for .308 who makes the "best" brass?

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jr81452

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I normally buy Norma brass for my rifles. However the price is to high for me to buy it this time around. I was wondering what people around here feel is the "best" in terms of consistency and duration. When loading .308 for example what brass have you found to have the most uniform weight after case prep? Which brand takes the least amount of case prep to be uniform? Which brand lasts through the most reloading cycles at high pressures? At the moment I am leaning towards Nosler or Lapua but I have also heard that Hornady and Federal are good. Anyone who has tried a few of these especially in .308 your input would be most helpful.
 
Lapua - Norma - Hornady has a great rep but I have not shot any of theirs.

Buy the Lapua, I think you will be very happy with it.:)
 
Lapua and Norma are said to be the best. Federal match is one of the best production match ammo available, I had 60 Fed Amer. Eagle cases I kept 28 for reloading the rest I tossed. I recently pick up 100 Nosler factory 2nd (blims) of the 25 I've loaded they seem very good, they come ready to load and shoot and are trimmed to 2.005 and chamfered, the primer pockets have been addressed as well. The .308 Win Nosler brass weight varied +or-1grain of the ones I loaded. The case wall thickness is consistent as well as the case's concentricity.
 
For commercial I like Federal Match. I really like shooting military LC brass. I do not shoot competition so I am probably not as anal as some, but for my use on a 200 yd range it works perfectly fine.
 
Hands down, Lapua are the most consistant in weight and require zero case prepping. Norma, while good, are softer and are not particularly consistant in their weights.

Don
 
Brass

I would never buy winchester rifle brass ever if I were you. I bought two 50 round bags of .308 from two seperate stores and approximately 1/2 of it had dings and damage to it. About 1/4 were horribly dented. CCI primers (right size) would also not seat very easily. They required far too much pressure for my tastes.

I bought some remington brass and it was in perfect condition and seated wonderfully. Winchester has lost my business.
 
Lapua brass is impressive, BUT, the problem again, is price. I haven't tried any S&B factory rifle loads, but I'm tempted, just to see if their rifle brass is as good as their pistol brass. And, since that will take care of fireforming to a specific rifle chamber, might be worth a look.;)
 
Lapua will last a long time if you treat it well, with good sizing habits and possibe case neck annealing.

WW or BHA (WW mfgr) works well too, and it probably the second best choice.

Federal brass flat out sucks, it is soft, so much so that after a few firings the primer pockets are shot!

RP is okay!

The problem with LC brass is that most once fired was shot out of a sloppy chambered machinegun! You will need a small base die to resize it before using it.

Take down LC is good choice especially if shooting the 308 in a gas gun!

IMI woud be my choice for a gas gun!

Nosler shoots okay, I too got 50 seconds. They case wt spread was only 2grs for the entire 50.
 
Having reloaded 308 brass for 20 years, I think LC brass is too much work. They have been expanded like a pregnant hog, takes a lot of effort to resize them. The primer pocket takes a lot of effort to get the crimp out, and the new primer in. Then, you have to trim them, because they are so thick, then load down 2 to 3 grains of powder, and hope to get the same point of impact.
I heard Winchester is too hard, remington is too soft, federal is too light, and hornady is too hard to get....
Unless you are shooting matches, any good commercial brass will do.....
 
Not to steal the thread but, I heard Nosler brass is winchester with a different stamp on it? Any truth to this?
 
BsChoy,

Have not heard that one. Some people once told me that Hornady brass was made by Winchester. I called Hornady, and they said No, their brass is made in-house. However, Black Hills brass is made by Winchester.

Don
 
Just an observation; not ALL LC brass is necessarily shot out of a machine gun. LC Match is going to be shot from either a bolt gun, M14, M1A, M1 (converted to .308 of course), etc because it comes in 20 round boxes and I don't know of anyone who has time to pick up M60 links, link it, and turn it into machine gun fodder. I have a couple cans of LC 90 Ball (not match) that I shoot from my M1 for the 200 yard off-hand in Highpower. Once fired, I ream the primer pocket and they're good to go for reloading. LC Match primer pockets are not crimped, of course.
And whenever I sell LC on eBay and I always list what kind of firearm was used to fire it, but not everyone does that.

Navy Vet
 
I am shocked to hear people say they like Federal brass. This is actually the first time that I've heard of Federal brass being good for anything other than scrap.

I prefer Lapua and Norma brass for my high end reloading, but I will normally use Winchester brass.
 
I've been a big fan of Remington brass for my .30-06 loads. I like it so much that I even sent them an email complimenting them on their high quality, and received a response the next day saying "you're welcome" and saying my message had been forward to the folks at the factory floor.

I emailed Winchester complimenting their 147gr .308 caliber bullets which I love for plinking, but received no response. Go figure.

I haven't used any of the fancy stuff yet, but Remington brass sure seems to work for me.
 
NORMA is da shieeeeeeet. well worth money spent. when they last soooo long give good results. very consistant with their product. i wish others were like them. TWO thumbs up to NORMA
 
i agree i think norma is very good. but based on what i am reading here i will be geting a few hundred lapua for each of my riffles as my norma wears out (it already has for my .308 and 300wm). i like norma but at $85 per hundred vs $45 for lapua the quality would have to be much better to be worth it. i guess i wil find out if thats the case. i was thinking about getting the nosler as it is $65 per hundred but then i read the post about it being the lexus to winchesters toyota. not wanting to be subject to internet rumor i emailed them asking if this was the case and got the following response:

Our brass is made for us to our specs by another company
that cannot be released. Once the brass is here, it is
trimmed to length, flash-hole deburred, sized, and case mouth
chamfered. Once this is done we then weight sort each box to
+/- .5 grains.
Regards,
Nosler, Inc.

sounds fine until you consider that "each box" is only a 50 ct. the last thing i want to have to do is keep my lots in groups of fifty (not to mention pay twice as much for a winchester case). when cleaning 300 cases that would be a pain. so nosler is out and lapua gets my business this time around.
thanks for all your input.
jason
 
Nosler brass is prepped Winchester with their own stamp. Hornady makes their own.
Click to expand...

Till SS can prove it on paper with details there is no way I will believe that. I just went and weihged a few Nosler 308 brass is 20grs heavier then WW 308 brass....... I doubt severely that WW would make a different brass composition for Nosler..........

Talk about internet misinformation :banghead:
 
Last edited:
Quote:
Nosler brass is prepped Winchester with their own stamp. Hornady makes their own.

Till the OP can prove it on paper with details there is no way I will believe that. I just went and weighed a few Nosler 308 brass is 20grs heavier then WW 308 brass....... I doubt severely that WW would make a different brass composition for Nosler..........

Talk about internet misinformation
Click to expand...

John,

If the Nosler brass is 20grs heavier, then I tend to agree with you. Winchester makes Black Hill's brass for them, but it falls in the same weight range as Winchester brass.

Don
 
ok so if winchester does not make nosler then who does? unless its norma i can't see the cost being worth it for most calibers. does anybody KNOW who makes nosler brass?
 
Geesh, I hope it's not American :barf: I visit Nosler about once a month, I'll ask them.
 
Not sure who makes the Nolser brass, but...

The Nosler weighed around 176gr and the WW weighed around 157gr or so..... I doubt that WW has different brass for Nosler.......
 
This may not mean much, but out of my Remington 700 VS factory barrel, I got better groups - not much, but better, with new, not sized, just out of the box WW brass than neck sized Lapua.

Out of a similar gun with a custom barrel and action truing, I'd probably stick with the Lapua.:) But that guy has money to burn! ;)
 
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