New manufactured brass from Winchester- looks janky

[Palladan44]

Older brass from the good old days looks like it was made with care. Crisper lines, and appears thicker and sturdier....thicker rims and crisper, turned (lathed) corners of the rim.

Picked up a bag of 100pcs. Of Winchester "mettalic components" 44 Magnum brass.
It looks flimsier, the rim is visibly thinner and rounder than Star line, and some old Federal brass I have. It also sits looser in the shellplate of my reloading machine. I have not measured specs. yet but might.

Anybody have experience with this stuff? Does it hold up just fine? (To being able to be loaded many, many times)

I assume the "stamping and spinning" process has refined over the years to be simpler than the old days, basically producing the same product for less cost. Making it look "cheaper" but might be just the same functionality. Or is it no different than anything else made these days??? (Going to he// in a handbasket)

If youd like to know, I paid 32$ for the 100 pcs.
Ouch!! Ill bet these cost a penny a piece to make, but i understand the demand for 44 magnum brass for reloaders doesnt exactly have the same demand as say....toilet paper (depending on how bad the week is. )

 

[Palladan44]

Older brass from the good old days looks like it was made with care. Crisper lines, and appears thicker and sturdier....thicker rims and crisper, turned (lathed) corners of the rim.

Picked up a bag of 100pcs. Of Winchester "mettalic components" 44 Magnum brass.
It looks flimsier, the rim is visibly thinner and rounder than Star line, and some old Federal brass I have. It also sits looser in the shellplate of my reloading machine. I have not measured specs. yet but might.

Anybody have experience with this stuff? Does it hold up just fine? (To being able to be loaded many, many times)

I assume the "stamping and spinning" process has refined over the years to be simpler than the old days, basically producing the same product for less cost. Making it look "cheaper" but might be just the same functionality. Or is it no different than anything else made these days??? (Going to he// in a handbasket)

If youd like to know, I paid 32$ for the 100 pcs.
Ouch!! Ill bet these cost a penny a piece to make, but i understand the demand for 44 magnum brass for reloaders doesnt exactly have the same demand as say....toilet paper (depending on how bad the week is. )

 

[PapaG]

I've gone through both the Sierra and Starline manufacturing facilities. Bullets and brass today are better than just about anything from the past. The care and precision they put into their processes are unbelievable. Others, I don't know. If hope they are keeping their machinery up to date.

 

[Blackbeard 44]

i do notice that the winchester 44 mag brass is thinner and in my opinion the cheapest made brass I have for 44 mag.

win brass is always the last I load, I keep it seperated for desperate times.

 

[sparkyv]

Rats! I just purchased two bags this morning as it's hard to find. I reload Win brass from 44 Mag factory rounds I've shot and it's all fine, definitely as good as Starline. I didn't think it'd be any different...hopefully, it's not.

 

[Nature Boy]

Many, many, many reports of bad Winchester brass around the various reloading forums for several years now.

 

[Blackbeard 44]

Im not saying its bad/faulty, I just think it is cheaply made and constructed and try to not use it.

I will still use it when I need it, but I think Starline is alot better quality.

I dont gripe about it because often times Win white box is the cheapest at the ammo store to buy

 

[PapaG]

I'm pretty much dedicated to Starline. My stockpile of "important" brass, 44 m, 45 C, 45 AR, is all Starline. For plinking and fartaround stuff, whatever is in the cans.

 

[Cowhide Cliff]

If Starline makes it that's what I buy.

 

[FROGO207]

I have a bunch of assorted range brass and the Winchester brass I have is OK. It reloads and lasts as well as the other brands so far. No telling how old it is though but has to be at least 10 years old minimum.

 

[BCR#1]

I guess I'm lucky I have access to all the free brass I want and all I have to do is bend over and pick it up.

Bill

 

[wild willy]

Bought a 270 WSM only brass I could find was Winchester 2 bags of 50 3 bad in one bag 1 in the other.Major flaws necks not filled out big creases in body of case 1 had hole in neck.

