Being rather new to reloading and only having a limited supply of spent brass, I think it is time to buy some new brass. Both Remington and Winchester are readily available and comparably priced, which is prefered

[ 08-04-2003, 06:01: Message edited by: Bud H ]

MY FAVORITE BRAND OF BRASS IS WW. I RELOAD .38SPL. .357 MAG AND 9MM. BEST PLACE I'VE FOUND TO GET ONCE FIRED BRASS IS AT GUN SHOWS. SOME TIMES YOU CAN GET IT FROM MIDWAY BUT YOU CAN'T GO THROUGH A PICK OUT THE BRAND YOU WANT. WHAT THEY SEND IS WHAT YOU GET. I KINDA LIKE NEW MIDWAY BRASS BECAUSE I CAN GET IT HEADSTAMPED WITH MY NAME. THEY HAVE JOHN, JIM ,BOB, AND BILL I THINK.

THE 2ND AMENDMENT PROTECTS US ALL............

I have ALWAYS preferred Winchester but you will find that opinions vary.....

I vote Winchester.

I normally buy Winchester, just because I think it's generally thicker. (This may or may not still be true.)

For most cartridges I just buy a WW bulk pack of 100 or 500 cases from Midway. But if you want to use their once fired brass...ORDER #1 grade, as most of the time it's military and has the primer crimp removed for you.

CAUTION all you guys who get brass at gunshows! It may look shiney and new, but gunshow brass is often the product of case tumblers and you really haven't a clue how many times a case has been used.

The stuff I get at gunshows, I won't even look at it if it doesn't still have the factory primer sealant on it. Although even this is no total guarantee of its "freshness."

It's about as cheap just to order new brass and be done with it. Then take care of the stuff and you'll get a long life from it.

WINCHESTER, except I use Lapua or Norma for my rifles chambered for metric rounds.

MY Brass Is Better than YOUR brass!!!

I prefer Winchester. Unlike Dr Lou, I don't use Lapua or Norma. Has nothing to do with quality.
I am a better shot than a lot of others I know, however, I feel me using Lapua brass or Norma based on the expense is akin to putting Hi Test In a Volkswagen Bug, based on MY shooting ability.

It is quality stuff, but Winchester has done right by me all this time.

For rifles my choice is Winchester. For handguns I use Starline.

I'm not sure of the origin of the "Winchester is superior" line of thinking. Winchester is just fine, but I can find little difference between it and Remington. Traditionally, Remington has been heavier in the web area and Winchster has had a little more capacity, caliber for caliber. I use whichever is most available/cheapest, but use only that one brand (and preferably one lot) in a given caliber.

When setting up for a new gun that you're serious about, it's probably best to buy enough brand new brass to carry the gun through it's eintire useful lifetime of load work-up, sight in, practice, and hunting/shooting. For a big game hunting rifle, 100 rounds is more than adequate in most instances. For a varmint rifle, it may be more like 500 or a thousand pieces, you tell me.

Sounds like winchester is the prefered, at least of those who answered, thanks. And would you believe, Cabela's is a little bit less than Midway!

I use Lapua and Norma in those calibers they make brass that I own rifles for. That's mainly what the guys who shoot benchrest use. It won't take too long to figure out the reason. The European companies drill out their primer pockets not punch them out so there's no protruding projection remaining inside the primer pocket that should be reamed out. With Winchester and Remington when you bevel the case mouth ever fourth or fifth case will produce a chattering sound. That's because they're out of round or non-concentric. Most of the companies don't even make their own brass any longer, but job lot it out to sub-contractors. We get the honor of cleaning up their sloppiness. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

WW. .. . hands down !!

I use WW when nothing else is availabel. Most of my brass is Remington and Federal.

44mag, 22hornet, 7mag, 222mag AI, 375 JDJ.....remington

300savage, 308 brass, is a mix of Federal, WW and Remington.

I haven't had bad luck with any of them and have loaded anywhere between 5-10 times for each with very few splits or throw aways for any other reason.

To each his own.

Have fun choosing.

I use Winchester bulk brass. I doubt it is "better" its just what I have been using for years.

Pick one and buy in lots of 100. When they wear out, buy 100 more and throw away the old one. Don't mix. There is a lot of variation from lot to lot and partcularly over time(like years).

