Hornady Brass

[BoltActionPrepper]

What do those of you in the know think about Hornady brass? How does it compare to Remington, Winchester, Federal, Lapua, Nosler, and Norma brass? My local supplier has the stuff on sale in 30/06 (just what i need!) and i want to know if i should take a chance on it. Im mainly worried about consistency and case life.

 

[KansasSasquatch]

You might be better off asking in the Handloading and Reloading section. I don't have any experience reloading Hornady brass but their ammo shoots good and they make top notch component bullets. I hear their brass is good though.

 

[stubbicatt]

To my way of seeing things, Remington and Hornady brass are very similar. Typically they weigh out more than does Winchester, and they seem to be of a softer material. They tend to stretch more than Winchester, and the primer pockets give up sooner at near max loads. WW brass seems to split easier, maybe it is more brittle. There are techniques of annealing which will extend the life of your brass significantly, whichever brand you use.

Lapua brass is in an entirely different camp. It splits the difference weight wise between the Rem and Hornady brass and the Winchester, and must be made of a harder material as the primer pockets seem to be able to withstand max loads a lot longer.

If you use a bolt rifle or are otherwise able to retrieve your brass, I'd choose Lapua hands down, and have done so. For a shell shucker like an automatic rifle, or for tall grass where you cannot find the brass, I would choose Rem or Hornady over the other options because it is less expensive and I like it better than Winchester.

 

[RPRNY]

SC 's summary above mirrors my experience. I would put Hornady brass solidly in the middle of the pack.

 

[taliv]

in my experience, in order of preference by quality

lapua (i haven't used nosler due to price)
norma
.
hornady
.
.
rem
.
.
.
.
.
dog doo sculpted with a playdough extruder and hardened in an e-z-bake oven
.
.
winchester

 

[FrankB1948]

Last week I bought a bag 100 Win 22-250 cases to reload, it was significantly cheaper than Hornady ( $44 per 100 for Win versus $36 per 50 for Hornady) I did not do anything to prep the primer pockets and I noticed a lot of uneven seating using a Lee Easy Loader. I chamfered all of the necks, and still had 3 necks split while seating boat tailed bullets. I can't say I'm very impressed with Win brass.

 

[kingmt]

Almost all my brass was free so I love it all. Never used Lapua, Normal, or Nosler. I don't have a problem using Fed, Win, Rem, HDY, or even PMC. Those black brass cases are my favorite tho.

 

[HOOfan_1]

Seems like brass can be a scatter shoot.

Lapua seems to be the only one that is universally revered

I've read some threads where many people considered Norma brass, overpriced junk.

Usually I see Winchester much more highly regarded among the economy brass, than Remington.

 

[45lcshooter]

Never had problems with Hornady brass like what most have said. I sort all my brass, i know i have far fewer Hornady cases than the 3 major ones, so they are at the end of the loading list

 

[Walkalong]

lapua (i haven't used nosler due to price)
norma
.
hornady
.
.
rem
.
.
.
.
.
dog doo sculpted with a playdough extruder and hardened in an e-z-bake oven
.
.
winchester

I cannot disagree. Lapua is the best. I have never tried Nosler either, and do not know anyone who has. Norma is very very good. The Hornady Match brass I just bought measures out to be very consistent in case wall thickness. I just bought 50 Winchester .35 Remington cases, and it is some of the crappiest brass I have ever bought. Used to be Winchester made pretty good brass, but I am a little leery of it now.

 

[FROGO207]

It is OK in my reloads and will last well as the others. Be aware that once fired may have been used with their LVR bullets and will be trimmed shorter than normal. Take this into account when loading it as the crimp groove will show up above the top of the neck some with those. I have found this with 30-30, 45-70 and 444 Marlin.

 

[COLOSHOOTR]

I have Hornaday Match brass thats been pretty good for me... I also got the Nosler Custom brass for the right price and it's been very consistent I've only got one load on it so far so I'll have to let you guys know if my impression on the Nosler changes. I also agree Lapua tends to be the best.

 

[beatledog7]

Be careful with the length of Hornady brass. Hornady makes some factory ammo (FTX, Leverevolution) that requires the brass to be somewhat shorter than normal SAAMI spec to accommodate the longer than normal for caliber and weight bullets. So if you're picking up range brass and you find Hornady, be sure to measure it.

Aside from that, Hornady is as good as any other than the uber-price brands.

 

[788Ham]

About 5 years ago, IIRC, I bought some WW brass for my .223, other brass I had needed replacement, only brass available at LGS. This stuff wasn't worth sizing or loading, split necks, primer pockets misshaped, out of 100 new brass, tossed 30 of them! I bought Lapua brass, yes, more expensive, best brass I'v ever used. One of my shooting buddies asked why I spent so much on brass, "WW and Rem are about the best there is, save your money." In reloading 5 or 6 times now, never had to toss a piece of Lapua, YMMV !

 

[USSR]

I have Hornaday Match brass thats been pretty good for me...

+1. Of course, AFAIK, it's only made in .308, which won't help the OP.

Don

 

[Dthunter]

Winchester/Remington/Federal are just fine normally. Every manufacturer can have a bad lot.

Lapua brass is definitely a product that is sorted and QC (Quality Controlled) better.

My opinion is that no matter what brand of brass I obtain, I will put EVERY case through a concentricity/uniformity preperation procedure.

For example:
Every case is first Sized,trimmed,deburred,chamfered, primer pocket uniformed, and flashole deburring/uniforming. Then the cases are weight segregated into groups that are within 1%.

This kind of brass prep is what I do for long range shooting. (500-1760 yards).
With the Winchester,Federal,Remington,Hornady, I get more cases that are outside the bell curve for Consistnancy than compared to say Lapua or Nosler.

Lapua & Nosler have a way to better control thier end product.

If I have to throw away 4-5 cases per 100 of Rem,win,fed,Hornady, I am OK with that.
With Nosler,Lapua I may Wind up scrapping 1-2 or none.

The thing is, I can buy three cases of (Rem,Win,Fed or Hornady) to every two Lapua/Nosler. Or more.

Because I Shoot a fair bit, I usually side with economy. I have used mainly Winchester and Remington because of availability and Cost.

As far as one brass brand being stronger than another. Thats probably true to a point. I just dont load my rounds so hot that i have loose primer pockets after two reloads.

I Dont care If i have to adjust 21MOA at 1000 yards, or 24MOA. My scope
Dont care, but my brass will last longer "reguardless of Brand".

In the end, Lapua/Nosler are a more consistant product for the end user. But if accuracy is your personal addiction, you will have to work on them
Anyhow. Its your desision, and niether one is wrong/right.

 

[GLOOB]

My 100 Hornady 223 cases are fine. They appear to be top notch.

My biggest letdown to date was with FC 308 brass. I scrapped 5 cases out of 100 for loose primer pockets. My FC 223 brass seems fine. I don't know what the hoopla is with Win. I've never had a problem with a Winchester case, nor a WW military case. All my 7mm-08 cases are Win. I have no idea how many times there were reloaded, cuz I received them from a fellow reloader getting out of the caliber, but they have been great so far. I've loaded my military WW 223 cases 5-6 times without any issues.

 

[dudeinmo]

I would buy Hornady over Remington any day of the week. I have 10 reloads on my Hornady brass and still good to go. Been tossing the Remington after 5 or 6. These loads are the same caliber 6.8 spc at max saami loads.

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