I never thought to ask when my Dad sat beside me at the loading bench for the first time. You know, when you pay attention to everything he was doing, more so than any lesson learned in school could ever hold your attention. The question strikes me, years later and with a moderate amount of reloading at the old wooden bench, why did he always use Remington brass? I do recall him saying, way back when I wasn't big enough to heft that Model 97 Winchester off the chair to sit down... that he and the "guys" loaded boxes of deer specific rounds with brass from who knows where and when. Lot numbers were from outerspace and bullets still went where they were supposed to. "Lot numbers" - I recall him stress their importance. He learned a great deal on his own in the years that followed before there was much available. I wish I would have asked him why Remington brass over the rest. I guess he would say wall thickness / consistency / longevity / and the like. The 10 cent question I pose is why Remington brass over, say Winchester brass? What do those who know have to say... eh?

He probably chose it because of availability or cost...

I like Winchester brass better than Remington, but I use Remington for a few of my rifles, mostly because I have alot of it.

It could also be that all his loads were worked up using Remington brass...And when you change any comonent, it could affect your load.

Using different brass can cause dramatic changes under some conditions.

[ 10-13-2003, 07:56: Message edited by: Gatehouse ]

I don't know which is more consistent -- Winchester or Remington -- but if you want maximum powder capacity for maximum velocity, Winchester brass often holds slightly more powder (maybe one grain) than does Remington in the same cartridge.

If you are loading to achieve top accuracy, I think Remington brass is just as good and possibly sometimes better than Winchester.

For most applications in most cartridges, I doubt that it makes much difference (but don't intermix them!).

Perhaps I am stuck in time back about 25 years ago. I also thought Federal brass was more consistent, followed by Winchester then Remington. Remington tended to be a bit thicker.

I have a bunch of Federal match .222 brass which still provides the most accurate ammo for the most accurate rifle I own (a Sako .222 with an old man Hart barrel on it).

Remington brass is generally considered more consistent than Winchester. The reason your dad preferred it is probably because at one time Remington had the best quality control in the business. It wasn't just in brass, but in all components. It often seems like they've went to hell in a hand basket in recent years. I still prefer Remington, but no longer take it as a given that their products will be superior to the others. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

Remington is always my last choice for brass. In fact, I don't ever buy it any more.

I agree with DH. I have had only bad experiences with Remington brass, new or old.

I shoot what RP I have, but buy Winchester. I have even been known to walk away from RP brass on the ground at the range.

If I had found even a small part of the flaws and imperfections that some folks routinely find in every purchase of Remington brass, I wouldn't buy it either. Fortunately, among the hundreds and hundreds of pieces of brass that I buy each year, I find few flaws. Certainly not enough to send me flying to pay three or four times the cost for the high priced spread to use for hunting ammo.
I guess the main reason I use Remington brass is because when I started reloading, the small sporting shop where I traded, stocked Remington brass. And Remington, Hornady and Nosler bullets. Over the years, these components have stood me in good stead and while I try other products, when they do no better than my old stand-bys, I revert to their use. I may be a luddite but I don'tbelieve in fixin' what ain't broke.
For what its worth, I won several "factory stock" matches last year using among otheer things Remington Brass.

I use both Remington and Winchester brass for the two cartridges that I reload, .222 Rem. and 22 K Hornet. From the brass that I have purchased, the Winchester has had slightly better consistency in Case Weights and Neck Wall Thickness. However, it is still variable enough that I Weight Sort and Neck Turn Winchester cases. The Winchester brass tends to be harder and resist Primer Pocket Expansion better than the Remington. The Remington brass tends to resist Neck Splitting better than the Winchester. I get more reloads/case with the Remington brass as Neck Splitting is responsible for most of my case failures. In terms of case capacity, it depends on the cartridge. The Remington Hornet cases have significantly more case capacity than the Winchester, but I know that the converse of this relationship holds true for other chamberings. rollinghills.

I shot some groups with my 222 Rem last week, using Remington brass. I got 5 shot groups in the .1"s thru .3"s. How much better do you need? (If somebody wants to post them, I can email them).

I've gotten equally good performance with Rem brass in 223, 243, 7mm-08, etc. (OK, no .1"s with these others, but then again the rifles aren't up to it either ).

I have no problem using Remington brass. Is it the "best" every time? No. Is it perfectly acceptable for 99% of most guys shooting? Yep.

I use a RCBS digital scale to seperate Winchester and Remington cases by weight after preping the cases. Both brands will at times have a few cases that will be way over or under the average weight . Winchester cases seem to be lighter than Remington cases. I wish they would sell cases in bags of 110ea. so I could trash the rejects and still have 100 cases in a lot.

Recently, I was going to load for a 30-06 and had three kinds of brass, WW, RP, and FC. I weighed them on a little BBKII electric scale and WW's were the lightest with RP just a little more weight, and the FC's were several grains heavier. The only pressure problem I've had with my 06 rifle has been with FC brass. Has anyone else noticed this pressure problem with FC brass?

I use more RP brass because there is more of it around here and at a better price. I usually can't tell the difference between RP and WW brass except just a hair more velocity with the RP sometimes, but am becoming leary of the FC brass in max loads. BM

I have used both Rem. & Win. and have had good luck with both. Rem. brass seems to be a little thicker.

today Lapua, Norma, WW, Federal then Remington is the way I rate them, but all are good IMO...

Back then Remington-Peters and Winchester was the only brass, I was there then..Most liked WW but it didn't make a lot of difference...We always cut the load by 1.5 grs. for the Remington stuff over the WW stuff for the same POI...I preferred the WW....I doubt if there was any real difference, but most of us tried to have all one kind so as not to mix them any more than we had too...Your dad probably started with the Remington and did exactly that to keep them all one make, a smart move.

Ray: I would rate Swiss RUAG brass very highly, at least as high as Norma and RWS.

By a relative price-value ration, Prvi Partizan is outstanding.

Remington nowadays really is the bottom of the barrel, in world comparison.

Carcano

I will not use Winchester brass or have anything to do with Winchester products. After having Winchester ammo that blew the primers out of the cases. This was factory loaded ammo and when the cases were checked the extraction grooves were .050 heavier on the blown primers cases. Have to admitt that this was very disappointing after finally getting the rifle bolt open. And then finding three more cases in the same lot. The rest of the ammo was checked before firing. So far I have not run into this or anything similar with Remington products.
Gravel

.243 remington brass is more uniform in the neck area. Plus flash holes are more uniform in dept than winchester. I've cut them in half and the body's of the remingtons are thicker. Winchester flash hole depth may vary as much as .020 to .035" or more, remington's vary around .002- .003" or so. That all adds up to more accuracy. I have four .243's and they all do better with remington brass.

LE270,

I would not blanket statement that more powder and more volume means more velocity. I have found R-P brass to have less volume in one of the cartridges I load. It produces more pressure and more velocity, but has better case life than the WW brass I have tried. I have also heard it said and I believe, that military brass has less volume so they can get the same velocities w/less powder, meaning the smaller volume produces more pressure/velocity.

Deke.

Deke,

You may be right. I admit that I've never done a test to determine whether this is true. I've assumed that more powder = greater velocity, but that may not be so.