Brass

[Birddog 1]

What brand of brass do you think is the better, thicker, all around for number of reloadings before splitting, primer pockets getting too sloppy, straight wall and bottle neck cases? Hornady, Winchester, Remington or any others I might have missed.

TIA Birddog 1

[thornblom]

for pistol cases, Star-Line.

for rifle cases, Winchester.

Sincerely,
Dave (Bubba) Thornblom

[Terry Murbach]

IN THE PAST 58 YEARS OF SHOOTING I HAVE USED AT LAST COUNT 28 DIFFERENT BRANDS OF BRASS, INCLUDING A LOT OF FOREIGN STUFF THAT WORKED JUST FINE. I NEVER HAD ANY REAL PROBLEMS--SOMETHING I COULDN'T SOLVE-- WITH ANY OF IT. THE LAST BRASS I HAD TO USE ODDBALLTOOLS WITH WAS SUPERVEL 44MAG BRASS WHICH WAS MADE INTENTIONALLY THIN FOR MORE PROPELLENT CAPACITY. A STANDARD SIZING DIE WOULD NOT TAKE THE CASE WALLS DOWN FAR ENOUGH TO HOLD A BULLET. A LOOSE 41MAG SIZER WORKED JUST FINE WITH NORMAL EXPANSION AFTERWARDS.
IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR PERFECTION YOU'LL NEVER FIND IT. IF YOU THINK YOU CAN GET BY ON THE CHEAP IT'LL NEVER HAPPEN. IF YOU THINK YOU PAID TOO MUCH YOU PROBABLY DID; ALL EDJUMAKASHUN IS EXPENSIVE STUFF.
YOU SHOULD HAVE IN STOCK AT LEAST FIVE DIFFERENT BRANDS OF PRIMERS [ W-W, R-P, FED, CCI, RWS, ETC ETC ] TO MATCH SLIGHT VARIATIONS IN PRIMER POCKET DIMENSIONS.
THE OTHER BIG VARIABLE ARE THE LOADING DIES USED WITH A PARTICULAR BRAND OF BRASS. MOST OF THE TIME EVERYTHING WORKS FINE. WHEN THERE ARE LARGE TOLERANCE STACKS IN EITHER DIRECTION WITH THE BRASS AND THEN WITH THE DIES YOU CAN HAVE PROBLEMS. DO NOT FIGHT IT, JUST GO BUY A NEW SET OF DIES OR ANOTHER LOT OF BRASS.
I LOAD 32S&W LONG AND HAVE SUBSTANTIAL QUANTIES OF BRASS IN W-W, R-P, FED, SAKO, HERTER, NORMA, AND SUENSHAMETALVERKEN. I HAVE AT LEAST SIX SETS OF DIES TO LOAD THESE VARIOUS BRANDS OF BRASS WITH THEIR TINY BIT OF VARYING DIMENSIONS.
I LOAD 135 CALIBERS AT LAST COUNT. ALMOST ALL THOSE CALIBERS HAVE TWO OR THREE SETS OF DIES TO DO IT RIGHT.
YOUR MILAGE MAY WELL VARY CONSIDERING HOW WELL YOU WANT TO DO IT RIGHT OR EVEN CARE ABOUT DOING THINGS RIGHT DOWN TO THE LAST .0001"
I WANT TO NOTE HERE THAT I HAVE ALL KINDS OF BRASS THAT HAVE HAD 50 LOADINGS OVER THE YEARS IN THEIR LIFETIME AND ARE STILL GOING STRONG.

[Old Time Hunter]

Never paid attention, never had a problem with the brass itself...just the operator. Me.

Load 'em till they become muzzle stuffers I guess, 'cause I never count the times, just the years.

[J Miller]

Terry,

I'd love to visit your reloading room ..... 'er would that be building ?
You got any weird .45 Colt head stamps???
..................................................................................................

I've had the same experiences as Terry has, albeit to much less extent. I've got two sets of 30-30 dies with accessories, two of 303 Brit with accessories, 3 sets of 45 Colt dies with accessory dies, 45 ACP, 45 AR, Two sets of 38 Special with accessory dies.
Many extra tools that have nothing to do with anything until I need them. 4 reloading presses. When I get moved and build my own special loading bench each press will be set up with it's own task.

I've used Winchester, Remington, Speer, S&W, Norma, Dominion, CIL, various European, Magtech, PMC, Federal, (and I'm sure I've forgotten some) brands of brass. Some I've been loading for almost 40 years with great results.
On the other hand I've had several brands factory ammo split full length on the first firing.

Buy what you can find, prepare it and load it properly and it will work just fine.

JMHO

Joe

[Chuck 100 yd]

I have had good luck with Starline,Federal,Remington and Winchester brass in both Pistol and rifle calibers. If you want the very best rifle brass and its a caliber they make, Lapua is of the very highest quality.

[2ndovc]

only problem I've ever had is with S&B brass. 7.62x54R consistantly Splits on the second firing.
I'm going to try Terry's annealing meathod in another post and
see if that helps.

jb

[El Chivo]

I noticed a big variation in length, (it seemed big to me) between different brands. I had mostly Remington brass, and a friend gave me a mixed batch, and there was a lot of variation.

I was loading for hunting, and I ended up sorting the brass by length and using the longer ones for the hunting loads, because they would be filled nearly to the brim with powder. I don't want the bullet compressing the powder in a shorter case. Those I set aside for cast bullets with softer loads.

[Ysabel Kid]

Star Line