Depends on the caliber and what I'm using it for. I shoot a .40-65WCF in BPCRS competition and use Remington cases exclusively for it. The Winchester .45-70 case (from which .40-65's are formed) have a cannelure around the case about bullet depth. It has a tendency to seperate there after multiple uses...the Remington does not have the groove.

9mm Luger, I like RP primed brass for overloads
9x23mm Wichester is thicker than Starline 9mm Supercomp
7.62x25mm S&B will take higher pressure than Starline
45acp brass is mostly the same includeing Starline 45 Super, but Starline +P is thicker
.223 LC or Federal is good, how can a .223 not be accurate?
7.62x54R Lapua is better than S&B
257 Roberts I like Winchester
7.92x57mm all I have is Rem

Whatever I can get my grubbers on.

I like WW brass. It is generally HARDER/TOUGHER than R-P. In addition, R-P brass is usually a little thicker, holding less powder. So, it requires some powder charge adjustment when switching back and forth. However, there is nothing wrong with Remington brass! Norma is excellent, but costs too much to justify purchasing it vs WW or R-P!

Bud H: I use both Remington and Winchester brass in quite a number of Rifles I load for. No complaints with either! I also use Remington Nickel plated brass along with some Winchester Nickel plated brass. Dittos for the Federal brass that I have very good luck with (both Nickel plated and regular brass!). I also use LaPua, Norma, Herters, Weatherby and Sako brass! I have no complaints about any of it accuracy or brass life wise! I do not settle for so-so accuracy and like I say I am able to achieve it with all makes of brass.
On some of my Rifles I do sort brass by weight - for instance when I get a new Varminter I will buy more brass than I want to dedicate to that Rifle. Like if I want 300 pieces of sorted brass I will buy 500 pieces. Sort them by weight keeping the middle weighing 300 brass and bagging up the lightest 100 and the heaviest 100 (in seperate bags) and sell them at Gunshows. I have never traced an accuracy problem to poor quality brass! And I have traced a lot of accuracy problems!
That reminds me though of this - I have a friend out in the Puget Sound area that was just last year having fits with his 220 Swift Varminter accuracy wise. It was double grouping! He went through everything and changed and double checked everything - scopes, bedding, seating depth, bullets, powder primers etc. Finally he was looking at his brass and noticed that his Winchester brass had two different headstamps on them! I forget the particular difference but it was obvious something like W/W on one and Win. on the other! He seperated them and low and behold his accuracy problem was solved! Lesson - buy your brass all at once in the amount you will want total for that Rifle.
Good luck with whichever brand you choose but I do not think you will have a brass related unhappiness - at least I have not and I have been reloading Rifle ammunition for 40 years now (I started when I was 16!). I have never loaded A pistol round or A shot shell but I am guessing I have loaded way over 100,000 Rifle cartridges.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I use IMI in my .308, they are mil spec. and are thicker than rem or win. I use this in my M1A and they are accurate and work fine. I have used Win and Rem. Prefer Rem for my 8 x 57 and also use nickle 223 rem. Win for my pistol brass. I do shoot all other's and don't discriminate for practice.

I like Lapua best, Win. and Norma 2nd...Most brass is good IMO, except Bertram..

I used Winchester brass when I started target shooting because they loaded ammo for the NRAA (NRA in Australia), so I neck sized ammo that I had bought and fired in my rifle (bought at a very good price).
When I had my first custom rifle made I bought Lapua brass. The rifle was far more accurate than what I had been shooting, but it was probably due at least to the quality of the rifle.
I've recently bought some Winchester brass and have been prepping it to fireform to 22-250 Ackley. The stuff is crap! 11 of 100 cases have a tear-shaped flash hole. After FL-sizing the cases I trimmed them. These 11 cases do NOT have square case mouths. I think the cases must have been skewed when Winchester punched them, and this has screwed them.
11% is a very low standard of quality control. I'll try Remington brass, but I'm sure glad that Norma makes 22-250 brass.
Pay at the level you're happy with.

I use Lapua, Norma and Winchester, in that order. I shoot rifles that require Remington only in some cases, don't encounter problems that can't be overcome but I have to be more carefull in my selection of each piece, the irregularities are more prevelent. Good shooting.

[ 08-08-2003, 19:22: Message edited by: phurley ]

Some of the best brass I have ever used is IMI milsurp brass..but it only comes in 223 and 308..but it sure is correct...and annealed to start with...I use it almost exclusively in my 308's now and always have for my 6x45....