What brass?

Free-range brass...

Winchester seems to be more popular.

i use mostly winchester. 2nd choice is remington. a big reason is local availability, and because i get a reasonable amount of quality (useable cases) and longevity (times fired) out of the cases.

winchester seems to be a little better for magnum loads, and remington seems to do better w/ standard loads.

don't care for federal because it doesn't seem to take much to get the primer pockets too big, or for heads/necks to seperate.

i'm not much into handgun loading, so this applies only to rifles. for handguns, i just load whatever brass i happen to have/collect/find and load it.

For pistols, I normally get once-fired, mixed headstamp brass if it's available. For everything else, I'll use Starline if they make it in the caliber I want. Otherwise, I opt for Remington.

BEST brass?

BSChoy--You haven't indicated what you plan to reload for, nor what kind of quality you're after.

For general reloading, Wolf from WV has it right: Free range brass is the best. I'd segregate by manufacturer for rifles. I'd use it as it comes for pistols. For shotshells you have to be much more picky--you must segregate not just by manufacturer but by model of shotshell. Any shotshell reloading manual should help you identify the different models. (Paper or plastic base wad, high or low brass, tapered or straight case, for example, are differences you have to watch in shotshells. All mebbe from the same maker, and looking superficially the same. And shotguns are sensitive to these differences, to a dangerous degree in some instances.)

Now if you're doing anything in the precision line, for rifles it's Norma or LaPua brass. For pistols it doesn't get any better than Starline. For shotshells, Win AA's are about as good as it gets, but there are other good ones. You're going to pay for this quality; it doesn't often get left lying around.

For pistols, I normally get once-fired, mixed headstamp brass if it's available. For everything else, I'll use Starline if they make it in the caliber I want.

Click to expand...

This is exactly what I do, too.

I like RWS (expensive), Lapua, Hirtenberger, US Military (LC and TW headstamps), Federal and Remington in my rifles. Winchester, Remington and Federal in the handguns. I keep all of my rifle brass sorted by headstamp, and sorted by rifle if the brass has been fireformed in a bolt action.

For pistols and revolvers I like Starline. For rifles I usually get Winchester, unless I am in the market for .308, then I get once fired military brass. I am leery of range pickups. I will pickup stray range brass but only if it is obviously once fired.

Federal stuff loosens primer pockets too fast. I've had better life out of Remington than Winchester in certain oddball sizes (303R, 7x57) and choose that first if I can. However, I shoot a lot of range pickup in 30-30 and 223, and that means standardizing on Winchester for those chamberings since it's the most prevelant.

Once fired range brass...I DO prefer Winchester and, that dreaded, Remington cases. I am particularly fond of nickle plated for my handgun brass as I spend a lot of time in the mountains for prolong periods of time and I prefer leather accesseries...(Gun belts, hosters and sheaths, gentlemen...Not purses)...

Winchester, WCC, Remington, Starline, Federal, S&W, TZZ, Lake City, and some other makes I can't remember right now.

I've been collecting brass for a long time.

IVI, Winchester and Remington mostly, but only because that's the only ammo that was available up here when I started shooting. I think I've got some Federal .308 that gets fed into my real semi'd M-14. It doesn't get used much since our government made it evil.
I've never had any trouble with any of the brass I have. Mind you, none of it is new.

For my .300WSM, I use Winchester brass. Mostly because there are only 2 or 3 makers of brass for this cal. and Win is the cheapest.

For others, anything brass. Winchester, Remington, Rem. UMC, Federal, Speer, etc... a.k.a. Free Range Brass...

1. Starline.
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X. anything else.
But if it's cheap and plentiful I'd take whatever you can.
Sort it out by headstamp to get a relative 'feel' for the seating and condition.
If you have to buy starline new, then by all means, do it.
I've bought used and new starline and it's treated me well as always.

This is my experience.
I shoot 45ACP brass in all mfg. except, you guessed it AMERC!
Each has a use for me.
Win and Federal are for the 625's
RP and PMC I use for USP when shot indoors.
All else is used for lost brass shooting sessions, ie classes where it is not practical to reclaim your brass.
I have 45ACP brass you can not hardly read the headstamp anymore!

Rifle brass is horse of different color by far!

In the 308 Lapua has worked out well for me, and the cases look new still and they have snug primer pockets with 12 plus reloads! Case prep is non-issue! I shoot some Win/BHA brass that works well, too just the case life is not in line with Lapua. I tried some Federal GMM brass, and as advertised the brass is softer and thus a fellow gets loose primer pockets very fast.

In the 223 Win or LC has worked out well! The best way to use LC brass is to sort by headstamp. Of course a fellow needs a large lot to make up 100 rd batches. But, with LC brass you have to deal with removing the primer pocket crimp. Win commercial brass can be had and not have to deal with primer pocket crimp removal! Fed 223 brass flat out sucks! I got very few reloads out of lot of brass I bought, primer pockets were loose after 2 firings! These were not balls to wall loads, just nice dose of Varget or N133!

My observations seem to mimic other people experiences.