Remington brass: loaded ammo better than bagged?

[fireroad]

I know Remington brass is just about last on everyone's list as far as quality and consistency, but I keep having good luck with them so I haven't had a reason to switch just yet (that, and the poor reviews of Norma and the lack of selection of Lapua). The most recent brass I got from Remington was a mix of once fired factory ammo (plain ole core-lokt) and one bag of straight brass. I didn't think of this until they all got mixed together or I would have taken some measurements and kept track of any problems. My question is: Has anyone noticed if the brass from Remington factory ammo is of a higher quality then the bagged reloading brass they sell? I have no evidence to back my theory, but I'm leaning towards yes. Your thoughts?

 

[lever-hed]

I have not used Remington virgin brass, however, I have reloaded a lot of what I call 'factory-fired' Rem brass, and will comment: In comparison to other brass such as Federal, Winchester, Hornady, I would say Rem comes in toward the top, only because the primer pockets seem to give me the least trouble, they usually stay in good shape allowing for good resistance when re priming. Its all relative, because some use very hot loads (I don't) and that tends to open up the pockets and ruin the brass, and different primers are of different hardness seat differently and methods in preping brass vary.. So, in the big picture you will have a number of different opinions with varying conditions. .. I tend to prefer Winchester brass, Hornady is very OK, and Federal bites, since I've reloaded many 'factory-fired' Fed brass the pockets open up and don't take re priming very well, In a batch of 40 one time I've thrown out almost half due to this.. Winchester brass appears for me to be easy to work with and the pockets and flasholes are consistent as you can get,, I have no real issues with any of the necks ( I don't weigh or check capacities of brass, so this is not a factor for me)… I will comment that I've heard virgin Rem brass is very good and I would consider purchasing some (if I happen to see a bag available somewheres). . But for now WW is good, I also will comment that the last bag of WW brass bought had 2 necks that were crimped or cut thru, so I wiffed on that purchase. If you get a bag of virgin Rem brass, I suggest a good inspection of the necks and use a lee neck sizer die to form the necks, then FL size them it will help your dies . Also I separate the virgin from factory-fired brass even among the same brand, and even separate 1x reloaded from 2x reloaded brass (keeps tracking of any problems to a minimum, and keeps things at a constant).. keep reusing Rem if it keeps you happy, if not, switch .. Hope this wasn't too long of a response maybe you could take a couple days to read it.. have fun.

 

[boomtube]

There ARE differences in brands of cases but I have to smile - if not laugh - at some of what I read on the net about what's "best" and what's "junk".

I've been doing this for nearing fifty years and find about as much difference in brass lots of the same brand as between brands. ALL of it's good, none is junk, not even the worst of it. Some lots do need more work and will have a slightly greater cull rate but that varies too much to draw a straight line by brand. Paying a buck or more per case for Laupua is more an ego gratification thing than for accuracy. (In my none too humble opinion only, of course.)

For my most demanding work, I FL size whatever brand I have the most of, trim it to the same length, deburr flash holes, uniform primer pockets and turn necks about 70% before sorting it by weight. It's neck sized until a few exhibt excessive neck pull and then the whole lot gets annealed. My select cases last a LOOONG time! I do that with ALL brands and get very good service at nominal cost.

One thing you can be sure of; no maker has different production lines or standards for selling bulk brass and loaded ammo. Within normal manufactoring tolerances, it will all be as near the same as they can make it..

 

[fireroad]

boomtube - I agree, there is alot of info out there. Rem brass has always been good to me so I see no reason to switch. I don't know why I Hadn't considered the fact that it would make no sense for them to manufacture 2 different lines of brass, but it does make sense to get one decent batch (that went to bagged) and one excellent batch (that went to production ammo) off the same line.

 

[boomtube]

It MIGHT make some kind of sense but I would think it would go the other way.

ALL of the bulk brass goes to reloaders and they would be the recurring buyers IF the quality was appealing. LIttle of the factory brass gets "recycled" so who cares about the potential any tiny differences might make.

But, bottom line, in the massive volumes they churn out, I don't think they check for small diffferences in case precision in any ways that would mean anything at all to them or us.