 

[Obturation]

Winchester brass is bottom of the barrel IMO. A lot of times I just scrap it if I come across some in mixed brass, dimensionally incorrect and inconsistent . I'd rather load aguila or pmc (brass that I consider one step above scrap) than mess with winchester. Often shorter than min trim length, several will have rims that won't fit in shell holder , inconsistent hardness. Good luck, hope yours is useable

 

[Blue68f100]

Win changed there tooling and process around 6 yrs ago. I had some of the newer stuff and it had ll kinds of flaws if you looked closely. Contacting Win they had us send some of the bad ones in to there QC person. A week or so later we got notified they were sending us a new bag of brass.

MFG in general today is to produce the product at the cheapest cost, not necessary the best. If you start measuring brass and comparing it brass from the 70's you will find it all at min spec, nothing on the heavy side. Brass length at trim or even lower. They cut out all steps them deem not necessary for the product to work ONCE. The reason brass is splitting on the 1st or 2nd firing. The main reason I started annealing.

This is why premium brass mfg are doing so well, Starling, Peterson, Lapua..... They make a better product.

 

[Charlie98]

I still have a bunch of brass from the '80's and '90's that I use... 9mm, .45ACP, .41MAG, .30-06, and .348WCF... the brass I'm seeing new today is not of the same quality. My spin is a little different, however...

The brass I have that has survived 20-30 years of reloading is Federal, Winchester, and Remington, with an honorable mention going to PMC... the brands most people poo-poo. We are talking thousands of cases. The biggest failures? Starline. All of my Starline brass from that era had to be culled out and scrapped; Blue mentioned...

The reason brass is splitting on the 1st or 2nd firing.

...that was ALL of my Starline handgun brass. Some did not last 2 loadings, and we are talking .38SPC target-level loads, etc.

These days, some of that has changed. For those of you who shoot military cartridges, I consider (Federal) Lake City 7.62mm ammo and brass some of the worst, but LC 5.56mm as good or better than most, but I still source my 9mm or .45ACP brass from Federal or Remington, I consider it the best mainstream handgun brass out there.

I have had to buy Starline brass the past few years, mostly because of cost and availability, in both rifle and pistol cartridges, and one bag of Winchester .30-30... so we will see how well more recent Starline brass holds up.

This is why premium brass mfg are doing so well, Starling, Peterson, Lapua..... They make a better product.

I don't know if I really agree with that, technically. I think Lapua, for example, makes a more consistent product, not necessarily better. Starline has built favor up in the shooting world... deservedly so; they make crazy, obsolete brass available that would otherwise not be, their prices are right, and the supply is there. However, until my newer Starline brass proves itself to me, I still consider Starline inferior.

 

[Nature Boy]

Just type “bad Winchester brass” into Google search and you’ll see all you need to see.

 

[lightman]

Winchester has had serious QC issues with their brass for some time now. The brass they use in their ammo seems to be of higher quality. Winchester 223 brass is what caused me to buy an annealing machine back in 2008 or so.

 

[IALoder]

I bought some new Winchester .308 brass this last summer on sale. Creased and folded over necks and a few smashed necks. The rest were good though, and have been pretty good brass. I think Winchester's brass QC has gone down pretty hard the last few years.

 

[WillyG]

I purchased Nosler custom and Starline brass for my .270 Win. For a few years, I had good luck with Nosler. After the 2nd and 3rd reloads with the newest batch, some started to split, and one stuck because it separated. Most showed signs of pressure right away using middle of the road loads. The older Hornady, at least this time, is outlasting them. I am just now starting to reload with the Starline in the rifle. I have good luck with the Lapua brass in my .308 and 6.5 Creedmoor. I wish they made it for the .270 win.

I've been using Starline in my 9mm, but I have only reloaded it once.

 

[splattergun]

Comparing Winchester to Starline? Why not Win to Federal? Same variety of apples.