brass cost vs brass quality and hardness

aheppner

aheppner

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hey guys, I'm looking for some clarity on brass quality vs cost

some brands of brass or a lot more expensive than others but what are you really paying for,

the only brass i have used personally is Remington and Lapua and i have been happy with both, but I would like to hear what other have to say,

list these brands of brass in order of quality/ I guess by quality i mean a balance of consistency and long life

Hornady, Norma, Winchester, Remington, Lapua, Federal premium, Nosler, and any others you would like to add

also if there is any brand that you recomend to never buy let me know
 
aheppner said:
hey guys, I'm looking for some clarity on brass quality vs cost

some brands of brass or a lot more expensive than others but what are you really paying for,

the only brass i have used personally is Remington and Lapua and i have been happy with both, but I would like to hear what other have to say,

list these brands of brass in order of quality/ I guess by quality i mean a balance of consistency and long life

Hornady, Norma, Winchester, Remington, Lapua, Federal premium, Nosler, and any others you would like to add

also if there is any brand that you recomend to never buy let me know
Click to expand...

If you divided price of single brass case by amount of shots being fired from that brass then we would end up with value. IMHO there is nothing better value than once fired boxer primed military brass; Privi, IVI and S&B.
 
PRVI brass (or PPU loaded ammo) is Norma brass, just a different supplier.

IMHO, it is the best bang for your buck right now when purchasing new brass. Last I checked PRVI brass was priced per 100 what Win brass was priced per 50.....

I would never ever buy Nosler brass, it is too expensive for what you get, mediocre at best with a huge price tag. Personally I rate it lower that federal brass.

Cheers!
 
I look at it a little differently.
I shoot .30 180gr SMK's which cost around $0.40 each.
Lapua .308 brass costs roughly$0.90 each.
With my moderate loads I should be able to get at least 10 reloadings out of them which would put my brass cost at $0.09 per round
Which is less than twice the price of benchrest primers.

Norma is probably the only other brass that I would consider to be in the same league as Lapua.
 
thump_rrr said:
I look at it a little differently.
I shoot .30 180gr SMK's which cost around $0.40 each.
Lapua .308 brass costs roughly$0.90 each.
With my moderate loads I should be able to get at least 10 reloadings out of them which would put my brass cost at $0.09 per round
Which is less than twice the price of benchrest primers.

Norma is probably the only other brass that I would consider to be in the same league as Lapua.
Click to expand...

I have quite a stash of once fired prepped IVI once fired military 308Win brass that I paid $15/100pc IIRC. It weights 188gr and is match like quality. Belive it or not when fired with no higher pressure than factory loads, annealed and sized full lenght every 5 reloads that brass is good for at least 20 reloads and that means the brass expense per shot is under 1 cent ! This brass is 30+gr heavier than for instance Win brand brass so the powder charge must be started at least 10% less than other kind of brass.
 
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HOW do you get Norma and Prvi Partizan to be the same stuff?

Norma is made in Aamotfors in SWEDEN.

Prvi Partizan is made in Uzice in Serbia.

Mighty long road and a lot of water between those two towns.

Or did the Serbs buy all their ammo in that war they had a few years ago..... from the neutral Swedes?

Let's get real!

Standard cartridge brass is 70 copper, 30 zinc by weight. Norma advertises 72/28 for better brass, justifies the extra cost.

They DO make nice brass, nicer than Partizan, but each factory makes a handful of oddballs that the other does not.

We need them both, especially if your rack looks like mine.
 
Nosler use Norna brass, they are among the best, bought 600 rounds of Nosler Accu 165 gr 308 just for the brass at 1.00 a rounds it was the best deal ever and i got now a big stock of Norma Brass for my Nemesis... JP.
 
The reason high quality brass is made is for consistency. 100 yard plinkers are wasting money on Norma or lapua brass. Lapua is in a class by itself. Durable, extremely consistent and hard. Norma is # 2 for consistency, but not as tough as Lapua. Nosler has some nice brass and so does winchester, but they are simply not in the same league as Lapua. The only other brass Norma makes - that I know of - is Weaterby and Tubb.

