Preferred brass for .300 win mag

[siegehammer63]

So guys, any preferred brass? I've heard horror stories about Norma and Now let brass for the price, Lapua doesn't make any belted cartridges atm, and finding new Rem brass locally is proving to be a pain. Thoughts?

 

[Cbob]

I’m going with nosler. So far so good. Nice stuff

 

[mildot]

So guys, any preferred brass? I've heard horror stories about Norma and Now let brass for the price, Lapua doesn't make any belted cartridges atm, and finding new Rem brass locally is proving to be a pain. Thoughts?

I'm surprised, I thought Norma was one of the best? mmm??

 

[alberta tactical rifle]

So guys, any preferred brass? I've heard horror stories about Norma and Now let brass for the price, Lapua doesn't make any belted cartridges atm, and finding new Rem brass locally is proving to be a pain. Thoughts?

The only horror story around Norma brass is the price. Been using it for many years in several different calibers and no problems.
Nosler is good quality, expensive and VERY SOFT, so not the best choice if you run your loads on the hotter side as the primer pockets open up.
Hornady is fair, available but needs some love prior to being used.
Remington in my opinion is crap just below Winchester which used to be decent.
Federal is not bad especially if you spend the extra for their GMM version but still needs some time and love to make it really good.

 

[siegehammer63]

I had heard some lots of Nosler and Norma having bad neck sizing and training problems for the extra cost. Apparently Winchester has some problems as well.

 

[siegehammer63]

Thanks ATRS, that really makes a difference in terms of perception. Most of the articles and forums I'm reading are a little dated so I figured it was worth a query.

 

[alberta tactical rifle]

I had heard some lots of Nosler and Norma having bad neck sizing and training problems for the extra cost. Apparently Winchester has some problems as well.

For unknown reasons Norma does not inside/outside mouth deburr or chamfer their casings. Weird but not a big deal. I have found their neck concentricity and wall thickness pretty good overall. Sorting for case volume is nearly a waste of time, but I do do it just cuz I am anal.

 

[siegehammer63]

Yeah for my long range hunting/maybe someday prs goals I doubt I'd have to worry about brass weights, if I can get SD pretty uniform then I'm good.

 

[Bassmaster]

Don't use Federal.........
I don't load for 300 WM but do load for 7mm Rem Mag and using the fed stuff was a nightmare
I'm using 1F Win, NP

 

[Mickey849]

Hornady - I only ran 100 pieces so far but I put 5 firings on them with only neck sizing and trimming (no annealing between firings.) With hotter loads, the primer pockets stayed surprisingly tight until the 4th firing and even then the few that loosened up still let primers seat tight enough to not worry me. Brass got dumpy enough above the belt that running the bolt on my tikka got difficult after 5 firings.

Winchester - Whether i bought brass bagged or pulled factory ammo apart to use it, warm to hot loads seem to kill the primer pockets after 2 firings. My RCBS summit press could decap cases under its own handle weight when they got really loose; consequently I could seat primers with my thumb and decided they aren't safe to run. I also found the necks easily wrinkle from what looks like excessive lubing (even though I use imperial graphite and don't feel much resistance while sizing.) After this they frequently split (especially if the neck expander in a sizing die has an aggressive taper.) Annealing could reduce this but I wanted to see how long I could go without it. One plus side is split / wrinkled cases didn't affect accuracy (handloads held 1/2 MOA with me / my rifle setup out 1000m without issue.)

Waiting for Peterson Brass to come back in stock somewhere but may try PPU brass next.

 

[BCBRAD]

I've been using Norma brass in the 300WM, its a tactical rifle and best (5 shot) group to date is 4.00"/1048 yards.

I skim the necks, anneal periodically, plus the regular case prep. I'm more than half way through the barrel with the same 150 brass I started with.

What did you hear that was not complementary?

 

[hometownhero]

What did you hear that was not complementary?

Most of what I hear is norma is on the soft side of things.

 

[BCBRAD]

Most of what I hear is norma is on the soft side of things.

I have not found that, small sample though , I use Norma brass in 300wm and 6 BR formed to 6 Dasher with no issues. Pockets stay good with 10's and 10's of cycles.

 

[Mickey849]

Waiting for Peterson Brass to come back in stock somewhere but may try PPU brass next.

Found out about a precision rifle shoot happening in May and pulled the trigger on some PPU brass; if it shows up early enough that I can work up a load and load it up before the match, I'll pass on some impressions here...

 

[Magoo22]

While I think PPU brass is fairly stout I needed to do a lot of work to it when I bought it. There was a few pieces that could not be salvaged but after the first firing I have the necks where I want them. Some of the primer pockets were not cut properly and I needed to hit them with the Swedger. On load 2 with them now and will see how they do.

The lazy guy in me loves Nosler for .300wm. Several times through the press and no problems with the nosler yet. Running 190 SMK with 81.0gr. H1000

I tried buying Hornady Match rounds and reloading the brass as well. Did not have very good success as several of the cases split on the first reload. Just above the belt and I only needed to neck size them.

I look forward to Peterson and hope they turn out to be the answer. Until then I will continue to look for Nosler.

 

[Mickey849]

Yeah.....my recipe is kind of a weird one.....

I'm using 71.5gr of Vihta Vuori N560 and 208gr Hornady ELD-M. While a burn rate chart might suggest that this powder is similar to Alliant Reloader 19, Quickload showed potential for use in longer than normal barrels.

