# Let’s talk brass



## goosefreak (Aug 20, 2009)

I’m wondering what’s everyone’s thoughts are on brass.. Is one brand better than another? Is there a brand you stay away from? and why?
Any particular brand have pressure problems over another? 

I’m going to work up a 150gr accubond load for my 270WSM this summer and I’m going to start with fresh everything.

I’ve shot nothing but Norma brass out of it up to this point.  Norma seems to be fairly consistent for me as far as weight goes but, I’m wondering if it’s worth the extra money or not..
I don’t mind spending money on good equipment but, I also don’t mind saving money either.. In the end, accuracy and consistency is most important to me.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

Different brass will be stronger than other brass along with holding more grains of water than some. 

Just pick some and stick with it. If you like Norma then that is what I would use and watch for sales where you can pick it up cheaper. 

I use Norma for my Weatherby reloads but others get Remington and Winchester.


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## muddydogs (Oct 7, 2007)

I'm a brass scrounger and shoot it all with no problems or noticeable accuracy differences. For a hunting rifle I don't think it matters at all, if your looking at competition or long range shooting it might make you feel better to shoot the same brass out of the rifle so just pick a brand you can afford and stick with it.
Last spring Cabela's had Privi Partition on sale when I purchased my 25-06 so I picked up 300 rounds and have been shooting it out of the rifle just fine.
For my 7mm Rem Mag I have been collecting brass for 30 years and have many different head stamp that get shot out of it. 
Calibers like my 223, 40, 38,357 is all scrounged brass and works just fine. I load for 15 calibers and the only calibers I have one brand of brass for is the 25-06 and 7.7 x 58 Jap.


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## Al Hansen (Sep 7, 2007)

I shoot a lot of 20 Practical ( made from .223 brass). I just use range brass that has been picked up. 3000 plus or minus rounds a year. When I go for two weeks I have to have a lot when you shoot 200-300 rounds a day. So for that one it's what I can find and no one makes 20 Practical. These 20 Practicals flat out shoot. Doesn't seem to care what brass you use. It's all minute of P-dog.:shock:

for my .204's I shoot Winchester. Because that's what I started with. As the necks started splitting I would replace with Hornady because that's all I could find until just recently a kind person on this website sold me 300 new Winchesters.

For my .223 I use range brass again. My .223 is a back up rifle that gets used just in case something happens to the other 4 rifles. ;-)And it hits coyotes really hard.

On some of the other forums talk brass a lot. Accurate Shooter, Bench Rest .com, 6mmBR. They seem to like the more expensive brass companies. I love accuracy but I can't afford the high end brass in the numbers I need.


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## Airborne (May 29, 2009)

I really like Lake City brass for my 223 and 30-06 if you can find it. Older Winchester brass is quality although I heard the new stuff has issues. Remington brass is good, although I have found it to be a bit soft and seems to stretch longer and faster than other makes. Hornady makes good brass, and I like Star line for my revolver calibers. Federal (FC) brass is so-so in 223, it doesn't have as long of life as the other makes, usually I get mouth splits after 3-5 loadings.

I'm not a competitive shooter, just an amateur reloader and hunter. I can't shoot the difference between different main stream brass names but some last longer than others. That's been my take away regarding brass.


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## goosefreak (Aug 20, 2009)

I should mention that My 270WSM is topped with a huskemaw and is Set up as a hunting rifle capable of shooting 800+ yards. So superb accuracy is critical #1.

I have to shoot 1/2 MOA or I won’t shoot it so, I need everything working in my favor


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## waspocrew (Nov 26, 2011)

In my experience, I haven't noticed a particular brand of brass yielding more accuracy than others. My Sendero 7RM seems to shoot the 162 gr Amax very well in both Winchester or Remington brass. 

That being said, I do try to keep things as consistent as possible. For my 6.5 Sherman, I've only used Hornady brass so far and they've held up well on 4 firings. I've got another 100 cases of Remington brass that I'll try once I have a reason to scrap the Hornady.

If Norma has worked well for you, that's great. I think you'll find that it's a little more consistent in terms of weight and may be more "ready to load" from the box (meaning less prep work). Winchester brass seems to be a gamble right now - I've seen new brass in bags with split necks, excessively dimpled shoulders, etc.


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## reb8600 (Sep 8, 2007)

I am not real picky on brass but I do pick one and don’t mix them on each gun. One exception is a Remington 721 in 270 Win that will shoot 3/4” or better consistantly with mixed brass. I have had real good luck in accuracy and life with the Lake City in my 223 and the older Winchester in my 204. I am out of the 204 and gave a deal on 300 rounds of older Winchester brass I had. I have had good luck with Remington also. I just loaded some 308 FC brass that had been factory rounds. The first firing and the brass was over max size. That did not impress me. I used some twice fired LC and it was still at the trim length


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## KineKilla (Jan 28, 2011)

I’ve had better longevity and out of the bag quality with Hornady brass then I have with Winchester. 

My .223’s (AR type) don’t seem to care what the brass is.

My pistols are usually shooting starline brass.


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

I think Lapua charges a huge premium for good reason. I weight every single piece of brass and Lapua has a very small variance compared to just about all of the others. I know of several folks who will get 30 firings as long as they keep annealing them.


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

With premium brass you are paying for (theoretically) more consistent brass and hopefully a little better case life. 

