new 300 wsm brass has shoulder dents

[tailbon3]

I bought a bag of winchester brand 300 wsm brass and I've noticed several have dents on the shoulder, probably 10 or so have this deformity. I think they will probably fire form out but I wanted to check with you alls. Would it be risky to use this brass? Will Winchester exchange bad brass?

 

[tailbon3]

I have full length sized this brass so maybe it's from case lube issues. I didn't think it would be because I use a really light weight spray on type lube. Does it look like lube dents?

 

[ranger188]

The new Win brass that I bought recently has some shoulder issues as well, it will fire form out. I gave up on Win brass very inconsistent I threw them in my scrap box.

 

[tailbon3]

What brass do you use now?

 

[Spuds]

I have some Winchester 300 WSM brass with the same marks in the shoulder. I'm not going to shoot it, because a sharp crease will cause a thin spot in the brass. You can buy Norma brass for the WSM. I've heard some say Norma brass is soft, but I've never had a problem with it in Weatherby's.

 

[bbutturff]

First, if the dents existed before you F/L sized the brass then it was not caused by too much case lube.

Second, they will push out when fired and you shouldn't have any problems. But, if it were me, I'd contact Winchester and have them "make it right". I'm at a point in my life where I'm refusing to accept crap from companies anymore.

Finally, I use Winchester brass in my 300 WSM and 325 WSM and have not found them to be inconsistent. However, I do a lot of brass prep so I'm hoping that accounts for it.

Good luck,
Bruce

 

[ranger188]

What brass do you use now?

I just started to use Norma brass. Night and day better! But it should be its double the cost. The win brass was junk, cases weighed almost 20grains different shoulder dented very easy during sizing, it was very thin. I also was having a problem with runout about drove me crazy trying to figure out why. Finally switched to Norma brass and all those problems went away.

 

[feelinducky]

The last batch of Winchester 270WSM bras I bought was CRAP! I had about a 20% cull rate from cracks in the neck. Midway supply refunded me 20% of my cost, which is what I asked for. I didn't get time to finish reloading and working up rounds with it for a few months. I started load work up and could get anything to shoot well, cases wouldn't eject so let my gunsmith look at the rifle. He took a few cases and looked at the bolt and said you have got the worst bunch of brass I've ever seen toss them all out and start over. The rims were too thick along with necks were terrible. I will never buy Win brass again. I should try to ask midway for a refund but I did that once so I'll just learn from this mistake.

 

[tailbon3]

I guess I'm a sucker for a sale because I bought some more Winchester 300 wsm brass. Out of 100, I only had to discard one from neck/shoulder deformities. So, I guess you take your chances with cheap brass. Sometimes you win, sometimes not. I have question about how much weight variation do you guys tolerate with your brass but I'll start a new thread for that, if I can't find an answer first.

 

[ranger188]

With the Win brass I had as much as 15gr diff between cases. The Norma brass was at 3gr diff. I guess it depends on what your expected outcome should be. With the win brass I could only get 1.5 moa at 100yrds. Just buy me switching to Norma I was able to achieve .5 moa with everything else the same. I see lots of load data using Win brass so I assume shooters are/were getting good results. But the last batch I bought was absolute junk.

 

[Canadian Bushman]

I have used Winchester brass for a long time mainly because its decent brass for the price. It definitely varies a lot as far as weight goes, and i have definitely thrown away many cases because dented shoulders. Even so, i get some decent batches and have managed some really nice shots with it. It just depends on what you want from your brass, and how much work you want to put in to it.