Winchester brass good enough or not worth it?

[270winmuley]

Found a good deal on some Winchester brass and there's a couple bags available at my sportsman's warehouse. I normally use Norma brass but it is extremely hard to come by right now. Anyone have thoughts on the Winchester bag of brass? Primer pocket issues with higher pressure loads? Bad accuracy? These will mostly be used for hunting loads.

 

[GLTaylor]

No help, sorry. Haven't used Win brass in years. Any bagged brass needs sizing and checking before use.

 

[AkBirder300]

I use it in my 300 WSM with no complaints at all. Does require pretty extensive sorting and prep compared to other brands like ADG or Lapua, but the price is right and it was worth it to me to buy 500 pieces of the same headstamp and have enough for the life of my barrel. I resize, trim and trim necks down to a uniform thickness. I have found it perfectly adequate for hunting.

 

[Hespco]

I use off the shelf Win & Rem brass. Works perfect for me. Good case life unless you exceed "safe working pressures". Accuracy has always excellent. I'm not a competitive shooter so any group under 1""is great, with some under 1/2".

 

[Calvin45]

I use Winchester brass. Works great. Longer case life than rem, federal, hornady, or ppu in my experience. I just sort it by weight but that's about it.

 

[Mikecr]

If you don't have pocket expansion problems with Norma, then you'll never have it with Winchester.
Norma is made well, but their alloy is weak, and per cost it's easy enough to pick Win diamonds out of rough.

 

[Varmint Hunter]

I use Win brass in a custom 7WSM because there are few alternatives. With a little case prep the brass can be used to make accurate ammo. I've found that .5moa is possible. That's not match quality but it's much better then needed for hunting.

 

[FEENIX]

Found a good deal on some Winchester brass and there's a couple bags available at my sportsman's warehouse. I normally use Norma brass but it is extremely hard to come by right now. Anyone have thoughts on the Winchester bag of brass? Primer pocket issues with higher pressure loads? Bad accuracy? These will mostly be used for hunting loads.

Like others, I used them in 6.5 CM, .270 AI, .30-06, .300 WSM, .300 WM, and .338 WM without any issues.

Any bagged brass needs sizing and checking before use.

^^^This!^^^

 

[MagnumManiac]

Recent lots have very poor QC.
I have recently bought several bags because nothing else was available.
Bought 150 300WM, 100 338WM and 100 22-250.
All had about a 20% cull rate with pleated necks and shoulders, flash holes not centered or round, even some with 2 distinct flash holes.
I fired 10 of the 338WM brass to get a volume average and was shocked to see neck splits on 3 pieces. The volume also varied quite a bit. I don't know where it's being made or by who, but it is no way as good as in previous years.
I will not be buying more, Remington brass is a whole lot better.

Cheers.

 

[nksmfamjp]

I use it in my 300 WSM with no complaints at all. Does require pretty extensive sorting and prep compared to other brands like ADG or Lapua

My experience is that I can make decent ammo by neck turning and annealing.

All had about a 20% cull rate with pleated necks and shoulders, flash holes not centered or round, even some with 2 distinct flash holes.

This needs done with all brass, but you will cull several cases….more than 10%, I believe.

After sorting, neck turning and annealing, I believe you will have 1/2 moa potential.

I sure wish Lapua or Peterson would hear my begging for WSM brass!

 

[Stammster]

New Winchester brass is terrible. Very light and it's kind of hard to describe - but it doesn't even feel / process like normal brass. Sort of like Hornady, but worse.

The older Win brass > 25 years old was good stuff.

 

[Calvin45]

I suppose @MagnumManiac and @Stammster offer some pertinent word of warning here. I must fully disclose all the Winchester brass I've been using for over the last decade is more than a decade old! It's great. But if the new stuff has fallen….fallen so badly that magnum maniac would assert that REMINGTON IS BETTER!!!!! that indicates something most unfortunate. I've been of the experience-based opinion that nothing Remington makes is better haha. Oh well…

 

[Wrenches]

Recent lots have very poor QC.
I have recently bought several bags because nothing else was available.
Bought 150 300WM, 100 338WM and 100 22-250.
All had about a 20% cull rate with pleated necks and shoulders, flash holes not centered or round, even some with 2 distinct flash holes.
I fired 10 of the 338WM brass to get a volume average and was shocked to see neck splits on 3 pieces. The volume also varied quite a bit. I don't know where it's being made or by who, but it is no way as good as in previous years.
I will not be buying more, Remington brass is a whole lot better.

Cheers.

I have had this problem with the Red Bag Win brass. I purchased two fifty count bags and 28 were not useable! Shoulder pleats. torn necks, and flash holes off center. Called Winchester and ask for replacement cases, they didn't have any in stock and sent me a check. This was 300 Win Mag. Because of this thread I went down stairs to look at two Red Bags of 325 Win brass from a recent purchase and with out opening the bags I can see 4 pleated shoulders. I appears to me that the quality goes out before the name goes on! Seems like someone posted that Win's brass was sold off to another company and they make brass for the Winchester name.

 

[waveslayer]

I have had good experience, but i take the time to test and come up with loads based upon the brass make. Out of a bag of 100 5 pieces will be unusable. But I use it all the time and then replace it with lapua brass