Brass ?

whats the best bang for ur $ ......

That's a loaded question (pun intended :cool:) and most of us will have varying real-world experiences and preferences. For me, it's what I can afford and physically acquire and normally make it work from there (I think that's what reloading is all about ... making it work for your intended purpose). Some brass need more work than others (mass production quality challenges) but once they are sorted out, it's on. I have a few Lapua, WBTY, Norma, Remington, Federal, Nosler, Hornady, PRVI, etc with very good luck, but for the length of my reloading experience, I have to say, Winchester for the most part has been good to me and the most I have reloaded for myself and others.
 
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Availability rules, Lapua has been the most consistently good to me, Nosler, Winchester, Norma. Just got some RWS looking forward to seeing if it lives up to it's press.

Bad experiences with Hornady recently, and Remington years ago.

Some initial cost offset by no culls, reduced prep, and number of firings per case.

Never regretted buying Lapua. I know folks that choose cartridges based on if Lapua brass is available for it.
 
just ordered some Jagemann 308 $20/50, will see how it works. Starline has a bunch of new rifle brass and is bringing more out every year, been a fan of it for pistol brass...
 
For me, it's what I can afford and physically acquire and normally make it work from there

Bad experiences with Hornady recently

Strongly agree with the members I quoted here and also with bpcrshooter in regards to Starline Brass. I drool over Lapua brass, but the price keeps knocking the wind out of my "reloading sails". Winchester has been good to me for several rifles I've loaded for and I've read recently about comparisons between Lapua brass and Starline brass and Starline looked pretty good according to this particular review. https://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=1333464
 
Nut, never had any issues with Norma and Nosler brass. Perhaps I got a bag of duds, but a friend brought a bag Winchester 300 WM and I had fits with it. None of the necks were round or square. Trashed three with folds in the necks and one with a glob of brass on the shoulder. Have had issues with Federal and Hornady primer pockets loose after one or two firings. In a nutshell, I am convinced you get what you pay for.
 
Lapua is hard to beat in anything they offer. Seems to last a good while too. Usually within 1 grain across 100 pieces, and lot to lot is very consistent too.

While I like Nosler brass for it's out of the box quality, I have found that if you run hot loads, the head seems fairly soft, and you can lose primer pockets fairly quickly. Also, I have found in many cartridges, the virgin brass you can buy has a 20-30 grain weight difference than the factory loaded ammo brass. Meaning you can't interchange the two. For example, Nosler virgin brass in 7RM can weigh 215gr. and factory loaded ammo brass will weigh 240gr. I have found this on a lot of different cartridges.

Norma, even though they make Nosler brass, seems harder than Nosler, so they seem to last longer.

I have not tried any, but many are saying Alpha is really good. Has higher brass content, for slightly less case capacity, so be careful using previous load data when switching to Alpha. You could get overpressure.

Remington, once you weight sort and cull the oddballs, to me, have lasted a LONG time. I have some .243 (resized and formed to 6.5 SLR), that some have over 10 firings on. And some .300RUM (always loaded hot) that have 8-9 firings on some. But you can get 300, weight sort them, and cull maybe 40 that are out of 3 grains difference, and still be half the cost of 200 cases of Lapua.

Winchester is similar to Remington.

I hate Hornady brass.

Federal seems to have higher brass content, meaning less case capacity in the same cartridge than others (except Alpha). Neven been a huge fan of Federal, but no reason in particular.
 
Like stated above, with good brass prep and culling, most will work. Lapua is nice.
I just got 200 same lot hornady 7rm brass. 100 were with 1gr. All except 5 outliers were within 2gr. Saying that, I have a batch of 100 6.5cm hornady brass that has a 7gr es on weight. Wasn't happy with that, but with annealling, primer pocket leveling, flash hole uniforming, I've got it shooting reasonably consistent. Since then I've found about 150 more hornady 6.5cm brass that is within 1gr.
Like stated above, sometimes it's what you have or can find.
 
I use Winchester brass. However I've had to cull about 8% of 308 brass, a little less with the 30-06 brass. These were bought a couple years ago.

Recently I bought 50 300 W.M. , Winchester brass. 15 of them were no good. Quality must be going down..

A friend of mine is using some Hornady brass with a 6.5 SAUM and is having trouble with the primer pockets
 
About the only brands i'd completely stay away from are Federal and Remington, based on personal experiences.

Top-tier brands are Lapua, Nosler, Norma, and from what I hear (no personal experience) RWS brass.

While Hornady is not the best brass, it's far from the worst...I've had pretty good experiences with it, and no real complaints. And their short-action cartridge "MATCH" headstamped brass has been exceptional in my .308 Win.

Also, Winchester brass is pretty good stuff. I use it in my .25-06 AI, because when I had it built, was during all the Obama ******** in the wake of Sandy Hook when you couldn't find anything, and I was able to find 2 bags (100 pcs. each) of once-fired Winchester .270 Win brass for less than $30 shipped. So far, that has been some good brass...Still got almost all of it.
 
.308 Match (Small Rifle primer)

.308 Winchester "Palma", .308 Winchester Small Rifle
2.002 - 2.009 O.A.L.
The .308 Match is our small primer version of the .308 Winchester case. Many competitive shooters prefer the consistent velocities produced by small rifle primers. Like all of our other small primer rifle cases, we utilize our standard .080" flash hole diameter, as we feel it gives better ignition with slower burning and harder to ignite powders, making it more user friendly than many of the small primer/small flash hole versions of this caliber*.

*As with all types of cases this large with small primer pockets, it will require care in powder and primer selection in cooler temperatures to prevent hang fires. Single-based propellents are generally easier to ignite and a quality primer such as the Remington 7 1/2 BR are recommended.

Box Size:
• 250 ($135.00)
• 500 ($256.00)
• 1000 ($484.00)

Status: Available Now
ORDER



.308 Win (Large Rifle primer)

.308 Winchester, .308, 7.62mm Nato, 7.62x51mm
2.002 - 2.009 O.A.L.



The venerable .308 Winchester has made quite a name for itself since it was first introduced in 1952. The .308 and its military equivalent, the 7.62x51mm Nato, is a very efficient cartridge that has excellent ballistics, while still being fairly easy on the shoulder. That, and its inherent accuracy have kept it thriving as both a competition and hunting caliber.

Box Size:
• 250 ($116.00)
• 500 ($199.00)
• 1000 ($376.00)

Status: Available Now

Did a little searching.................. What cal are you looking for???????????
 
Used all the common brass out there. Federal was ok, but primer pockets opened up early. Winchester gave me the best velocity, Remington is ok, seems robust enough.
After switching to Lapua and Norma, I never looked back...
Its worth every penny.
 
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