I've used winchester brass for reloading my .30-06 because I've been pleased with it. I always buy winchester factory 180 grain power point loads and then reload the used cases. Recently, I noticed some of the cases had a more orangy color, and when I fired the factory loads, there was smoke leak and the brass actually melted around the primer on some of them. My friend says that winchester brass is made in Asia now, and I should stay away from it. Is this true? If so, what brass would you recomend that isn't too expensive?

Sounds like a bull-rumor to me. I could be wrong but I don't believe it's more than a rumor. You could always write Winchester and ask them.

[ 05-01-2003, 03:20: Message edited by: Marsh Mule ]

I do know that Winchester's 7.62x54R ammo is simply repackaged Sellier & Bellot ammo. I have no idea of the rest of thier brass.

Can't say I know much about the factory ammo,but I picked up a 50 pc bag of empty winchester 30-06 brass yesterday.Just read the bag,and it states "made in USA".but,hell that could just be the bag!

I have 80 rounds of Win nickel plated that I have loaded six times now and have had no problems. The only thing I noticed is that I had to clean out the nickel in the bottom of the primer pocket so the primers would seat deep enough.

That was for 25/06 any way.

slowhand-

While I don't have many brand loyalties in brass (I even use lowly Remington brass & don't think twice about it ), Winchester does seem to have a pretty good following. I have always thought W-W brass was pretty good stuff. As for the Asia thing, I doubt it. If you're having problems, contact Winchester, you may just have a bad lot.

It's difficult to say. The stamp on the case head offers no clue. A lot of the brass, especially bulk brass is made by job lotters instead of inhouse. This is also true for the bullets we buy. I honestly don't know if it is the case with Winchester. Like most of us I prefer to buy American but it's extremely hard to beat Lapua and Norma brass. They cost more because of the import duties, but they genuinely seem to be better products. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

Try this experiment next time you can find loose new brass in a gunshop brass section: feel through some Remington, feel the brass and how it slides through your fingers. Now try the Winchester, I believe you will find the Winchester is much smoother feeling. Does this have any bearing on quality? I don't know, I do know though after buying 300 8x57 Winchester and 200 .375 H&H and 100 .300 Ultra, I had lots more culls with the Reminton.

I recently had a problem with some win factory 454 ammo. I had some cases split on the first fireing. I loaded the once fired brass and had several failures on the second and third fireing. I emailed winchester, they responded promply and asked for the ammo back to test. I sent it off and they sent back $80 in Winchester bucks to be redeemed for winchester products at a retailer. I took the rest of the brass and anealed it. It's a little soft now. I think I'll have to reheat it and let it air cool to harden. I ordered several hundred new 454 win cases from Midway and had one of them split on the first fireing also. I'm not loading hot. I am useing WC820 but my velocities are in the 1300-1400fps range with 340gn cast bullets.
I have used win brass almost exclusivley for a long time. I have some 45colt brass that I've been useing since 95' and it's still going strong. With heavy Ruger loads. I don't know if Winchester has changed anything recently, but they used to have an excellent product.

I bought a bag of 50 7mm Mag cases. 21 of them would not fit in the shell holder, the diameter was too large. I never had any problems with the Remington cases.

SLOWHAND:
I bought brand new box of Winchester .243 CXP2
Supreme ammo on sale at Wal-Mart for $14.85 this
morning. I wanted to try out the moly coated bullets and reload the brass. The bullets didn't shoot worth shit at 100 or 250 yds. 4-6" groups
and several flyers. I had some reloads with me
that shot sub MOA with regular old Speer 100 BT's.
at the same distances. Anyway when I got back to
my reloading bench, one of the new case necks has
a 1/4" vertical crack from base of shoulder to edge of the neck. What gives? This is a first for
me and I've used Winchester brass for the past 25
years. Maybe that's why they were on sale huh! I
also have some Win. 7 mm RM brass bag of 50 that I loaded up recently but not a flaw in the bunch!
Oh well, something else to watch out for. BLR7