Hornady Brass?

[Mainehunter]

I'm starting to collect dies and such for my 35 Whelen project. Looking for brass and the only thing that's available now is Hornady. Haven't used their brass but what's your take on them? Thanx!

Mainehunter

[1894cfan]

Never bought any, but have some 30/30 range pickup that's pretty good. Reloaded 2-3 times with 34.5gr 748 with 150gr FNSPs with no problems. HTH

[Scott Tschirhart]

Hornady brass is very good.

[High Desert Hunter]

I bout a 375 Ruger a bit ago, Hornady brass is the only brand available, and it has held up well to magnum pressures.

Dave

[marlinman93]

I have used thousands of pcs. of Hornady brass for years, and the quality is as good as it gets. I can honestly say I've never lost a single case so far, even with heavily reworking some brass into other cartridges to make them work in my old rifles.
I've probably got at least a couple thousand Hornady cases in various sizes now.

[Griff]

Hornady brass is very good.

That's my take on it as well. Have some in .30-06, .30-30 & 7mm RemMag...

[CowboyTutt]

Limited use on my part, only in 45 Colt +P, no failures of any kind and appears to be good stuff to me. Probably not on the scale of Lapua or Norma, but certainly I think on the scale of Starline. -Tutt

[Trailboss]

Hornady brass is very good.

That's my take on it as well. Have some in .30-06, .30-30 & 7mm RemMag...

+1

[JimT]

I am sure most of the folks on this site know this but I will post it anyway ..... If your loading dies and the chamber you fire the cartridge have close tolerances most any brass cartridge will give you excellent service with loads that do not develop excessive pressure.

Years ago the "common wisdom" was that Remington made the weakest .45 Colt cartridges. There were articles in gun magazines and a lot of talk about the weak Remington .45 Colts. I bought 100 new unfired Remington .45 Colt cartridges and put them in a specially-marked cartridge box. I had a data sheet on the box so i could log each load .. bullet .. powder charge .. primer etc. and also keep track of how many times the cartridges were reloaded and how many failed and when.

I loaded bullet weights of 260 gr. and 300 gr. with heavy loads and fired them in my Linebaugh-built Ruger Blackhawk. John Linebaugh had rechambered a .44 Magnum cylinder to tight .45 Colt specs in that gun.

I fired and reloaded those cartridges over 20 times before I stopped keep track. By the 21st reloading I had not lost 10%. The ones that I did lose were due to neck cracks from sizing and then neck expanding and crimping. I never had a case crack in body of the case. The neck cracks could have been prevented/delayed if I had annealed them. In those days cases were so cheap it wasn't worth the effort (for me) to anneal them.

Since then .. as far as sixguns go ... I have never worried about what case is "the best." I have never tested rifles but I believe the same would hold true. The less you "work" the case, the longer it will last.

[Scott Tschirhart]

The ONLY issue I have with Hornady brass is that Hornady loads some ammo in the .357 with shorter cases so that they can accommodate certain bullets.

For a man who shoots cast bullets almost exclusively, those short cases show up from time to time and need to be seggregated as they do not receive a uniform crimp.

However, I can use those same cases with the bullets seated a little deeper and they work fine.

This is not a quality issue.

[AmBraCol]

I'm starting to collect dies and such for my 35 Whelen project. Looking for brass and the only thing that's available now is Hornady. Haven't used their brass but what's your take on them? Thanx!

Mainehunter

I was doing the same last year. The only thing I could find at the time was Nosler. A friend sent me a box of it and it is the most beautiful brass I've ever loaded. I've not used the Hornady in 35 Whelen, but purchased some '06 a few years back. Very decent brass, I used it for some relatively heavy for caliber loads with complete satisfaction. I'd be interested in Hornady 35 Whelen brass if I'd not managed to squirrel away a couple hundred rounds of ammo last year.

[CowboyTutt]

Jim Taylor wrote

Years ago the "common wisdom" was that Remington made the weakest .45 Colt cartridges.

Jim, I think that happened while I was around. I seem to remember that the Federal cases were considered the strongest for some reason. I had nothing but good luck with the Hornady brass in the 45 Colt, but they were never loaded as many times as your Rem cases. I was enamored with the quality enough to put a 45 Colt Hornady case head into my two custom grips from Carey at CLC Grips for my Ruger Bisley! -Tutt

[Scrumbag]

Maybe being a slight contrarian but I've not had good experience with Hornady brass in a couple of chamberings.

Scrummy

[CowboyTutt]

These guys are relatively new and make fantastic rifle brass in some unusual cartridges.

https://www.petersoncartridge.com/match-grade-brass/

-Tutt