Best brass headstamps: most consistent and/or long-lasting

[azrocks]

I haven't been reloading long at all, but I'm already realizing there's a world of difference between different brands of brass.

So my question to y'all is this:

What are your favorite head-stamps, and why?

I'm looking for brass that's the most consistent, and/or the most affordable by virtue of it withstanding numerous reloadings.

 

[Reloadron]

Rifle, pistol, straight wall or bottle neck? My experience overall has been yes, very much, some brass is better than other factory brass and while fairly consistent even within any manufacturer the brass quality can vary lot to lot. I pay more attention to rifle only because any differences show up more for me in rifle and I like keeping all my loads uniform as much as possible.

Ron

 

[LiveLife]

What caliber?

Or pistol vs rifle in general?

 

[hdwhit]

azrocks wrote:
What are your favorite head-stamps, and why?

30 Carbine - Starline and LC (particularly Korean War vintage dates, but be wary of the Berdan primed counterfeit LC52s). Good quality, consistent brass that when converted into 5.7mm Johnson is slower to develop head separation.

223 Remington - LC and TW (although I draw the line at anything earlier than '70 since I don't want to be reloading brass that my father might have shot). Good quality and seemingly slower to stretch than commercial cases.

9mm - PPU. All of my 9mm brass is range-pickup and I haven't noticed any of it being particularly better or worse than any other, but the PPU I have seems to size with consistent force, retain their shine and hold neck tension consistently.

38 Special - FC Nickel plated and marked +P+. I bought 500 rounds of it back in the 1990's and it's all I have ever used, so it has to get my vote. Note that even though the brass is marked +P+, the pistol I shoot it in is not even marked for +P, so I load it below maximum for regular loads. That may be why it looks like 500 rounds is going to be a lifetime supply.

45 ACP - Large primer; any of the Winchester headstamps (WIN, WW, WCC) because the primer pockets seem more uniform. Small primer; Blazer because it is readily available, often seems to be available at a discount when the seller sorts headstamps and will handily go through the two or three reloadings I get out of it before it gets lost in the weeds.

 

[Reloadron]

30 Carbine - Starline and LC (particularly Korean War vintage dates, but be wary of the Berdan primed counterfeit LC52s).

I actually have a box of those I kept as a novelty item.
Ron

 

[icanthitabarn]

Best is whatever you find, especially in large numbers

 

[hdwhit]

azrocks wrote:
What are your favorite head-stamps, and why?

If this post turns out to be informative to you, you might want to follow up with another where you ask the question, "What head-stamps do you avoid, and why?"

 

[hdwhit]

Reloadron wrote:
I actually have a box of those I kept as a novelty item.

Cool.

I only have one.

I encountered it within my first 200 rounds and broke my decapping pin. The nearest place to get another was 92 miles away. I couldn't get away right then so I was out of commission for a week. I learned my lesson on that one.

 

[azrocks]

Guess I should have been more specific

9mm. Or at least pistol brass.

I like that idea hdwhit. I'm already on the 'Federal blows' bandwagon after today's experience (detailed in another thread)

 

[AZAndy]

I've had trouble priming S&B .45ACP. I don't know how their 9mm is.

 

[cfullgraf]

Since my 9x19 shooting is mostly plinking and informal target, no competition shooting, I load whatever head stamps that I have on hand. If I run into some cases that are difficult to reload for some reason, I just scrap those.

I have a good load that works well in all my 9x19 guns although I am sure i could tweak the load some and get improved performance in particular guns.

If I was competing, I'd settle on one a single head stamp and tailor the load to that particular firearm.

For rifle, I try to stick with one head stamp except that it is not always possible these days. (Supplies are getting better though). My 223 Remington blasting ammunition uses what ever head stamp I have on hand. Many of these cases are cast offs from my precision 223 Remington rifles giving a few more reloads from the cases before they are scrapped.

 

[badkarmamib]

My favorite brass is whatever the last guy left on the ground at my local range. I inspect my brass at each loading, and anything that is failing, or I just don't like the look or feel of, gets tossed. But, for the (lack of) price, I can't complain

Of course, my reloading is for plinking and hunting, not benchrest, so YMMV.

 

[Reloadron]

If you want a good approximation of how close you are I used these units many years ago when I was involved with testing home computer power supplies. Kill-A-Watt and they are pretty reasonable. Amazon being just one place of many that carry them. They will give you something to compare to. I also found that the average off the shelf 100 watt and 75 watt incandescent lamps are a good indicator, that being if you can find any of the no longer produced bulbs.

Ron

 

[jlove1974]

my favorite long lasting headstamps are stamped .45 Auto or .45 ACP, and they last darn near forever

Oh but you specified 9mm. I will say it this way: you'll loose them before wearing them out. I avoid GFL (Fiocchi) and some Perfecta (Tula) because they can't seem to punch that primer flash hole concentric and centered in the primer pocket on a regular basis.

Otherwise, I only sort the NATO ones from commercial ones since they need the primer pockets swaged.

 

[reddog81]

For 9mm I like WIN, Blazer, GFL. I purposely try and avoid FC. I have had problems with neck tension when using FC brass and lead bullets. For jacketed bullets i'm sure FC works fine, but I rarely shoot those.

