Hornady 6.5-284 brass?
- Thread starter PrimeTime
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Steve Shelp
Well-Known Member
PrimeTime,
here is a cut/paste of an evaluation of the Hornday brass by a fellow 1000yd shooter. I don't have a 6.5-284 so this isn't haands on experience by myself. I can only relay what Rich has said. Also i don't know if he has fired it sinse writing this sso that is still an unknown at this point also.
Here are Rich's comments:
Several months ago I saw an ad in Mid-South for Hornady 6.5 x .284 brass. Always wanting to try something new, I placed an order
for a 100 pieces ($65). They were on back order OF COURSE! Contacted Hornady who said they WERE being made!
Today, I just received my brass and thought the shooters using this case might want to know something about it so, I thought a
comparison with the Norma product would be of interest.:
My Norma brass weights in at between 198 and 200 gr.(totally prepped including neck turned) The Hor. brass unprepped at 208 to
210 gr. . The base of the Norma case meas. .4995" and the Hornady goes .4985". The runnout on neck wall thickness as
measured with a Starret ball/tubing mic.: Norma - .0005, Hornady - up to .0012". The Hornady neck wall thickness is in the .015 to
.016+ range. (didn't have any unturned Norma cases to measure) The primer pockets on the Norma cases were tight and my
Whitetail carbide uniformer had to do a little work to get to the bottom of the pockets. On the Hornady cases, the same tool just
barely cut the slight bevel out of the inside corners and did not touch the bottom of the pocket. The flash holes on the Norma cases
were very clean and sharp with no burr inside (as viewed thru my borescope). The Hornady flash holes did appear to be centered
ok and uniform looking from the outside, but did exibit a burr on the inside. Overall case length on the Hornady brass was 2.158"
(all my Norma's were previously trimmed)Oh!, I also tried seating an old primer just to see what it felt like (with a hand tool)? It
seated sort of easy! Not loose, just not like seating a primer in a Lapua ppc case!
My overall opinion (without shooting them)is that the brass will probably work out OK if the primer pockets don't loosen too much
more than they are. The difference in case weight will mean slightly reducing my powder charge maybe a tenth or so (not a big
deal). The runnout in neck wall is Not really bad since they will be turned down to .012" anyway.
If I knew what I now know, I probably would go the extra ten bucks or so and buy Norma brass. The lot that Bill Shehane has in stock
is very good! What will be interesting, is seeing how Lapua stacks up when their cases hit the market (if they have not already). I
know some suppliers have them listed but have not heard of anyone with them in their hot little hands!
Hope this helps some. Normally I don't post with anything but my own experience, but seeing that you weren't getting any replies and knowing Rich the way I do, I decided to post this to help. Rich doesn't BS and builds his own BR guns. He is from Jewsey and can't understand him sometimes though!
Steve
here is a cut/paste of an evaluation of the Hornday brass by a fellow 1000yd shooter. I don't have a 6.5-284 so this isn't haands on experience by myself. I can only relay what Rich has said. Also i don't know if he has fired it sinse writing this sso that is still an unknown at this point also.
Here are Rich's comments:
Several months ago I saw an ad in Mid-South for Hornady 6.5 x .284 brass. Always wanting to try something new, I placed an order
for a 100 pieces ($65). They were on back order OF COURSE! Contacted Hornady who said they WERE being made!
Today, I just received my brass and thought the shooters using this case might want to know something about it so, I thought a
comparison with the Norma product would be of interest.:
My Norma brass weights in at between 198 and 200 gr.(totally prepped including neck turned) The Hor. brass unprepped at 208 to
210 gr. . The base of the Norma case meas. .4995" and the Hornady goes .4985". The runnout on neck wall thickness as
measured with a Starret ball/tubing mic.: Norma - .0005, Hornady - up to .0012". The Hornady neck wall thickness is in the .015 to
.016+ range. (didn't have any unturned Norma cases to measure) The primer pockets on the Norma cases were tight and my
Whitetail carbide uniformer had to do a little work to get to the bottom of the pockets. On the Hornady cases, the same tool just
barely cut the slight bevel out of the inside corners and did not touch the bottom of the pocket. The flash holes on the Norma cases
were very clean and sharp with no burr inside (as viewed thru my borescope). The Hornady flash holes did appear to be centered
ok and uniform looking from the outside, but did exibit a burr on the inside. Overall case length on the Hornady brass was 2.158"
(all my Norma's were previously trimmed)Oh!, I also tried seating an old primer just to see what it felt like (with a hand tool)? It
seated sort of easy! Not loose, just not like seating a primer in a Lapua ppc case!
My overall opinion (without shooting them)is that the brass will probably work out OK if the primer pockets don't loosen too much
more than they are. The difference in case weight will mean slightly reducing my powder charge maybe a tenth or so (not a big
deal). The runnout in neck wall is Not really bad since they will be turned down to .012" anyway.
If I knew what I now know, I probably would go the extra ten bucks or so and buy Norma brass. The lot that Bill Shehane has in stock
is very good! What will be interesting, is seeing how Lapua stacks up when their cases hit the market (if they have not already). I
know some suppliers have them listed but have not heard of anyone with them in their hot little hands!
Hope this helps some. Normally I don't post with anything but my own experience, but seeing that you weren't getting any replies and knowing Rich the way I do, I decided to post this to help. Rich doesn't BS and builds his own BR guns. He is from Jewsey and can't understand him sometimes though!
Steve
