Favorite make of brass?

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Bazoo

Bazoo

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Like many reloaders, I have used a wide variety of makes of brass. Mostly what I could scrounge for my calibers. Some, from fired factory ammo, 30-30, in Winchester and federal. And some I bought cause it's hard to scrounge, 44special starline.

I have decided I like Remington brass best for most cartridges. Winchester and federal are okay too, and what I have the most of. Fact is I don't have much Remington brass, in any of my calibers though.

I don't particularly like starline, or Hornady, Both seem hard and thick.

Remington is thinner, and softer than others and I find that to be a benefit when working with cast bullets, which is my normal projectile of choice.

What's everyone else's preferred brass maker, and what do you compromise on?
 
Bazoo said:
What's everyone else's preferred brass maker, and what do you compromise on?
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Lapua. Nothing.:cool:

I like Starline pistol cases for the same reason some humans don’t, they’re thick and pretty hard. When sized right they really hold a bullet.:thumbup:


I like free brass the best though, helps me afford the good stuff when I want it.:D
 
I haven't used any of the premium brass, just the common stuff. I haven't noticed enough consistency in the common stuff to develop a preferrence, though I do tend to buy Starline handgun brass as needed. But that's not very often due to its longevity.
 
^ Well, Winchester used to be good. When Brownells would run sales on Lapua I'd stock up but those days are over.
 
I like rem 308 brass a lot. I hate rem 357 brass. Federal has been a big part of my 357 testing and has been very good. I also have no issues so far with Winchester 357 brass but they are last choice in 308. I only have a very few starline cases so I cant give you a good impression.
 
I reload mostly 9mm and prefer cci blazer and federal, as they are the easiest to work with. I hate s&b, and cbc. Too difficult to resize, although s&b is fine in .380.
 
If I buy new handgun brass, it is Starline. Rifle brass is usually Rem or Lapua. But it's all good and I tend to pick up everything I find and use it. For cartridges like 9mm, 40S&W and 45 ACP, I shoot mixed range brass. Bigger boomers I usually separate by headstamp but don't obsess over it for target/practice ammo.
 
Bazoo said:
Favorite make of brass? ... What's everyone else's preferred brass maker, and what do you compromise on?
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Favorite make? Of course, any new brass I find on the ground. :D

For .223/5.56, I prefer those with primer pocket crimp intact to indicate they are once-fired for me to happily swage the crimp. For .308, same year LC headstamp for more consistent internal case volume.

For pistol brass with neck tension concerns like 9mm 115 gr FMJ/RN, I prefer make of brass that doesn't produce any bullet setback but not so thick to bulge the case neck to where finished rounds won't fully chamber.

Compromise? Brass with thinner case wall get used with larger sized lead/coated lead bullets.
 
LiveLife said:
For .223/5.56, I prefer those with primer pocket crimp intact to indicate they are once-fired for me to happily swage the crimp.
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This. The same goes for colored primer pocket sealant. You KNOW you are picking up once-fired brass.

In the grand scheme, it all depends on the caliber, use, and availability. For semi-auto pistols, almost any range brass will do. Blazer is common and works well. I try to separate that sometimes when I want to make more precised loads. I like PSD for my .223 High Power match loads. For cutting .300 Blk (subs) down from .223, I prefer Federal for the thinner walls and that I'm able to do something productive with brass that isn't reputed to have a long life in .223. For .30-06, I mostly use Greek HXP. As mentioned, LC is good for any rifle brass as well. Starline is excellent, IMO. That's my go-to whenever I need to buy brass when there's just not enough range pickup, like for 6.5 Grendel, .308, and.357 Mag.
 
Bazoo said:
What's everyone else's preferred brass maker, and what do you compromise on?
Click to expand...
I have no bigtime preference really. Starline maybe though. I like the company a lot and I think they produce a decent product for a reasonable price and I'm never disappointed with what they send me. If I shot a lot of precision bolt action rifles professionally, I imagine I'd develop a preference for Lapua brass and Berger bullets. As it is, I'm happy to choose the cheaper of two components if they're both pretty close to one another except for powder. I'm not inclined to compromise on dies either. I like my Forster dies and I'm thinking I want a Coax press too.
 
I used to like Remington brass...circa 1985 +-10 years. When I find some in vintage packaging on a forgotten backwoods gas station shelf, I still snap it up. I think the present crazy has ended those finds for me, although I did find a box of older core-lokt .300 Sav recently. Newer mfg Rem and Win has been pure trash for me. One to three firings and split necks. A 2010 or so seasonal run of .300 Sav brass from big Green is failing after 2-3 firings. and is being scrapped as expended.

My go to for rifle cartridges is PRVI. It has it's quirks (primer pockets), but seems to produce consistent, accurate loads for me and hold up very well to repeated firings. I also fire a lot of oddball metrics, so PRVI is the most common and affordable brass in those rounds, with Norma and some Hornady being the only other options.

I recently got some Peterson .280 Rem and really love it so far. Most accurate load I've ever made up for that rifle. It just FEELS right. We'll see how it lasts.

Edit to add...my favorite 5.56 brass is TAA. Most throw it away or sell it at a reduced price, or apologize for the possibility of some being mixed into their USGI brass for sale. I find it superior to LC or WCC headstamps in terms of both weight consistency and longevity. It holds it's value at 200, 300 and 600 yards as well. I picked up possibly a lifetime supply just before the stupid. I had to sort out a smattering of LC and WCC headstamps for the scrap bin though:p (actually I put those into plinker rotation).

I have some Lapua in X54R. It's very good, as expected, but I can't tell the difference on the loading or shooting bench vs same lot PRVI. It's good stuff, but I'm not a fan boy. Guess I don't do that kind of shooting.

I'm stuck with some Hornady .300 Sav as that was all I could find. My vintage Rem brass other than the recently acquired box is failing and relegated to practice loads. They're splitting the occasional neck on firing, and very old/unknown #of uses. The box of Hornady 30-06 I picked up several years ago is lasting well. Hopefully the .300 fares as well. I'll try to keep it out of my M99 as much as possible. That thing is a brass stretcher.
 
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I'm a big fan of Remington brass... much of my rifle brass is RP, and a goodly portion of my pistol brass, too, including all my .41MAG brass... a 1000/box I bought back in the early '90's, so you can't tell me it's poor brass... I've lost count of how many times some of it's been loaded. Coming in second is PMC, believe it or not, and I like Federal and Winchester, too.

I like LC brass in 5.56mm but I've had nothing but trouble with it in 7.62, so my go-to there is Prvi for the semi-autos.

I am not a big fan of Starline, although I have a fair amount of it. Like others have mentioned, it's quite hard and/or brittle... in my experience.
 
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