Realistically you probably aren't going to notice much of a difference between the major manufacturers unless your shooting at 25 yards+ and then it will probably come down to what ever gun and bullet combo you are using and you will have to test the various ones to see what works best for you.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Guess I should have been more specific

9mm. Or at least pistol brass.

I like that idea hdwhit. I'm already on the 'Federal blows' bandwagon after today's experience (detailed in another thread)

With most brass meant for a semi-auto, especially 9mm, I lose them well before they ever fail. I can not remember ever having to throw a 9mm case in the scrap bucket because it failed or wore out.

I use mostly Federal, Remington and Winchester 9mm brass because it's most available. Remington brass is a little thinner than the other two but it still produces good ammo.

 

[greyling22]

CBC brass seems harder to resize. Avoid anything with a primer crimp, and winchester brass seems to have a smaller bevel around the primer pocket. Amerc is garbage. It is the only 9mm case I have ever seen fail. But I lose it faster than I could ever wear it out. I don't think I have anything that has been reloaded more than a dozen times. Now my revolver brass, so e of that makes it 40+ times.

 

[Schwing]

For brass that I am really particular about (.38, .357, and .44) I stick to Starline brass. I have found that they last far longer than other headstamps before the necks split. I have had some of mine for a few years and have never had one split.

For .45 I have found that Speer has worked out the best for me. I seem to get the best neck tension with it and very rarely have to toss one for any kind of failure. On 9mm, I honestly don't have a favorite. I have never been able to tell much difference in neck tension or longevity. I have to admit, however, that I don't chase down my 9MM brass with as much enthusiasm as my others. For so many years, I picked it up whenever I saw it. As soon as I hit a few gallons of it, I stopped

On .380, I have the same issue with FC brass as reddog81 does with 9mm. I haven't had issues with their 9mm brass but the neck tension on their .380 is so horrible that I don't even pick it up anymore. I would add that I have tried it with Jacketed and lead bullets and it was no good for either in my experience.

 

[cfullgraf]

With most brass meant for a semi-auto, especially 9mm, I lose them well before they ever fail. I can not remember ever having to throw a 9mm case in the scrap bucket because it failed or wore out.

Yep, a part of the Bermuda Triangle is fixed over my back yard range. I'm happy if I recover about 95% of the semi-auto cases that I shoot per session.

The rarer and more expensive the cases, the more likely they will vaporize into the ether-zone.

 

[Rule3]

There is no "best" brass for 9mm. Just like there is no "best" bullet or powder.

Opinions are just that opinions. Most of it is anecdotal For a novice reloader any/all of the name brands will work fine. You have far more variables to deal with.

What's best Chevy or Ford, Ginger or Maryann. William or Betty, Glock or XD??

If you are going to buy brass than get some Starline, they have a good reputation and make brass for other "big" names. I do not think to many folks dislike Starline?

As mentioned above research the BAD brass that is out there.

PS: Federal sells a boatload of ammo, their brass is not "bad".

 

[Kaldor]

9mm - anything pretty much as long as the case doesnt have a step in it, a mil crimp, and the flash hole is centered. Ive taken any brand of brass up into the +P territory with no issues. 95% range pickups.

45 ACP - anything providing its large primer as LP cases do get you a little more velocity and the flash hole is centered. SP brass gets culled and traded. 95% range pickups.

223 - LC for everything if I have a choice. Cases are strong and last even in a semi auto. No loss in case capacity, and they are consistent. And I can buy them by the 1000's if I want. I buy some LC for accuracy loads, the rest is range pickups. For blammo I load anything providing it still holds a primer and isnt split.

308 - LC for everything, full stop. Yes, Im giving up case capacity and a touch of velocity, but the cases are stronger, great for semi autos. If I wanted something fancy for a bolt gun only that Im neck sizing, Lapua probably. I give away any commercial brass I shoot or find. I own 2000 cases that I purchased, they are counted/sorted/tracked for times fired, and will be annealing these when I finish my annealer.

300 BO - I roll my own cases from LC. Once again, strong and consistent are the game here. All of this brass was once fired purchased LC.

Project guns in the next 3-36 months?
223 AI bolt gun - will fire form once fired LC.
6.5 Grendel - Im honestly not sure. Hornady brass is a little soft for extended use in an autoloader, and Lapua is crazy expensive.
458 SOCOM - Starline. Nobody else makes it, and Starline is some of the best.
357 Mag - Starline
300 (something) Mag - No idea
10mm - Starline

 

[azrocks]

Thank you all.

 

[Hummer70]

US military brass will generally out last commercial about 500% in my testing. I run tight chambers in my bolt guns and I can take LC Match brass and load it 100 to 150 times and primer pocket is still snug. I anneal necks every three shots and tumble clean my cases in stainless steel media with Ivory soap and Lemishine.

I have one 30.06 LC Match case that I have fired 157 times and primer pocket is still snug and I really care for my brass.

I have 500 cases reserved for one rifle and it is on it's third barrel now.

Commercial cases normally have softer heads. The nicest brass I ever reloaded was DWM in 8x60 that belongs to a friend and I have been loading it for 30 years for him.

 

[entropy]

WCC. LC.

 

[Maj Dad]

One brand to avoid at all costs is A-Merc - it may have been o.k. to shoot when new but the brass is trash. Off center flash holes, off center primer pockets, weak brass - like I said, trash. Smash it & toss it in the scrap brass can.