Is remington brass this bad

[degreen]

I have a 30-338 Win Mag built off of a Springfield action. While doing some load development I found that the Rem. brass would not hold the primers with loads 3.5 grns. below max. The Win. brass held them fine. Using Win. Large Rifle Mag. primers and Imr 4350 powder. I was using Sierra's reloading manual.

 

[Frank in the Laurels]

I've seen that many times over the years..truthfully I try not to use it if possible !!

 

[tbrice23]

Try Federal or CCI primers, they are larger diameter.

 

[bigedp51]

Below is a link from accuratershooter.com where discussions on brass hardness come up all the time. The biggest problem I have had in the past was with Federal brass being too soft. I had factory loaded Federal .223 cases that had over sized primer pockets after the first firing.

This is caused by two things, soft brass and a thin flash hole web that decreases the strength of the case in the base.

Example below showong the thinner web in a Federal case, bottom line Federal and Remington have the softest brass.

Below the brass hardness test from accurateshooter.com.
http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com...r-brass-5-56-and-223-rem-base-hardness-tests/

 

[Engineering101]

In addition to the case construction, the ratio of copper to zinc also determines how soft a case will be. The more zinc, the harder the brass. The tradeoff is that more zinc also means the brass will work harden faster thus needing annealing more frequently. Personally I'd rather have to anneal a little more often than loose the brass to blown primer pockets prematurely. Here are some copper/zinc ratios for several brass manufacturers.

Rem 80/20
Federal 78/20
Norma 77/23
Lapua 75/25
Winchester 72/27

As you can see, Rem and Federal are on the softer end.

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

I've never had any issues with rp brass in the 7rem and 7&300rum chamberings I've had... No issue either in the 7stw. One thing about rp and win brass is that rp brass will often have a bit smaller capacity, so if you are on the edge in ww brass and swap in rp brass, you will likely be over pressure. I do use rp 338win brass a bit, but don't shoot it in 30-338 or 300win.
I've got a bag of rp brass in 7rum that has outlasted the first barrel I had in 7rum, been necked to 300rum, then shot in my lh 300rum rifle for many firings... It still holds primers well, even having been used as load development brass at times.

 

[J E Custom]

I've never had any issues with rp brass in the 7rem and 7&300rum chamberings I've had... No issue either in the 7stw. One thing about rp and win brass is that rp brass will often have a bit smaller capacity, so if you are on the edge in ww brass and swap in rp brass, you will likely be over pressure. I do use rp 338win brass a bit, but don't shoot it in 30-338 or 300win.
I've got a bag of rp brass in 7rum that has outlasted the first barrel I had in 7rum, been necked to 300rum, then shot in my lh 300rum rifle for many firings... It still holds primers well, even having been used as load development brass at times.

What he said !

I find that military brass has the same problem if loaded the same as some commercial brass.

When changing any load components I reduce the powder charge to prevent over pressure and
check the velocity. (Sometimes a reduced powder charge in a case with less volume can get the same velocity because the pressure is the same.

J E CUSTOM

 

[degreen]

Thanks for the info. guys. I do not have a crony yet so cant test the velocities between the Rem. and Win. brass with same load. All of the Rem. brass is necked up 7mm Rem. Mag., and the Win. brass is necked down 338 Win. Mag. if this makes any difference.

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

Thanks for the info. guys. I do not have a crony yet so cant test the velocities between the Rem. and Win. brass with same load. All of the Rem. brass is necked up 7mm Rem. Mag., and the Win. brass is necked down 338 Win. Mag. if this makes any difference.

Not really... When I sold my last 7rem half of my 7rem brass became 338win and I didn't notice a thing for difference other than head stamp.... Both ww and rp brass....

 

[Trickymissfit]

I do some serious case forming at the house, and one thing I've instantly noticed is that Remington and Winchester brass is softer (actually incorrect as it should be more malleable). Just easier to push a shoulder back. Federal takes a lot more pressure, and you notice this right away. RWS is virtually unworkable. Military brass is not really any harder, but you notice the heavier case walls. The only military brass I've seriously worked over is 5.56x45, and I made .222 brass out of it. Piece of cake. I've made .250 brass out of .308 in the past, and had little trouble. Still I used almost nothing but range pick up Remington brass.

When working with Federal brass, you learn some things. Also hit a brick wall at times. I well remember reinventing the wheel with a new wildcat. I made a set of dies out of A2, and had them hardened. After polishing them with Scotch Brite I was ready. Now we beat our head against that wall again and again! Die works well, and destroys the brass. Quick phone call to some well placed folks tell me that I don't want to use Federal brass. Being hard headed I am going to use this Federal .308 or die trying! This time I expand the necks on a dozen cases to .375". Make another die out of A2 (glad I have a couple cigar boxes full of small pieces). This one uses interchangeable sleeves that have the shoulder and the neck O.D. I'm once again getting the job done, BUT as I'm getting close to 8mm the brass is beginning to get seriously tough to work with. Another phone call, and I'm annealing the heck out of the 12 cases (almost dead soft). Old man a heck of a lot smarter than I am said I was working the brass too hard. So the plan is to take the brass down to either 6mm or 6.5mm. I get the brass down to .277" (I.D.), and it's starting to get tough to move again. Still I'm almost there. I anneal the necks and shoulders one more time, but don't go past the 450 degree mark. I get the brass really to fire form. Been a little easier with Remington or Winchester, but they'd still work hardened like the Federal.

Three months later some guy re-invents the wheel with a new cartridge called the 6x47!! Very similar to my new wildcat.
gary