Brass weight- indication of quality?

[Wrathchild]

I was going thru some 30-06 brass to choose which to start working up a load for my new, to me, Sako.

I was going to choose the Hornady stuff but upon weighing several brands found these variations: (rough average weights)

(Note all are once fired, cleaned etc)

Hornady 184 grains
RP 200 gr
Fed 205 gr
Win 190 gr

Obviously I understand the advantages/cautions of sorting by weight, my questions:

Does the weight (and therefore thickness) of the brass have any bearing on it's quality or longevity?

Which lot of brass would your preference be to use and why?

FYI:
Initial load development so I have the option of starting with any of them.
Loading for accuracy, not necessarily for hunting.
Longevity not a big issue as they will be neck sized only after the first firing.

Hornady seems to be the lightweight here. Have you guys noticed similar in other calibres?

Thanks for any input, I'm more curious than anything

 

[downwindtracker2]

My weights were a little different when I did a few years back.My old 1980s Winchester was about the same or less than your Hornady. My Federal was suprisingly consistant at 200. Consistant weight would suggest more care,but my Federal is soft,almost like they were making one use only brass. So I would say ,No. BTW I asked an old pro about charge weight with the same differences as you are looking at and he said two grains.

 

[Wrathchild]

I too found the Federal to be quite consistent.

I checked the case powder capacities and the difference between the lighter Hornady and the heavier Federal was close to 4 gr of IMR 4350.