brass

I weight all my cases. I don't mix brass manufactures. Primer pockets may need some worked. Primer pocket getting loose, either high pressure or extended amount of firing and or both. Some manufactures bass is by far heavier than others. I weight my brass first, full length size, cut to length, fire forming, cutting the neck for thickness, and trim to length again if needed. Anneal the brass. I code my brass by marking the butt of the case in a little different way to know which group belongs to each other.
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Never had any issues with Hornady brass in a dozen different cartridges. Less experience with Federal but no issues. Hornady is priced where it needs to be (in the middle) and I can find it. Only brass I won't touch anymore is Winchester. Too many issues in every caliber I've tried. Don't see the point wasting my money and time on sorting new brass and tossing 20 to 30% in the trash.
 
Like I said I went through several years not being able to find 6 mm Remington brass so I'm thankful Hornady they was the only company where it was available I called Winchester and Remington they acted like they could care less then I called Hornady told them I had heard there wasn't going to be any more 6 mm brass he told me no problem they were going to keep producing it plus a lot of other hard to find brass people who say they won't use something are fooling them selves because might be all you can get or I guess you can always stay on the porch David
Hornady is my only source for 250 Savage brass.
 
I can see again that reloading products are going to get hard to find. I when again looking for primers and powder. Nothing that I could find. One item I load for is a 308 norna mag. It's almost impossible to fine that bass. I learn a long time ago to figure what could be resized to make the case I wanted to load for. In doing a lot of reading maybe 7 x 57 brass may work for you. 6mm AI can be transformed into 6mmAI cases. I did a lot of fire forming in my day, when case became had to fine. I know that the Belted mag brass from 264 Win Mag, 7mm Rem Mag, 300 Win Mag, and 338 Win Mag, all can be resized and fire form to any of those I listed above in the belted mag. 30/06, 270 win, and 25/06 can be interchanged also by resizing them and fire forming them. Annealing is big factor in getting some use of them. Internal straight has to be watch on the belted mag case too.

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Never had any issues with Hornady brass in a dozen different cartridges. Less experience with Federal but no issues. Hornady is priced where it needs to be (in the middle) and I can find it. Only brass I won't touch anymore is Winchester. Too many issues in every caliber I've tried. Don't see the point wasting my money and time on sorting new brass and tossing 20 to 30% in the trash.
A friend of mine just bought 100 Winchester 300 rem mag and thay are not to good. Some were already split a the shoulder to the neck. Some he sized and when he tried to seat the bullet the dog gone neck pushed inside the case. I have photos if any body wants to see this crap!
 
In my limited experience federal is much less prone to issues (being way out of spec or still chambering sticky even after full resizing, brittle necks splitting, getting stuck in the dies) but is also much softer and thicker, way less case capacity. Hornady will have more culls but the good ones are better than federal. I still would prefer federal through because dependable consistent mediocrity is better to me than than some great some terrible.

my shorter answer for less expensive brands is "Winchester" all the way.
 
A friend of mine just bought 100 Winchester 300 rem mag and thay are not to good. Some were already split a the shoulder to the neck. Some he sized and when he tried to seat the bullet the dog gone neck pushed inside the case. I have photos if any body wants to see this crap!
Last bag of 50 Winchester brass I sorted I tossed 5 that had the flash holes on the edge of the primer pocket, no where near the center. Tossed 2 more for folded brass in the necks and 6 more for inconsistent neck thickness that was easily visible to the naked eye. Crap, waste of time and money.
 
Last bag of 50 Winchester brass I sorted I tossed 5 that had the flash holes on the edge of the primer pocket, no where near the center. Tossed 2 more for folded brass in the necks and 6 more for inconsistent neck thickness that was easily visible to the naked eye. Crap, waste of time and money.
I was taken back when I seen those cases, you got it right about crap!
 
I have not had any issues with Hornady 1 fired from factory ammo (or Frontier for that matter).

As for new Winchester brass; in the last 3 months I have processed 150 pieces 300 WSM and 150 pieces 308 Win cases. I ended up with 4 pieces that were relegated to OAL Gauge use and dummy round use for chamber measuring. One for each in each chambering.

Naturally, bagged case necks were beat up. Big deal... I annealed, full length sized, trimmed, chamfered, and weighed. The 300 WSM yielded 2 lots sorted with less than 3 grain variance. The 308 Win yielded 1 lot with less than 2.5 grain variance. Maybe I'm just blessed. ✝🌈🤷🏼‍♂️
 
which is better brass hornady or federal
I use both in different cartridges that I reload from fired factory rounds.

Havent had issues in those 2 cartridges but the last lot of Ferderal powershok cases that came out of a 300WSM were shocking, loose primer pockets.

If I've had to buy brass its either Lapua or Norma that I choose.
 
I have had dented necks from time to time, but resizing die straighten them out. Never had flash holes being off center. Dents on side of case some, but fire form generally takes care of that. Necks thickness, that where neck turning comes in. The cost for brass seem to have gotten away up. I had some case that the primes pocket seen a little large to start with. A lot of the time I am just glad to get the brass.
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