For those of you who reload your own are there some types of brass that you would or would not reload for the hunt, and maybe just use at the range? I prefer to use the same for practice and hunting. My reason behind this question is in the Midway catalog they list two companies who make .458 Lott brass and there is a big difference in price. Hornady brass sells for $23.12 for a box of 50, while Bell sells at $28.99 for a box of just 20. I know that the hornady brass is not polished but would this make up for the difference in price?

Tanoose,
Hornady is a large company, and the cost of their machines and tooling is amortized over a long time and a lot of brass production. This permits them to sell for less than say, MAST.

I have heard bad things about Bertram Brass (and the A-Square brass produced by them), so I avoid that brand. I have never had any problems with Federal, Hornady/Frontier, Winchester, or Remington brass.

I often use two different loads for my DG rifle practice, due to the high cost of the bullets I use on safari. As long as it shoots close to POI of my safari loads, I am happy.

George

IMO There is absolute no comparison between Hornady brass and Bell. Compare the belt on the Hornady and you will see it is poorly formed plus the head on many of the Hornady cases get stuck in the shell holded. I am not sure that you can still find Bell Brass in 458 LOTT. If you can please let me know where.
It is the old adage you get what you pay for.
CHEERS

I e-mailed Starline Brass, about ten days ago. To ask them about making 458 Lott, and several other big bore calibers. The Starline brass I have seen was very good quality. Maybe if they got more e-mail/phone calls, about making 470 NE, 505 Gibbs, 450 NE, etc., they would start serving the big bore market.

Starline's product list is varied already, lots of old US BP rounds, propriatary rounds, so they have a history of meeting the needs of limited markets. Take a look at their website, and send them your request for what you are looking for.


http://www.starlinebrass.com

Hog Killer

I bought 150 pieces of the Hornaday .458 Lott brass at the prices you saw advertised. I have had absolutely no problem with it and intend to use it as long as it is available. Prior to going with the Hornaday, I used the Bell brand. Each to his own opinion but I'll stick with the Hornaday. I reload and practice with 50 pieces and save 100 pieces to load for a hunting trip. I only carry new brass that has been full-length resized when hunting. Also, each loaded round is cycled through my rifle at least two times before it gets to make the trip...just to make sure there aren't any unexpected problems.

Bull1

I have not had any problems with Hornady brass..It as good as any it seems to me..I know it last through a lot of loadings..

I bought some Hornady, 458 Lott, once fired factory loaded brass off of e-bay. To go with the new unprimed brass that I got some time back from Midway.(No problems with the new stuff)

The other day I loaded a few rounds of the e-bay stuff, loaded thee rifle up an cycled some of the rounds though. I let the rounds land on the carpet, when I picked them up one of the rounds had a high primer. When I pressed on the primer it went right back in to the pocket with very little effort. I know weird things can and do happen even with new factory ammo, but this is not good, primer pockets should not get this loose with one firing. FYI

Hog Killer

tannose,

I shoot a Ruger in the 458 Lott and have shot and reloaded Hornady... and Bell brass bought from Buffalo arms in Idaho..They all loaded well and shot well and multiple times...
Used virgin brass for my ele and buff hunt in summer of 04...

Mike

WE have tried practically all the brass makers that we could find, and generally, the quality is very good.

Except from Bertram - I will never, ever use it. It is the worst I have ever seen!

A-Square brass has been iffy for us. Some is good and some is not. So now we try to stay away from it.

We've had a few patches of Remington brass that has been very poor.

Apart from the above, brass from the European makers tend to be of better quality - and more expensive too.

Lapua, Norma, Sako and RWS all make excellent brass.

From the US makers, Dakota brass has been excpetional in quality - comparable to the European's

We have used a very large quantity of Winchester brass, and all of it has been good.

The only Hornady brass we used was recovered from loaded ammo. And was very good quality.

The only 458 Lott brass I have purchased was the Hornady. Besides a couple of culls out of 100 cases the stuff was very good quality. The cases were very consistent in weight. I uniformed the primer pockets and deburred the flash holes...have not had a problem with the Hornady Lott Brass and the price is hard to beat...

I saw that Norma 458 Lott Brass will be available in the near future...In my experience Norma makes very good brass...but for the advertised prices I will stay with the Hornady stuff...hopefully it will be available soon...

The biggest problem with the Hornady brass, is that they do not seem to be able to keep up with demand.

Hog Killer

Mast is selling a bunch of 375 H&H basic brass for I believe $23 for 20 or $100 for 100. If I am not nistaken, all you have to do is run through the F/L resizer and trim to length(not in any particular order, whatever floats your boat) might a little more expensive than the Hornady stuff, but the quality should be better.