changing brass

[goblbustr]

I need the old timers to chime in here. I have always used winchester brass for my reloading. It has worked well for me and is inexpensive. But as most of you know and I have recently found out you can't count on Olin-Winchester to keep certain calibers on the market so I am thinking about switching brands. My question is, will it be like starting over with a new load or will it stay relatively the same? Should I go to a high quality brand like Norma or Lapua or stick to a remington or hornaday type brass. incidentaly I am looking for 338 win mag brass to form 30-338 win casings. Thanks

[TJAY]

If you like the Winchester brass why not buy 500 and be done with it?

[goblbustr]

when I bought the rifle 100 pieces came with it. havn't been able to find any since I have owned it. If I could find five hundred I would buy five hundred.

[Broz]

Originally Posted by goblbustr

I need the old timers to chime in here. I have always used winchester brass for my reloading. It has worked well for me and is inexpensive. But as most of you know and I have recently found out you can't count on Olin-Winchester to keep certain calibers on the market so I am thinking about switching brands. My question is, will it be like starting over with a new load or will it stay relatively the same? Should I go to a high quality brand like Norma or Lapua or stick to a remington or hornaday type brass. incidentaly I am looking for 338 win mag brass to form 30-338 win casings. Thanks

There are many benefits to Good brass like Lapua. I would almost bet 100 pcs would last you a very long time. Many years I would think. That is what I would do if I liked the rifle, intended on using it a while and was interested in possibly even more accuracy.

But no matter what brass you are changing to, you will want to back off the charge about 4 or 5 gr and work back up. The difference in case volume between different mfg's will change pressure.

I doubt load work up will take a ton of work though. Just getting the charge right I would think.

Jeff

[goblbustr]

Thanks Broz. Based on your reply it looks like you prefer Lapua. in your experience have you seen much differance between them and norma?

[johnnyk]

I feel that going with Lapua brass was the best decision I ever did when gearing up for my 6.5-284Norma. I have pushed it a couple of times on some hot loads but it stands the test. Still as uniform and consistent as the day it left Lapua. I contemplated going with some of the cheaper varieties, but I'm glad I didn't.

As for Norma, I've only used it once in 7Mag and thought it rather soft. IIRC, it was pretty consistent in weight and the flash holes were uniform. Accuracy was exceptional but the primer pockets didn't stay tight long. After 3 firings, I could seat a primer with my Lee Priming Tool, using only my thumb and index finger. Granted I did "step" on 'em kinda hard (pushing the 150gn Ballistic Tip @ 3240fps using 63.5gn of IMR4350). I thought they would have lasted longer than that though. May have been a bad batch. YMMV. JohnnyK.

[TJAY]

Read on one retailers site they expect a shipment of 338 brass nex month.