Calling it more “accurate” is silly because that’s not really what it’s about. It really should be called “consistent” because the cases should theoretically have more consistent case wall thickness and hold the same volume of water / powder which would theoretically create more consistent performance when tracking accuracy on targets. 

Although the accuracy difference in lower quality cases who have slightly different case capacities from one case to another, that could be enough to cost a competition shooter points because one cartridge behaved differently from another. So competitive shooters will opt for cases that have consistent capacity, concentricity, and uniform flash holes to try and replicate consistent performance.


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## goosefreak (Aug 20, 2009)

Well, let me ask this.......does brass that have never been shot react differently as far as pressure build up or speed goes? Opposed to brass that have been fired 1,2 or 3 times?

I have a theory and results of my own but, I’d like to hear from some of you first...


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## KineKilla (Jan 28, 2011)

I haven't really noticed a huge difference between new and previously fired brass. 

There may be some slight changes to velocity or accuracy though if a piece of brass was fired then neck sized only due to the fact that some of the energy is not spent expanding the brass quite so much....just a theory, I have nothing to back that up.


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## ssssnake529 (Sep 11, 2016)

This is my experience too. Lapua has been better than other (high quality) brass that I've used.



Huge29 said:


> I think Lapua charges a huge premium for good reason. I weight every single piece of brass and Lapua has a very small variance compared to just about all of the others. I know of several folks who will get 30 firings as long as they keep annealing them.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

goosefreak said:


> Well, let me ask this.......does brass that have never been shot react differently as far as pressure build up or speed goes? Opposed to brass that have been fired 1,2 or 3 times?


belted or non-belted?

straight walled or bottle neck?

.


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## goosefreak (Aug 20, 2009)

wyogoob said:


> belted or non-belted?
> 
> straight walled or bottle neck?
> 
> .


I dont know.....I shoot a 270 WSM so I would say generally all around..

What I'v noticed with my Norma brass that have never been fired is on the first firing I get an average of 40fps slower bullet speed. I'v shot nearly every round through my chrony (aside from hunting) and without fail, the first firing is always slower. After that my speeds are higher and consistent


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## goosefreak (Aug 20, 2009)

Thought i'd mention this.. I just sat down and measured out 50 pieces of my Norma brass that I'v shot 4 times with loads more on the hot side.

My findings showed that everything is right on spec, which I was kind of surprised about. 
even my primer pocket measured out the same as my brand new brass.

Everything except for the case length. (270WSM) My new brass case length measures out to 2.092, the book says, 2.100 and my brass shot 4 times measures out to 2.118..

Not too bad for brass shot 4 times, I'll give them a little trimming and save my new brass for later on down the road


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## KineKilla (Jan 28, 2011)

Your new brass measures 0.7" above SAAMI max length and above your trimmed/fired brass? Surely I misread that or it's a typo....

I hear of some guys getting 10+ shots from a piece of brass but myself have had the case head separate after 3-4 shots if I full length sized them each time. This was only in one rifle (Mod 700 BDL 270WIN) the rest of my rifles don't seem to stretch the brass quite so much.

For this reason though, I stop reloading after 4 shots through any of my brass. The splitting case scared me a bit..I may have pooped.


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## goosefreak (Aug 20, 2009)

KineKilla said:


> Your new brass measures 0.7" above SAAMI max length and above your trimmed/fired brass? Surely I misread that or it's a typo.


I don't quite know if I understand what your saying..
My Nosler Manuel says the SAMMI case length is 2.100. The brass I bought last week still in the box measures out to 2.092 (under sammi) and the brass I've shot 4 times measured out to 2.118 (a little over sammi)
Everything else is right on the money, primer pocket included.. All brass looks good and healthy, I was gonna toss them but, I think I'll trim them down and get a few more firings out of them...


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

KineKilla said:


> Your new brass measures 0.7" above SAAMI max length and above your trimmed/fired brass? Surely I misread that or it's a typo....
> 
> I hear of some guys getting 10+ shots from a piece of brass but myself have had the case head separate after 3-4 shots if I full length sized them each time. This was only in one rifle (Mod 700 BDL 270WIN) the rest of my rifles don't seem to stretch the brass quite so much.
> 
> For this reason though, I stop reloading after 4 shots through any of my brass. The splitting case scared me a bit..I may have pooped.


Meh I figure about 4 reloadings per case on average. My steep necked 22-250 splits brass at the neck way sooner than my mild necked 270.

Oddly, I dont recall splitting any cases yet on my 7STW. Brass is so malleable it doesnt really contain the pressure much, it works more like a chamber "seal". A small split doesn't seem to do anything other than dirty up the chamber.

-DallanC


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## KineKilla (Jan 28, 2011)

goosefreak said:


> I don't quite know if I understand what your saying..
> My Nosler Manuel says the SAMMI case length is 2.100. The brass I bought last week still in the box measures out to 2.092 (under sammi) and the brass I've shot 4 times measured out to 2.118 (a little over sammi)
> Everything else is right on the money, primer pocket included.. All brass looks good and healthy, I was gonna toss them but, I think I'll trim them down and get a few more firings out of them...


That makes more sense...I figured it had to be a typo.

In your OP you said the measurement was 2.92 not 2.092 which obviously is a huge difference. I was just wondering if you had acquired a batch of brass that was way out of spec is all....carry on I'm going back to my regularly scheduled program.


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