For the reloaders in the audience - Do you have a favorite brand of brass that you like to reload? And if so, why? Is it nickel or brass?

I have collected all brands over the past 30 years and I have found that some is more accurate, some is easier to resize, some brass cleans up better, etc.

My main goal is accuracy.

Thanks and Merry Christmas

The top spots belong to the expensive European brass - Lapua, Norma and RWS. They produce brass of very consistent quality, requiring the least work for preparation, and yielding the smallest amount of "rejects" after sorting for various consistency criteria.

That is not to say US (or other) brass is no good. Far from it. I have used both Winchester and Remington fairly extensively and liked both (Winhester perhaps a bit more). I have only used Federal (Gold Match .223) once, and was very disappointed, but maybe that was just a fluke??

- mike

Defintely Norma and Lapua, Sako seems to be in the same class. new Winchester brass is often dented with a bad finish (dented case mouths etc) but loads well. Remington is OK. I´ve used PMP brass for the 9.3x62 and it was good to work with and very cost efficient. Federal has a bad rep but I haven´t tried it.

The brand I reach for when I want consistency of quality at an affordable price is Starline.

I just got some Nosler brass in 22-250. Have not loaded nor shot it yet -- this weekendend. This stuff is very impressive. A bit pricey, too, but if it works good then it is worth every penny in the custom gun its dedicated to. sundog

I use whatever brand I can get 500 of with the same lot number. Manufacturer makes no difference to me.

I quit discriminating against brands when I quit loading for varmint and other high-accuracy guns. Most of my hunting rifles can't tell the difference between brands and frankly, any gun that can do between 1 MOA and .5 MOA can't tell much difference between sorted and unsorted brass. When a gun starts to average .5 MOA or better then brass prep really begins to show.

Every once in a while I buy Lapua, Norma or RWS for the headstamp but that is about it. I don't find Norma to be much different these days from Remington. RWS and Lapua do seem to be overall better but again, in my hunting guns it's a difference that doesn't have any real payoff. I've just started using Privi Partizan 9.3 x 62 and I am impressed so far.

Two kinds I don't have any use for under any circumstances are nickeled rifle cases and Bertram. I suppose if I were a PH and spent lots of time in the bush I might have a use for nickel plate but not as an average hunter.

Editied to add that I do prep the flash holes, trim and true the necks on new brass but screw the weighing, neck mics, neck turning and primer pocket reaming unless those activities are fun to you. They won't improve a 1" gun.

I bought two 50 cal cans full of 7.62 Nato at a gun show some years back most of which was IMI ammunition. I have since shot it up and reloaded some, and am happy to tell you IMI brass is of good quality and on par with LC brass.

quote:

Originally posted by Borealis Bob:
The brand I reach for when I want consistency of quality at an affordable price is Starline.

BB-
I have some Starline brass that has been reloaded in excess of 20 times. Records show that it was loaded with 17.1 grains of WW-296 and 158 grain XTPs five times, dumped into an oatmeal can and reloaded another 15+ times with 7.1 grains of 3N37 and 158 grain LSWC's. Only now are the cases beginning to split...that's tough brass.

For American brass....Hornady/Frontier is my first choice if available, then Winchester. Never tried any 'high end' foreign brass.

Many thanks to all of you that replied. The only comment that I would add is that I really like nickle cases - easier to clean, easier to resize. And I will definitely look for some Norma or Lapua to try.

Again thanks and Merry Christmas!

Lapua - first choice

M118/M118LR brass- pretty darn close to Federal Gold Medal (note I use an M14 rifle and like heavier mil spec brass for this type of auto loader)

IMI - same reason as above

Federal Gold Medal Match

After that it is usaully Remington,Federal Winchester and Herters and various house brand brass, usually for an non mainstream cartridge.

The Mil spec brass, is nice in that if I lose a case during hunting or shooting, no big deal, the lapua brass, I tend to mark the spot I fired it from and come back and look for it.

I'm not an experienced reloader (yet), but to me Lapua is light-years ahead of Remington and Winchester in terms of quality.

Have not yet tried Norma, but have heard it is good quality, but tends to be softer than most.

