Range brass

H4831

H4831

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Generally, on these threads it is usually spoken of as just one step above junk. In our range shack is a box on the wall and a notice stating to put your unwanted brass in it, that reloaders may take what they can use, but if they don't reload for a calibre, please leave it in the box for someone who does reload for that calibre. It works very well.
Since it is non reloaders leaving the brass, it is always only shot once.
Yesterday I picked up 12 Hornady cases in 243 calibre. Visually, about the only way they can be distinguished from new brass is by the minor blackening on parts of the necks. No shiny marks at all around the web area, like there usually is in a fired case. They look so good, that I took my Marlin XL7, opened the bolt and one of these cases dropped right in, and the bolt closed effortlessly! Out of someone else's rifle, they fit mine perfectly.
As a side note, I have never had any thing to do with Hornady brass, so what are they like? They weigh about 165 grains, which is on the light side in weight.
Bruce
 
Good stuff.

The only range brass I don't use is the stuff left behind by the IPSC crowd. If THEY throw it out, I don't want it!

...especially if you can barely make out the head stamp.

Come hunting season there is always lots of good stuff on the ground. Half a box of this, half a box of that lol.

The only Hornady stuff I've got is 20 .300AAC. that's not much of a sample to draw on, and I've only reloaded them once so far.
 
I retrieved about 25 cases from another member at the range and found it the same, good quality, it was closer to Lapua brass in thickness so had to adjust the neck tension on my dies compared to Winchester brass etc to hold the bullet but once that was done it was excellent and shot good groups.
 
I reload my 300 win mag and my son's 30.06 with hornady brass and have never had any issues with it in either weapon
 
Thanks guys for the comments. The Hornady weigh about 165 grains, while the Federal I have in 243 weigh 180.
Also, I have been having good luck with Federal brass lately. A while back I picked up 20 Federal 30-06 in our range box. I have reloaded some of them about three times at full power loads and so far primers are full tight.
Some time ago I picked up 20 Federal brass in our range box in 243 calibre. I have also loaded them multiple times at velocities higher than most loading charts will give and again, the primers are staying solid tight and they are sizing very nice.
A year or two ago I had some Federal 243 brass that that loosened the primers beyond use, at only one reloading! So obviously, different batches.
Bruce
 
I lucked out and found some Hornady .257 Wby brass. Great stuff................way tougher than Norma brass. My (over book max) load gives about 1/3 the case head expansion that I get firing Wby Factory loads.
 
I believe that Hornady rebrands brass from other manufacturers. I have personally had fairly good experience with it having a discard rate about that of Federal. However a friend of mine who is an experienced reloader had imminent case failure due to cracking half-way up the case, on once fired Hornady Match brass. He exchanged the brass for another brandv(Norma or Lapua) and has not had similar issues.
 
Its not all that surprising that the brass from somebody elses rifle fits into yours...it is probably jus that his chamber is slightly smaller than yours. if you were to fire it once out of your rifle, i would be that it wouldn't fit back into his without sizing again...
 
Bruce, I've also only ever used Hornady brass that I've picked up out of the garbage at the range. So far, I've found it to be hard (a good thing) and the primer pockets are VERY snug (also a good thing).

It is great in a rifle with a fairly tight chamber. I've tried it in an old Mauser .30-06 with a loose chamber (pretty bad headspace) and the brass started to show signs of head separation pretty early. For loose rifles like this, I now prefer the soft, thick Federal brass, which flows well and stretches to fill loose chambers.

I would use the Hornady brass in any situation in which you might want to use Winchester brass because the two brands seem comparable in thickness and hardness (at least the batches that I've seen so far). It would be outstanding in a tighter chamber for a high-intensity cartridge. If I stumbled upon a whole pile of these cases in .308 for cheap, I wouldn't hesitate to it for competitive shooting out of my Palma rifle.
 
p-17 said:
Bruce, I've also only ever used Hornady brass that I've picked up out of the garbage at the range. So far, I've found it to be hard (a good thing) and the primer pockets are VERY snug (also a good thing).

It is great in a rifle with a fairly tight chamber. I've tried it in an old Mauser .30-06 with a loose chamber (pretty bad headspace) and the brass started to show signs of head separation pretty early. For loose rifles like this, I now prefer the soft, thick Federal brass, which flows well and stretches to fill loose chambers.

I would use the Hornady brass in any situation in which you might want to use Winchester brass because the two brands seem comparable in thickness and hardness (at least the batches that I've seen so far). It would be outstanding in a tighter chamber for a high-intensity cartridge. If I stumbled upon a whole pile of these cases in .308 for cheap, I wouldn't hesitate to it for competitive shooting out of my Palma rifle.
Click to expand...

