What Experiences Has Everyone Had With Premium Brass?

[Savage 12BVSS]

Curious about what posters think of the better brass manufacturers as far as quality and weight uniformity goes? I have experience with Lapua and Norma and A little with Peterson. Have quit fooling with Norma, last 100 box had over 5gr's of weight difference and general quality drop of late. Lapua is much better in stamping and look as well as much less weight spread. Haven't done much with ADG and Alpha because they don't make 7mm-08 or 22-250. Peterson seems to be a weight sorters dream with the select brass and being USA based means something to me. Whats everybodies opinion and take on it? Dave

 

[Mikecr]

My opinion is 'only believe what you measure'.
When I take cost -vs- efforts into account, it's so far been a wash between expensive and cheaper brass.
I can pick diamonds out of rough with Winchester reloading brass, that is every bit as good as what I pick out of Lapua.
The important thing is that I measure, with no bias or assumptions.

 

[Savage 12BVSS]

I can pick diamonds out of rough with Winchester reloading brass, that is every bit as good as what I pick out of Lapua.

Wise post, wouldn't have made sense to me except my most accurate rifle has a taste for lowly old winchester brass. I spend a lot of time trimming, deburring, weight sorting, pocket uniforming, and even rejecting some, but its what the gun likes, and what the gun likes....I like.

 

[358 WCF]

Unsure what OP is shooting & I'm going back 20 years, but with a factory chamber (quite often loose & sloppy with a looooong throat) you will likely not be able to tell much difference, unless the brass is REALLY lopsided. When I still had the shop running I measured 100s of WW, RP, & Lapua 308. Lapua was damned near perfect dimensionally. The high power guys & the hunter class BR guys loved it & bought cases of the stuff. The casual target shooters & hunters eyes bugged out when they saw the price. They were happy with the WW stuff.

Maybe the # of firings with better alloy will improve some with premium brass, but the material being worked between max chamber/min sizing die will likely take its toll sooner than later. Maybe things have improved lately with CNC controls... or not.

 

[sp6x6]

Not happy what luck you had with Norma,since I use for 338NM. I ve liked mine and have reloaded ten times,purchased ten years ago.

 

[twister]

i think its worth it, but have had very fine luck with cheap brass if i weight sort.

 

[JMW67]

Curious about what posters think of the better brass manufacturers as far as quality and weight uniformity goes? I have experience with Lapua and Norma and A little with Peterson. Have quit fooling with Norma, last 100 box had over 5gr's of weight difference and general quality drop of late. Lapua is much better in stamping and look as well as much less weight spread. Haven't done much with ADG and Alpha because they don't make 7mm-08 or 22-250. Peterson seems to be a weight sorters dream with the select brass and being USA based means something to me. Whats everybodies opinion and take on it? Dave

I received 100 rounds of norma 280 the other day upon weight sorting I found a large spread I took the lightest and heaviest full length sized and primed them with equal weight primers and checked water volume they were within .3gr of each other

 

[cape cove]

My opinion is 'only believe what you measure'.
When I take cost -vs- efforts into account, it's so far been a wash between expensive and cheaper brass.
I can pick diamonds out of rough with Winchester reloading brass, that is every bit as good as what I pick out of Lapua.
The important thing is that I measure, with no bias or assumptions.

My God how true is this. I've had batches of Norma brass that led me to believe I would never buy other makes, then the next one not so good. Winchester brass that had bad primer pockets then the next 4-5 bags of great brass. Read posts that Hornady brass was "bad" then got some that got me great accuracy and case life. As was said "measure with no bias or assumptions". Any brass I have ever purchased, premium or regular, has to be prepped if accuracy and consistency is the goal. I've had bad batches of all kinds. JMO

 

[DJ Fergus]

Curious about what posters think of the better brass manufacturers as far as quality and weight uniformity goes? I have experience with Lapua and Norma and A little with Peterson. Have quit fooling with Norma, last 100 box had over 5gr's of weight difference and general quality drop of late. Lapua is much better in stamping and look as well as much less weight spread. Haven't done much with ADG and Alpha because they don't make 7mm-08 or 22-250. Peterson seems to be a weight sorters dream with the select brass and being USA based means something to me. Whats everybodies opinion and take on it? Dave

I just purchased some alpha brass about a month ago, They are my favorite so far and I will buy more if they make it for the case I need. I've used Lapua and it's the toughest, decent weight spread but I've saw better. Nosler won't last long but it has always been highly consistent in weight & uniformity, others will say different and I won't dispute but I personally haven't got any like that from nosler.

 

[Savage 12BVSS]

Thanks for all the responses, Have had some real bad frozen pipe issues and haven't been giving things full attention. I should have been clearer in my opening post and it caused confusion. I have three cartridges that I want to change to a locally (USA) owned company to get away from Norma. They are 260-7mm-08-308. Like opening post divulged with my 22-250, I don't know why the winchester brass works so good and premium brass not so much but it is what it is, I won't change what isn't broken.

I've been looking at Peterson Brass in Pa. cause they cover all my needs and are local which really means a lot to me. No kick with Lapua on quality just Norma, which charges the same as any premium brass company but in my opinion doesn't provide equal product more and more of late. I've used Norma for about 18 years so I don't jump ship on something till I really get enough. I was hoping to get some feedback on any negatives on Peterson. Their select grades sound like a weight sorter's delight and when I change my load's over I want to be able to obtain product when I need it, although I do stockpile to avoid temporary shortages.

That was really the purpose of the thread, should have titled it what does everyone think of Peterson brass looking back. Guess I've pretty much decided at this point so will give the USA guys at Peterson my business and see. Up here you look out at the snow and get stuff ready for the spring shooting work-up weather. Cheers Dave

 

[Mikecr]

I wish all brass makers would offer select batches. These, meeting certain standards such as thickness, thickness variance, weight, etc. with a declared tolerance. While it would not be viable to apply this across the brunt of their product, some of us are willing to pay more for that effort.

If I had a brass business, I would do it. Probably hire a Japanese girl to find my diamonds & separate for special batches.
I also wish barrel makers and gun builders would do this.

 

[blackbrush1]

Don't overlook RWS

 

[Savage 12BVSS]

Don't overlook RWS

Looks like out of country maker. Trying to spend my bucks here stateside if possible. Thanks however. Dave

 

[MZmoose]

My opinion is 'only believe what you measure'.
When I take cost -vs- efforts into account, it's so far been a wash between expensive and cheaper brass.
I can pick diamonds out of rough with Winchester reloading brass, that is every bit as good as what I pick out of Lapua.
The important thing is that I measure, with no bias or assumptions.

I stopped using Winchester because who wants to waste time looking for the "diamonds" in all that rough. Inconsistent neck thickness, neck folds, primer flash holes no where near center, weights all over the place, etc..... I'd rather spend some coin on quality and spend my time loading and shooting vs. sorting and cherry picking.