which brand of bulk brass do you prefer for general huning and shooting loads? I want something economical but not cheap. I have been using Winchester is there much difference between the two?

Personally I do not prefer either. I gave up on Winchester 10 years ago due to a lack of consistency in quality, and I gave up on Remington last year for the same reason. I'll still occasionally use Remington, but only if I can't get Lapua or Norma in the calibers I own. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

You're asking for a chevy vrs ford argument. Either is good but I find the 50 count bags of either to be the way to buy them--seems they are far less beat up than the 100 counts. I found a place that sells rem in 50 count bags just like winchester and was really really surprised at the lack of beat up case necks.

I've personally found the Winchester brass as of late sheer crap!!! I've never seen brass with more flash in the primer holes or more inconsistant case lengths. Almost anything is better, at least in my opinion.

I use both -- Ive bought both in bulk lots, and I've picked up both on the range or elsewhere that had been fired only once from a factory loading. I've never seen anything that leads me to think that one can make any blanket statement about quality for either one.

I do think that Winchester tends to be thinner-walled, so if you are going for max velocity and want to be able to get the max amount of powder in a case, you may do better with Winchester. But even on that point I'm not completely convinced -- the difference beteeen Winchester and Remington, if any, is so small as to be more-or-less insignificant.

In shotgun hulls there is a significant difference. There, I think the new Remington STS hulls are better than anything produced by Winchester. The Remington promotional and Gun Club hulls are also better than similar ones from Winchester too.

My preference is Lapua if at all possible.
Winchester for domestic brass.
Remington I find to be softer and has less uniform primer pockets than Winchester. wish I could
get 357 Rem Max brass from someone other than Remington. Winchester made a run of it but I missed out.

The brand that has surprised me with its quality is PMC. So far it has been very good.

I use both haven't had any complaints with either of them.

I use mostly Remington, but also have some limited Federal Brass. I've had no problems with either one.

And then again, I do not load for max or top end loads on anything , with the exception of my 7mag, but have had no problems with Remington Brass there either.

I prefer R/P to WW. Normally buy R/P. Recently got a batch of WW that had quality issues. going back to R/P. I also like Federal, when I can find it.

This is interesting...

It looks like Rem is preferred over Win, and people are talking about Win quality control problems. I remember just a few years ago people were pretty much saying the opposite.

I tend to go with Rem myself, mainly because I'm just a loyal Rem fan, and they tend to be the only maker of some calibers I shoot.

But I have to point out two things. First, for "hunting" loads, you'll probably never see a difference. Secondly, you are probably just as likely to get a great batch (or a lousy batch) from either one at any given time.

I use I.M.I. Milspec Brass.Cant beat the the quality.Works well in regular and Class III.

I used to use Winchester, but their consistency has gone downhill. In fact, rim thickness on the last batch of .218 Bee I bought varied by as much as 0.003". For handgun, I stick with Starline.

Lee Martin
www.singleactions.com

If they are more or less equal I'll probably go with the Remington for my 25-06. I already have 100 rounds of once fired Rem brass for 30-06 that I can neck down. I use Winchester brass in my 300 Win Mag, and have had decent results. I tend to find that the neck lengths are inconsistant, and have to be trimmed before loading. I am not doing any competitive shooting and I can't see any reason to pay double what I'm paying now for brass with Norma or Lapua.

I like Remington the most but, use Winchester when I find a good deal.

I have found the Remington brass to be more consistent. The wins often have deformed flash holes.

Many will disagree but, The Remington cases seem to last longer for me.

Good Luck!

Reloader

I shoot a lot of .223 in both bolt actions and AR-15's.

Federal stinks for reloads, way too soft, case volume is the least, brass requires constant trimming it seems. I also notice that the primer pockets often seem loose after just one firing. Factory new Federal ammo is good stuff. Reloading the brass, not so good.

Remington is good stuff and I use it without hesitation. Case life is good. Not too soft.

Winchester is best, in my opinion, has the greatest case volume, slightly harder than Remington, doesn't require trimming as often as Remington. I have not noticed the quality issues as others point out. I like it best.

My 2 cents.

quote:

Originally posted by GLC:
I shoot a lot of .223 in both bolt actions and AR-15's.

Winchester is best, in my opinion, has the greatest case volume, slightly harder than Remington, doesn't require trimming as often as Remington. I have not noticed the quality issues as others point out. I like it best.

The Winchester .223 brass I've seen recently is from .223 loads sold in Winchester boxes and bearing the Winchester headstamp, but made in Israel. (It says that on the box.) I assume this is from the Israeli IDI loading company. I also assume that IDI is making the brass, and then giving it a Winchester headstamp.