The chamber on my 243 Marlin XL7 is tight. The old brass I had around from other 243 rifles I had once owned, would not go into the Marlin after full length resizing (yes the die was fully down,) until I annealed it, then resized it. That's why I was surprised when these Hornady cases, fired in some other rifle, went effortlessly into the Marlin.
I have resized and reprimed them and yes, the primers fit tighter than any other cases I that I can remember.
While Hornady may have the cases made for them, I will guess that Hornady specified exactly how they wanted the cases made. Thus, I will guess they are not the same as the cases of the parent company that made them.
Bruce
 
My only experience with Hornady brass was for the .454 Casull, and I was quite dissapointed with it. Cost was around $1 per piece and I was getting full case separation on 4th firing, fairly routinely... :(

Hopefully your .243 brass works out better....
 
I only have experience with Hornady "match" .308 brass, so take this for what it's worth.

The brass was between norma and Lapua as far as thickness/case capacity goes. I have 'heard' that primer pockets loosen quickly, however, I am on my 7th firing, and only 3 of 200 felt loose enough when seating a new primer that I pulled them. I have annealed twice in 7 firings and I seat long and run hot. The capacity (water and weight) is pretty uniform(better than WIN). The brass seemed soft when I started.

Like I said, different calibre, so not an exact comparable to yours, let alone lot #, however, I am happy with mine.

Looking forward to hearing how yours do after a few firings! Keep us updated.
 
Hey Bruce, my experience with Horn brass would seem to be a crap shoot, as with my son's experience, and Kevan's as well..........it used to be utter junk but I have been hearing better things lately about it. Don't know about different calibers and lots either........I found it to be very soft and garbage a few years back and just refuse to use it at all, however those more open minded than I seem to think it's much better of late.
 
c-fbmi said:
Hey Bruce, my experience with Horn brass would seem to be a crap shoot, as with my son's experience, and Kevan's as well..........it used to be utter junk but I have been hearing better things lately about it. Don't know about different calibers and lots either........I found it to be very soft and garbage a few years back and just refuse to use it at all, however those more open minded than I seem to think it's much better of late.
Click to expand...

Well Doug, a few years ago I had a batch of Winchester that loosened the primers on the first shot. Just threw them out. Also had Federal that wouldn't last for a second shooting, but lately have had real good luck with Federal, especially with 243, so one never knows.
Bruce
 
From the same range box I picked up some more Hornady brass, this time in 7-08.
They too, looked in perfect condition from their factory firing. My 7-08 rifle also has a tight chamber. On the first loading the primers again went in with more pressure than normal.
I loaded a pretty stout load, over book max and all went well. I have now prepped them for a second reloading and the primers still took noticeably more pressure to seat, than any other brand of brass I have used.
My experience so far, is it is excellent brass, regardless who it is that make them.
 
I use range brass in almost all of my rifles. Only one I don't off the top of my head is my Rem 700 in 308 which I bought Lapua brass for. Some say it's overpriced but it got rid of nearly all my flyers when I made the switch. Maybe it's psychological, maybe not, but I like them for that rifle (no plans to buy any more unless I get another accuracy-centric rifle going).

Different types of Hornady brass are made by different manufacturers. Even brass for the same cartridge can be made by different vendors. The Hornady 308 Win Match brass for example is excellent while the normal 308 Win brass is quite different and far more inconsistent (still okay but not great). Some of the cases I have, have a 15-20gr difference between the Match and non-match headstamps. Their 338 Lapua brass for a while was overly soft while the 30-30 FTX brass I had was ridiculously hard and had shallow primer pockets (fit a large pistol primer perfectly but rifle primers protruded badly). I don't know if Hornady makes any of their own brass or farms it all out to contractors but when I see a Hornady headstamp, I approach with caution. Sometimes it's great, sometimes it's junk.

Hornady shotgun hulls are the worst though. The primers are glued in and once you pop one out, a new primer will fall out just by tilting the head of the hull downards. Didn't matter if I used Cheddite, CCI, or Winchester primers.
 
I am using hornady 308 match and 223 brass. I am happy with it so far. On my 5th firing with the 308 stuff and the primer pockets are still tight. The 223 is also working well. I have only had to trim a few cases. If I were to buy more new brass I would buy lapua because hornady match is more than lapua....go figure.

Also, just reloaded some 7mm rem mag for my brother in law. I used his once fired remington, federal, and hornady brass. Out of those 3 the hornady wins hands down. Threw half the federal in the trash as I could push primers in with my finger.
 
I've used a lot of range brass. As long as you inspect it there shouldn't be any issues. Most range brass is once fired factory ammo. I don't use pick-up brass that's been reloaded but that's a rarity. Reloaders always pick up their brass.
 
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