I run a 32" Lothar Walther Super Heavy Palma 10" twist barrel on Tikka T3 action. On a 25 celcius plus day I get about 3050 fps. I was running 72.7gr and getting almost 3150; this is where primer pockets started to get severely loose. Prolonged chambering of rounds in a warm to hot barrel during PRS strings of fire didn't instill confidence either so I went with the next lowest accuracy node.

.300 win mag is awesome when you get loads dialed in; brass variety / availability and action / magazine choice seem to be the main obstacles (I won't mention barrel life lol....)

 

[Mickey849]

So, here are the first impressions with PPU .300WM brass

- Factory annealed for the win! Unless you like the look of brass where the annealing discolouration is tumbled / cleaned off....you do you as the cool kids say these days.

- It's bagged and thus the odd case mouth might get dented. I ran my brass through a Redding Neck Sizer with imperial graphite / application media for lube. Neck tension felt normal.

- The flash holes looked to be punched; there are visually obvious burrs inside the case where the flash holes are. I've never bothered to deburr / haven't tested the idea yet but FYI for the camps that do.

- Primer pockets felt tight but not even / parallel if that makes sense; almost as if one is seating primers without removing a slight pocket crimp or the bottom of the pockets are wider than at the top. Primer pocket depth seems consistent; I tried to run a Redding uniforming tool inside the first few and the cutter barely even made contact with the pocket. I had no issues priming though; I use Federal 215M primers for .300wm and an RCBS Bench Priming Tool (not the APS strip model) to prime rifle cases off the press.

- Case lengths are within 0.003" of eachother; average length is approx 2.606" putting the brass about 0.004" below trim length depending what your load data may say. I chamfered / deburred the cases and load tested with them as is for length.

The first batch I did a ladder test with all survived the first firing; decapping the fired cases at home indicated the primer pockets stayed tight (even at warmer charges.) The cool part is I found a potential accuracy node that lets me fireform brass yet still wreak awesomeness with accuracy (at least at 400m anyway...

UPDATE!

I finally got to measure case capacity in samples of both Brand New and fire-formed brass (albeit for my gun's chamber....but still some neat results i think.) Cases were filled with tap water via syringe up to the case mouth edge (no concave or convex miniscus) and weighed on a digital scale to represent grains H2O.

Brand New / Fire-Formed

90.1 -------- 92.6
90.3 -------- 92.6
90.1 -------- 92.5
89.8 -------- 93
90.1 -------- 92.6
90.5 -------- 92.9
89.8 -------- 92.6
89.6 -------- 92.5
89.4 -------- 92.3
89.8 -------- 92.7
AVG 89.95 / AVG 92.63

Case capacity spread is about 1.1gr H2O with brand new brass whereas it dropped to .7gr with the fireformed cases in my gun's chamber (about 3 percent increase in case capacity.)

 

[Svt40 fan]

I use federal brass for all my rifles. holds up really well

 

[sherlockbonez]

So, here are the first impressions with PPU .300WM brass

- Factory annealed for the win! Unless you like the look of brass where the annealing discolouration is tumbled / cleaned off....you do you as the cool kids say these days.

- It's bagged and thus the odd case mouth might get dented. I ran my brass through a Redding Neck Sizer with imperial graphite / application media for lube. Neck tension felt normal.

- The flash holes looked to be punched; there are visually obvious burrs inside the case where the flash holes are. I've never bothered to deburr / haven't tested the idea yet but FYI for the camps that do.

- Primer pockets felt tight but not even / parallel if that makes sense; almost as if one is seating primers without removing a slight pocket crimp or the bottom of the pockets are wider than at the top. Primer pocket depth seems consistent; I tried to run a Redding uniforming tool inside the first few and the cutter barely even made contact with the pocket. I had no issues priming though; I use Federal 215M primers for .300wm and an RCBS Bench Priming Tool (not the APS strip model) to prime rifle cases off the press.

- Case lengths are within 0.003" of eachother; average length is approx 2.606" putting the brass about 0.004" below trim length depending what your load data may say. I chamfered / deburred the cases and load tested with them as is for length.

The first batch I did a ladder test with all survived the first firing; decapping the fired cases at home indicated the primer pockets stayed tight (even at warmer charges.) The cool part is I found a potential accuracy node that lets me fireform brass yet still wreak awesomeness with accuracy (at least at 400m anyway...

UPDATE!

I finally got to measure case capacity in samples of both Brand New and fire-formed brass (albeit for my gun's chamber....but still some neat results i think.) Cases were filled with tap water via syringe up to the case mouth edge (no concave or convex miniscus) and weighed on a digital scale to represent grains H2O.

Brand New / Fire-Formed

90.1 -------- 92.6
90.3 -------- 92.6
90.1 -------- 92.5
89.8 -------- 93
90.1 -------- 92.6
90.5 -------- 92.9
89.8 -------- 92.6
89.6 -------- 92.5
89.4 -------- 92.3
89.8 -------- 92.7
AVG 89.95 / AVG 92.63

Case capacity spread is about 1.1gr H2O with brand new brass whereas it dropped to .7gr with the fireformed cases in my gun's chamber (about 3 percent increase in case capacity.)

I had around 5 firing on my ppu. I can attest the to the primer pocket feels slightly different tightness when priming but the loads i developed on nosler brass translated directly to these.