I just got through prepping a batch of 50 new 30-06 brass from Winchester. OMG what crap Olin is turning out now. Many of the flash holes are oversized and ovoid in shape with huge amounts of "burr" left inside. Half the necks were mashed in somewhat. None of them met minimum case length, all had to be trimmed. Now I really look forward to case prepping the bag I bought last night.

I used to really like Winchester, but if this is an indicator of current and future quality, I will spend my money on Lapua and Norma.

Last bag of WW brass , 308 got neck cracks after one fireing.

I truly think that most of the bulk packaged brass by WW & RP are pretty close to seconds. THis doesn't appear to be the case w/ the Lapua & Norma I have bought. Still, the cost is cheap & depending on the application, just sort & use accordingly.

Surprisingly, I had the opposite experience earlier this year. I bought 300 rounds of .223 W-W from Midway for my first foray into reloading this caliber and was very surprised at the uniformity of the brass. It was quite uniform in both length and weight and did not have the burr problem others have reported. Of course, it still wasn't Nosler quality, and after all the time I spent on it, I'm wondering if I shouldn't have just bought the Nosler brass after all.

LWD

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Originally posted by BlackHawk1:
...... Many of the flash holes are oversized and ovoid in shape with huge amounts of "burr" left inside.......

I had the very same problem with a WW batch of 270 WSM. Definitely the worst brass that I saw lately.

Friends-

I really think that it depends on when your brass came off of the production line.

While I have no basis in fact other than my personal observation, I had some .300 WSM brass that was outstanding. Weights were extremely uniform and very little in the way of run-out. I don't recall about burrs in the flash holes but, I was amazed at how uniform the stuff weighed. From a timing standpoint, this is when .300 WSM brass just hit the market.

I tried telling this months ago !. I got such shit for it it wasn't worth it !.

Some people are stuck in the past as to what used to be !. Which is no longer !.

I bought Remington brass which has been just fine several different calibers not just a couple .

Lapua RWS Hornady Remington no more Winchester for me . I've seen first hand the crap being put out !...

I bought some .300 win mag brass in winchester and had to uniform all the primer pockets because they wern't deep enough. Primer stuck out quite a ways . I was using fed 210 match primers. Cked a friends winchester brass and found it the same. Usin remington now ,seems to work all right. The win .308 brass I had bought about the same time was ok .
Wayles

I'm usually a Winchester brass fan. However, I have seen similar results as others have posted here. .308 and .30-06 brass seems to be dinged up to no end while the .223 brass has been very nice looking and uniform. I have always turned away from Remington brass after I saw neck splits from my .308 after the first firing. However, I use Remington brass for my .260 and it seems to be some great stuff for the money. I think the recent surge in demand for brass and copper has turned out some sub-par product. Hopefully it will come around.

I have totally given up on Winchester brass. The last batch I bought was a bag of 100 in .25-06 and I had to toss 6 because I couldn't get the expander ball to pass thru they were so dented. 6% scrap on brand new brass is inexcusable. I have since switched to Remington brass and haven't had any issues. Bill T.

Any brass that I have ever had, that was all dented up etc... I cleaned it up by resizing it before it's first reload... If the neck has been bent out of shape, I just full length resize it without the expander ball in the die.. and then just neck size them to get the proper diameter back...

A few flash holes that are off center or have burrs.. a drimmel takes care of that pretty quickly....

Then I get 10 reloads out of them....

And that is from Rem, Win, PMC and Federal Brass....

But I haven't bought brass in so long, either picking up range brass from the slobs that frequent our range.. or buying surplus 223 brass, either military or police range brass for like $35.00 to $40.00 per thousand...

I shoot a lot, but 100 pieces of brass, properly cared for.. is equal to a thousand rounds of ammo...and for the few casualties... I slip in a piece or two of range brass to take its place...

I don't say this to piss anyone off, but I think some of you boys are a little too picky...

It's what one can't see that bothers me about crappy brass to start , along with other things.

Winchester Must be made in China now !. Down at a Harbor freight near any of us !.

I'm not that picky , it's just something else when purchasing a New Item to find it's defective from the start .

Ever go into the super market buy a bag of brand name chips that aren't on sale . Then to get home and find your bag contains crumbs the size of ones thumb nail !.

Nobody said life was perfect , but I dam well expect something other than damaged goods for my money !. Other wise get used brass , then you have no one to blame but your self !.

Kind of like buying fuel ! , I bet you would be pissed off it you found contamination or watered down fuel was being sold too you . ...

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wise get used brass , then you have no one to blame but your self !.

I for one, DO buy a lot of used brass.. and use a lot of range brass also... for free!

I remember visiting Roger Bartsche at his range near Azusa CA... with all the brass I saw people leaving on the ground.... If I was allowed to pick up all of that at the end of the day, for a straight week... I'd bet I would have enough brass to last me a lifetime..

Good Old Roger had some 6.5 x 55 brass, he had formed to 7.5 x 55 MAS... he just used once.. I picked it up, brought it home and resized it back to 6.5 x 55... I have shot those 50 cases at least 10 times each now, and they are doing great... Neck size them most of the time.. and they really last a long time..

I don't mind being accused of being "cheap" particularly if I can Make the stuff functional for the length of time I do..

And Roger's 6.5 x 55 brass, that was Winchester...