LE270- I guess you refer to loaded Winchester ammo being Israeli. I had heard this too. I have not shot any of this, I use the Oin/Winchester component new brass in 50 or 100 round bags. I thought that this was produced here in the USA by Olin. I may be wrong though.

Anyway, its good stuff.

quote:

Originally posted by GLC:

LE270- I guess you refer to loaded Winchester ammo being Israeli.

Yes. I got a box of these loads at the Bass Pro Shop here in Maryland. I also picked up a bunch of this brass from once-fired rounds at the range where I shoot.

The notice on the back of th box is written entirely and only in French. At the bottom the Winchester address is given, and then it says:

Distributed by Olin Corp.
MADE IN ISRAEL

These factory loads have 55 gr. FMJ bullets. They did not give good accuracy in the .223 I used -- a Remington 700 heavy barrel laminated-stock bolt action rifle.

I buy whatever bulk brand is on sale. I have also found WW cases to have greater capacity than RP.

Speaking of poor quality...do the bags of bulk WW brass now have a 'born-on-date' printed on them? If not, who knows how long they have been laying around on a dealer's
shelf. The poor quality could have been from years ago.

I like WW brass For the high volume varmit rigs and Lapua for the long range target rigs. .223, 22-250 and .308, 338 Lapua respectfuly. 338vt

Domestically, I prefer Winchester brass, it's harder and has more case volume than Remington or Federal (which are too soft IMHO). I use Lapua in my 6.5x55 and .308 loadings. If I could get Lapua in all the cartridges I handload for, I would use it exclusively.

elkhunter - I use the following brass in my current collection because they seem to last the longest (and cheapest) by caliber:
Winchester with - .243, .270, 7 RemMag, .308, 30/06, .375 H&H, & 45/70
Remington with - .250, 6.5x55, .35 Rem., .350 Rem Mag, .35 Whelen
Federal with - .223 Rem & 30/30
Graf with - 9.3x62
RWS with - 8x57JR
I've used Norma in many of the above calibers, but did not get any greater life from the cases to justify the added cost. (I've never tried Lapua, but have heard good reports, although pricey.) Winchester and Remington could be interchanged in most of the above, but case capacity differences made the final "cut" to standardize the loads. The 30/30 cases in Win. and Rem., in particular, were thinner in the former and softer in the later, thus the choice of Federal which proved to be the strogest and longest lasting of the bunch. I use both Win. and Rem. in my pistols almost interchangeably. I buy fifty per bag, when possible, because the quality seems to be of a higher order than when purchased in greater quantities. My 2cents - Mags

I like WW brass real well and never had any problems with it....Remington is a little thick IMO but it works fine...

Lapua is great brass and RWS is the best...I really like the IMI from Isreal but its only availablel in 223 and 308....

Norma is good brass, federal and Hornaday is good...

The only bad brass these days is Bertram and its never been worth much...

I use whatever the reloading book I happen to be using recommends or if someone tells me about a particular load that works. Mainly I use WW brass, but lately I found a very accurate load for my 300 Win that uses RP brass. Same for my 300 Weatherby. both incidentally using 180gr TSXs. RP brass is thicker, hence less volume, therefore more pressure with a given powder charge. It isn't rocket science. jorge

Recently I got a bag of 50 pieces of Winchester 7X57 brass. I've loaded and shot some of those cases 7 times now in a Ruger 77 rifle, using WLR primers, H 414 powder, and various bullets. The loads were not max, but not anemic either. Those cases are still going strong, and show no signs of getting to the end of their useful life.

For most of my loading I use Remington brass because of its availability. In some calibers I have used Winchester or Federal and hav'nt noticed any real difference in quality. For forming 7 TCU brass from 223 I now always use Winchester brass. When necking up from .223 to .284 in one step I have never split a neck using Win. But with Rem. I usually slit a "couple" per 100. The military brass i've tried was real bad for splits. Way to brittle.

For the 6.5x55 I won't buy anymore Winchester brass. The 2 50 round bags that I bought recently had at least 4 pieces in each bags with blatant physical defects (split necks) that rendered them completely unusable. So far the 100 case box of Remington has had zero culls for the first 30 cases that I have loaded. I am tempted to try some Lapua, but even on sale it is double the cost of the Remington. In my .270WSM the Winchester brass has been fine, maybe they are being more careful with it since they are trying to get the short mags to be fully embraced by the shooting public.