Could you please give me some expert opinions on which brass is better for reloading, Remington or Winchester. Also, I have developed a load for one of my rifles in Remington brass. If I do switch brass I will work the load back up, however, I'd like to know if Remington has a larger case capacity than Winchester in the same caliber, or does Winchester have the larger case capacity? Thanks for any help. Tom Purdom

I think the case capacity varies from one maker to another according to the caliber. Honestly, after many years of reloading I prefer to use neither Remington or Winchester. I pay a little more and get Lapua if its a caliber they make. Their brass is much more uniform in weight as well as in dimensions. Plus they drill their primer pockets instead of the N. American method of punching them out which leaves a brass projection inside the case that you'll probably have to ream out. Lapuas cases are noted for their longevity as well. My second choice is Norma, but it's really expensive. If nothing else is available I'll use Remington. They seem to be the best of the N. American made brass. Just one mans opinion. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

Tom,
Some folks are extremely finicky about their reloads and go to extreme details......and we will (as reloaders) disagree, usually academically, among ourselves.......but not always!

If reload quality is a foot long I see the selection of the bullet as 9 inches of it. The selection and amount of powder as 2" of it and all other issues as the last 1". Strangely enough it's the last inch where the greatest passion arises in conversation.

Pick a manufacturer and move on to the next step.

In my experience WW brass is thinner and thus has more case capacity.

Fill each with water, weigh them and see for yourself.

My opion is to use Remington, after past experience of Winchester and their brass is not good. Having blown primers out of three cases out of twenty and checking the extraction groove and finding it oversize. I don't think Winchester brass is the way to go. Or any other brass for that matter.
Gravel

I don't know about Winchester vs Remington but recently I was testing something else and worked up loads for two aught sises using Federal brass. I decided to separate the loads for the two rifles by brand name and when I chose Winchester brass NONE of the entire spectrum of previous LOADS were accurate.

I will be going back in January using Remington brass and searching for an accurate load for the second rifle!

Neatly explained, vapodog.The only brass that I had some real problems with was CAVIM .308 ,some Sako 25-06, Two brands of .425 WR. Same problem with all; too soft.For hunting or liesurly punching paper I use them all and just enjoy the shooting. roger

Most seem to think expensive European brass is the best(Norma & Lapua). I think another European brand, RWS is as good as anything period.It is expensive and I usually only use it in metric calibres that are not made in north america,such as 9.3x64 ,8x68,6.5x68. I would agree that Win cases are normally a little thinner and harder brass than Rem. Both are very good. To make a case for one over the other is flogging a pretty dead horse.

I'm happy to use either brand. They will tend to vary from caliber to caliber and lot to lot in wall thickness and internal capacity, and also in the level of annealing. But all in all, it is unusual to get a lot of either brand that is unsatisfactory. I think that Hornady (Frontier) is made by the same mill as Winchester, as was Browning ammunition of a few years back. Although I have little or no preference between the two, in most instance when this issue is raised, Winchester is the overwhelming favorite. Will be interesting to see if that trend develops with this thread.

Drilled versus punched flashholes is a red herring issue. To the extent that burrs may exist inside the case, it has never been demonstrated that their presence or absence in any way affects the performance of the cartridge. Significant variations in the diameter of the flashhole could have a negative effect, but within a single lot of brass, there would be no more variation with punched than drilled flashholes.

I'm sure that Norma's current brass production is top notch. But (many) years ago when I was new to reloading, Norma brass had a well-earned reputation for being excessively soft in the head area, and a "warm" but reasonable load exceeding about 50,000 c.u.p. would enlarge the Norma primer pocket enough that they were a one-shot affair. Like I say, I'm sure that this is not the circumstance today, but for close to $1 a pop, I'm not likely to find out from my own experience, either.

Not an expert but, I find the Remington cases to be heavier than the Wins which, usually means they have thicker walls and less capacity.

I believe the Remington cases are better as far as longevity but, not by much.

Good Luck!

Reloader

In a choice between the two, I'll take Winchester, although I admit that I've never been able to tell any significant difference in accuracy between them. If you work up loads in Remington brass, I think you can switch to Winchester without problem or concern, but if you have worked up a top-max load in Winchester brass, I think you should back off a grain or two if you switch to Remington.



As to the punched flash holes: You can get a flash hole deburring tool from Midway for about $11 -- it works on all size cases. Use it once on each case, and you then have cases with well-formed and de-burred flash holes.



If you are financially flush and money doesn't matter to you, or if you are a bench rest shooter to whom a .005" difference in group size matters, then you may want to get the expensive European brass, although I doubt that it will give better performance in actual shooting. For the rest of us, I see little reason to quibble. I buy either Winchester or Remington brass in bulk, and then de-burr, size, load, and shoot it. One difference I can see is that Winchester now packages theirs in 50-piece units, while Remington does so in 100-piece ones.

I like lapua best of all but they sure are expensive!
Rare and magnum cals even more!
Did buy a box of 100 cal 300win mag to find out the day after i could have got 200 RP cases for the same price!!

Regards