Bruce

Thus far I've loaded Remington, Federal, Winchester, Starline, Norma, and Lapua. Lapua was far and away the best. You can load the stuff right out of the box, NO PREP.

The only Norma brass I've used was in .280 and it was a big dissapointment. To be kind, it was crap. I may have been unlucky, but I hate to ever have to count on luck.

For calibers that Lapua doesn't make (or rifles where it isn't needed), I have had good luck with Winchester.

Starline has been good thus far for handguns.

Gabe

I get great results from Winchester.

Using a bunch of cheap Federal cases now, and if the primer pockets are good they seem to be ok. Found a bunch that won't prime with CCI, but I paid $15 for 500 .223 brass so I can't complain.

I am a brass grabber at the pistol range, and haven't had many problems.

Lapua and RWS, others are second best.........DJ

Just getting back into reloading and ordered 100 pieces of Lapua 6.5x55. Man is this stuff perty! Havent loaded any yet but it looks really good.

kind of shied away from nickel for most hunting except for those large claw and teeth boogers. Winchester and Remington are my main cases. Quit fooling around with Federal brass too. Starline is good for my handguns. guess most will work.

Lapua - hands down.

quote:

Originally posted by ricciardelli:
I use whatever brand I can get 500 of with the same lot number. Manufacturer makes no difference to me.

I agree with Steve that manufacturer makes no significant difference.

quote:

Originally posted by LE270:

quote:

Originally posted by ricciardelli:
I use whatever brand I can get 500 of with the same lot number. Manufacturer makes no difference to me.

I agree with Steve that manufacturer makes no significant difference.

Baloney, If you think that brass manufacturer makes no signifigant difference you aren't reloading carefully enough. Yes with 500rds you can usually sort through enough brass to find some that's usable, but with Lapua you'll probably have 498 to 499 really good cases. With Remchester you might get 350 really good cases. Some manufacturers have signifigant variations in wall thickness. It's hard to have your runout down to .002 or so when the brass varies .006 from side to side!
We just got through with a extremely accurate 375 H&H that started shooting bad. Remington, Winchester and Federal Brass all had very signifigant inconsistancies in their brass wall thickness and the gun would not shoot well. We tried loads in 4 different presses with 4 different sets of match grade dies with no luck because of the inconsistant brass. A switch to RWS brass instantly solved the runout problem and returned the gun to shooting 1/2 MOA.
There is a large difference between brass manufacturers and I have the brass and runouts to prove it!.................DJ

I have mixed emotions about nickle plated cases. some say it might be hard on your chamber. i like it for hunting because its weather tolerant and doent get funky. i think the main reason they started making it was for police when they carried ammo in leather belts. the acid in the leather would turn the brass green and make a mess. i have seen some 222 brass that had been neck turned and had all the nickle removed. the nickle cases seem to have a pretty rough finish on the inside of the neck also. a friend of mine fired tons of hot loads through a 22-250 with nickle plated brass and said the case life was longer (less trimming no splitting) the accuracy was fine

Lapua, Norma, Winchester, then whatever. The nickle in my experience after three or more resizes is about done, it seem to become more brittle and splits easily. Just my .02 Good shooting.

Lapua and RWS, not NORMA because it's very soft. Winchester it's very good too.
Regards.
Héctor

If you're wanting to get into the ultra accuracy game, the brass is only one small piece of the puzzle.
I think Lapua is #1. As posted, you can pretty much load right out of the box. I was disappointed with Norma. I use a lot of Rems (for the very scientific reason of that is what the store stocked when I started reloading). They work well if you have the time to spend sorting them and neck turning. I'm sure the same can be said for Winchester.
Since I like my range time much more than my shop time, for general hunting and varminting, I buy a big sack of rems, load 'em up, and cull them as I shoot. Then I take the survivors and put them thru my rather limited prep. I may neck turn and weight sort 25 rounds for a factory match but I ain't about to do the same thing for 1000 rounds to go Pdog shooting with. By the same token, I ain't gonna buy a 1000 Lapua cases to go Pdog shooting when I can make a truck payment with the difference between them and remchesters.

I have to say i'm suprised no one has said anything about using LC Match brass.

Its very good and for 308 not very expensive.

I have a few thousand of 30-06 LC Match and use it for everything based of the 06 case.