw the Federal brass in the brass bin at the range. The rest I would sort by head stamp then by weight after resizing and trimming. It is hard to say what brass will be better. Some of it might have been shot through a sloppy semi auto chamber or it could have been fired out of a tight chambered bolt gun. YMMV.
 
OP - I suspect there is many ideas what is "best" - certainly my hand loading suggests "best" is a case with snug-to-install primer - does not matter headstamp if primer pocket has been expanded - usually by repeat previous loadings. You list multi-colour primers in same head stamp - so indicates that some may have been previously re-loaded, but no way that I know to tell how many times previously. Increases your odds to get usable cases, to anneal the neck area before you re-size - that reduces, but does not totally eliminate, getting necks that are cracked from multiple previous firings.

I recently did a batch of 100 R-P brass - some were bought new by me perhaps 25 years ago and repeatedly fired and reloaded in Ruger No.1 7x57. Some were purchased as "once fired" on CGN. I thought I followed salt bath annealing instructions closely - but when I resized that batch, I got 7 cases had necks that split.

If you take time to sort - you will discover differences in weight among different brands of cases - that is presumed to reflect on differing inside dimensions - different powder capacities. Or some will directly measure water volume of a re-sized and trimmed case with a fired primer left in place - but you will discover all brands are not the same to each other, and for "best", most of us would want our batches to be as identical to each other as we can make them. A "batch" that you make might be 3 cases or 300 cases - when swapping from one batch to another, is really no good reason to know that pressure is going to be the same, or that the bullet will go to the same place. Gets much more mixed up if you also use multiple brands primers, different powders and different bullets - one batch to another.

Time has seen changes - I have factory ammo Federal cases for my 338 Win Mag and my 308 Win that I have repeatedly been reloading since 1990's - I have no reason that I know of to quit that, until the primer pockets get loose. The primer pockets still feel to be reasonably snug to insert new primer. Not sure that a bag of "new" Federal brass is identical to the stuff with Federal (FC) head stamp from 30 years ago. Same with Winchester - used to come in blue label bags - I thought they were okay. Last purchase of new Winchester brass (22-250) came in red / black label bag - was 27 out of 100 that had significant deformities on the neck that prevented chambering into the rifle - empty brass - so I did re-size all and, I think, I will get at least one firing out of them - but from what I see, I expect a number of them to split their necks - possibly when I seat a bullet.

For decades, Federal Gold Medal Match ammo in various weight bullets had stellar reputation for accuracy - but once they have been fired and de-primed, I never have found out how to tell difference from that brass to "normal" FC cases from a bulk bag - so I do not actually know if that FGMM brass is different or the same to ordinary FC - which does not seem to have many "fans" on CGN.
 
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I use what ever brass I can find. Some lasts longer. Federal is softer brass so primer pockets expand quicker than other brass. I usually regulate it to lower pressure cast loads. I was given over 500 Federal 30-06 cases when I got my first Garand. Free brass so I thought even if I get only 4 reloads out of it I would have about two years of shooting. Some of it is on its fifth firing. I don’t really like Federal brass but I will use it. On low pressure loads with cast bullets it lasts a long time so it gets used there.
Use the brass you have until it’s no good. So what if you get a couple of less reloads on so called crap brass compared to better quality brass. The brass I like is PPU if I buy new. I have Lapua which is another favourite. People give me brass , all different brands which gets checked over and used.
 
sort your brass by head stamp

weight each pc and sort it by weight
198-200g = your best brass ..... you decide on the weight it could be higher or lower and work up a load for that brass
anneal and shoot it
under 196 or so use it as plinker loads unless you have 100 or so at the same weight (close to the same weight) then use it as your best brass

the rest of the brass use as plinker or shoot it where you might loose it

Crimped primers fix and use as normal Brass

I bought some Fed brass and it is very consistent in weight
 
I have a quantity of that Sako brass....it is decent stuff.
The Winchester brass with the WW-Super headstamp is good,
but the later "Winchester" headstamp is iffy.
R-P with the smaller letters is good
Federal I throw in the recycle bin.
No experience with the Barnes or Hornady 30-06 brass. Dave.
 
Federal gets 2-3 firings for me. I have some WW brass thats been fired 15 or more times. Remington has been ok, lapua is great.
 
I use Sako, Norma, Starline and Federal. Sako is best followed by Norma and Starline. Again Federal is too soft. A few days ago I measured the neck thickness of my Sako brass. The thickness varied only a half of a thousandth of an inch....Sako brass lasts forever in my Browning BAR.
 
Don't discount Federal if you are using "range" brass. While softer then others you can still get 3 or 4 loads out of it with moderate loads. 3 loads for free is better than zero loads and Federal is easy to find.

Also the worst brass I have seen for loosening up primer pockets is Nosler 30-06 brass. 2 mild loadings and I was able to push in new primers with my thumb. It all went into the recycle bin.

Older Winchester and Remington is always a safe bet as is Lapua. If you can find it the old Gevlot brass seemed to last forever if you anealed the necks every 3 or 4 loads. I have just started using the "new" Sig brass and so far it seems to be OK.
 
I had tried Sako, by pulling bullets, dumping powder and primers. It's a heavier brass, however, it worked quite well, not soft and I had many fired rounds from them. Sako would be my first choice.
 
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