Well lets see what everyone has to say.
I vote Norma!!

When it comes to terminal performance, I have found NONE to be the "best".

No matter the headstamp, sub 0.5 MOA groups are possible with them all.

I like Lapua, but it costs more.
I like Winchester, but it takes more prep time.

I like Norma, but it's too expensive! For the $$$ and the quality of the case (i.e., dimensions, primer pocket, etc.) I vote Lapua!

From what I understand, Lapua flash holes are also drilled (not punched) resulting in little/no flash.

[ 11-28-2003, 04:18: Message edited by: mjolnir2thor ]

I just bought 200 Lapua .223 from Sinclair - - it's on sale right now. I'm convinced that it does preform better than what I was using previously - - Win., Rem. & Fed.
My vote goes to Lapua!
tx al

Lapua has been the most dimensionally consistent but I very seldom buy it.
In the calibers that I load Winchester is what I buy and the small amount of work required to prepare it combined with the price makes it the best for me. Remington and Federal have always seemed soft. Just one man's opinion.Others have recommended Remington for specific calibers.

I've never had trouble with any brand of brass, with a lone exception. That was Norma and it was nearly forty years ago when Norma used a softer alloy (or annealed to a softer level). At any rate, old Norma brass had a reputation for softness and a batch I used in .257 Roberts certainly did exhibit case head expansion much more quickly than American makes of the same era. I sincerely doubt that you would run into the same problem with recent Norma production.

There are those who say that Lapua brass is more consistent, and I don't doubt them. I do doubt that it is worth the price premium, so I use whatever RemFedster is most readily available.

The concept that flash hole burrs will in some way affect ammunition performance is quickly being relegated to the dying urban legend class.

Gentlemen,

I prefer Norma, Lapua, and PMP from South Africa. That being said, I tend to use whatever I have available. The only brass that I have had a problem with was Frontier from some Hornady Light Magnum .303 British loads. But that was an isolated incident.

For all my nitro express and 404 Jeffery loading it's BELL by Mast Technology. For everything else it's Winchester.

Rusty
We band of brothers!

Lapua, Norma, and RWS.

In that order.

hmmm.... none made in the Us?

What are you, North Americans, doing?

montero

The only brass I have bought that was of premium quality is Starline for my 45-70. I purchase some once fired stuff at a gunshow for my 308. I believe its Federal.

Montero
Admittedly those are some of the finest cases made.
What North Americans do is take lower quality brass, a few simple tools and some skill and produce custom made brass at 1/3 the cost.
Covey

As long as your life doesn't depend on your ability to shoot the hind legs off of flies at 40 rods, any of the good old made in the USA stuff will work.

I like Federal (once fireds) and BeLL. No doubt, Norma and Lapua (and Hirtenberger, BTW) are more uniform, but as others have said, that comes at a co$t.

RWS, Lapua, Norma, Remington, Federal and LC are my choices.

RWS is by far the best .308 brass I've ever bought. I didn't bother uniforming the flash holes because they were already near perfect.

I use Federal and LCxx in my M1A. It's hard on the brass but with proper prep I can get MOA groups.

I use Lapua in .243Win., 6.5x55, and .308Win. and have no intention of using anything else.
When possible I also use the asociated Lapua bullets, especially the scenars. Those people make excellent products. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

I would have to say Bell brass by Mast Technologies. Bell makes the Lazzeroni brass that I reload for my 7.21 Firebird. They produce very consistent and accurate loads and have lasted through many, many heavy reloads. We are talking loads with a 160 grain Partition going at about 3500 FPS. I have yet to experience any kind of split, incipient separation, failure or abnormality that would force me to throw them away. When not using Bell, just about any USA made product can be made to shoot very small groups with just a small amount of work. You can keep paying for your Lapua, Norma and RWS brass. I'm going to use the extra money for some more Partitions, and X's. Hey, what do ya know, those are made in the good ole' USA too!

[ 12-05-2003, 09:28: Message edited by: Mule Skinner ]

Are all the named manufacturerd brass including the "match" brass? I've found for neck concentricity, volume level, primer hole cleaness to not having to ream it, consistency of length of case, and case life (how many reloads) that Lupua is outstanding. Norma in the larger calibers is another I use in 9.3X62, .300 Win Mag, .300 Wthby Mag .416 Rigby Mag (this Rigby stuff is way out of line-someone needs to come up with it cheaper and still reliable). I know alot of guys are going to rib me for this, but I use a hell of alot of Lake City once fired brass if I can find it at a good price for my M1 Garand and .308 because I can get sometimes 18 or 19 reloads before I get case separation. Agreed it is not the best in the west but definitely good enough for these tired ole eyes of mine. And easy on the billfold too! Winchester has been putting a funny crimp of their factory loads and I find it very hard to properly trim some of the calibers to the correct case length when reloading them. And we know why, right?(It's only business, nothing personal.) So I don't buy much Winchester ammo account of their "business practice". But my favorite brass are the ones that when I'm done reloading and slip them into the old fire breather and squeeze the trigger, they go "BANG!" Good shooting! Mike

Traditionally I've had extremely good luck w/ Winchester brass, and not so good (but not terrible) w/ other U.S. domestic brands. I've not used Norma, but I did get some Lapua for my .308 Winchester barrel. Not necessarily because I needed an accuracy increase (the gun was already shooting beyond my expectations), but because I needed thicker neck walls. The consistency was an added bonus.

I really think, though, that for the most part considering the price differential btwn say Lapua and Winchester, at least when considering large quantities of brass, that it becomes somewhat economical to sort and cull based on neck wall variation, sort by weight, neck turn, debur the flash hole, etc. etc. etc. The 'rejects' can be used for short range/practice ammo (in my case 200yd Offhand Slowfire and RapidFire Sitting, as the 10/X-rings are pretty generous, and 1/2-1/4MOA from nitpicking the brass are the least of my problems ;p ), and the good stuff can be used at the longer ranges where extreme consistency in every dimension is helpful. Depends on what your time is worth to you, and how much you enjoy the fiddly stuff. If you lack the time or patience to mess around w/ all the details, then the extra $$$ for the Lapua may well be worth it. For me, tweaking my brass does get tiresome over several hundred case batches, but there are times when it beats the alternative home improvement projects

YMMV,

Monte

I just use whatever I find on the ground at the public range.

Lapua, WW, Norma suit me fine Lapua is the best and WW and Norma run about equal IMO...I like the IMI as well as anything but its only available in 223 and 308....