I have Lapua brass that has been in use for 10 years and multiple barrels. No way primer pockets last on cheap brass. All long distance competitive shooters and the overwhelming majority of benchrest shooters use Lapua. If Lapua doesn't make brass for it, I don't shoot it.
 
I also believe that Lapua brass is well situated on the "top" of the heap as to brass quality, toughness, and durability.
Norma is excellent brass, but has been "soft", compared to Lapua or Winchester.

The Nosler 270 Win brass I had, although having the same internal capacity as my Winchester brass, loosened
primer pockets with lighter loads than did the Winchester offering.

I have used PPU brass, and there is NO way it is made by Norma. Decent brass, but not Norma.

Domestically, I use Winchester by preference, but R-P is pretty good as well. [Watch capacity]
FC brass is notoriously soft, and I do not normally use it for anything if I can get other brands.
The older "Frontier" brass was a variable thing, the newer stuff is more consistent, but also "soft" AFAICS.

I have some Lapua 260AI brass [260 fireformed to the AI configuration] that is on it's 25th firing.

This is phenomenal!! Love Lapua! Regards, Eagleye.
 
I've seen a couple of comments regarding Federal brass being poor.
Is it a "soft" issue, as Eagleye says?
Does the head and primer pocket expand too much?
Is there a safety issue?
 
Eagleye said:
I also believe that Lapua brass is well situated on the "top" of the heap as to brass quality, toughness, and durability.
Norma is excellent brass, but has been "soft", compared to Lapua or Winchester.

The Nosler 270 Win brass I had, although having the same internal capacity as my Winchester brass, loosened
primer pockets with lighter loads than did the Winchester offering.

I have used PPU brass, and there is NO way it is made by Norma. Decent brass, but not Norma.

Domestically, I use Winchester by preference, but R-P is pretty good as well. [Watch capacity]
FC brass is notoriously soft, and I do not normally use it for anything if I can get other brands.
The older "Frontier" brass was a variable thing, the newer stuff is more consistent, but also "soft" AFAICS.

I have some Lapua 260AI brass [260 fireformed to the AI configuration] that is on it's 25th firing.

This is phenomenal!! Love Lapua! Regards, Eagleye.
Click to expand...

EE
Can I give you 15 pieces of new 260 brass so you don't have to keep shooting that 1 piece you have over and over..................... FS
 
tootall said:
I've seen a couple of comments regarding Federal brass being poor.
Is it a "soft" issue, as Eagleye says?
Does the head and primer pocket expand too much?
Is there a safety issue?
Click to expand...


Ive had some that wasn't that bad, but had some 30-o6 cases that lasted 2- reloads and that's it. Not at all hot loads. The worst is Remington. I'd buy ten bags of Federal before I would buy a bag of Remington.
 
I shoot a fair bit of Federal brass that I usually obtain from other shooters at the range. I find it very consistent in weight and wall thickness and have developed some very accurate loads with it. While it does not last as long as some other brands I don't care if I only get 3 or 4 loadings as it is easily replaced with more "free" cases. :cool:
 
paperslayer said:
Ive had some that wasn't that bad, but had some 30-o6 cases that lasted 2- reloads and that's it. Not at all hot loads. The worst is Remington. I'd buy ten bags of Federal before I would buy a bag of Remington.
Click to expand...

Well that aint good to hear.
I have about 400 or 500 R-P cases of 30-06 that I'm about to load up for my Garand.
 
caramel said:
Nosler use Norna brass, they are among the best, bought 600 rounds of Nosler Accu 165 gr 308 just for the brass at 1.00 a rounds it was the best deal ever and i got now a big stock of Norma Brass for my Nemesis... JP.
Click to expand...

Nosler does not use Norma for all their brass offerings,they also use Remington and Federal,perhaps other makers as well.Their 8mm Rem Mag and .350 Rem Mag brass are made by Remington,their .280AI brass and others are made by Norma.To the best of my knowledge(information from American shooters),their .308 brass is made by Federal. Nosler brass is preprepped and weighed and sorted,which is it's major advantage.Mur
 
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