rate this RIFLE brass please..

[thomis]

I've gotten an array of mixed results using different brass as well as mixed opinions regarding different brass over the past few years. I'd like to see if I can come up with a common stance on where these brass manufacturers rank. Please put them in order according to YOUR experience; first giving best results, last yielding the worst. Omit from your list brass that you have not used.

Winchester
Remington
Hornady
Lapua
norma
Nosler

If I left off a brand, feel free to add. I left out milsurp purposely.

 

[Smokey Joe]

Brass quality...

From the makers listed I gather that you are reloading bottleneck rifle cartridges. For those, IMX, the quality lineup would be:

Norma & Lapua, tied for Best of Show, best of breed, best of everything.

Nosler, breathing down N & L's collective neck--XLNT brass. These 3 come ready-to-load: chamfered, drilled flash holes, very little variation in case length or other dimensions, just really nice brass. Pricey but worth it IMHO.

Hornady Match is supposed to be in the same league--No experience myself. Same with Federal Match.

Winchester & Remington both fine brass for rifles--Require more prep than the above, there is more variation in case length, and they don't come pre-chamfered, and their flash holes are stamped rather than drilled. Federal and Hornady "regular" brass are in this league also.

Milsurp varies from OK to terrible in quality, depending on which mil and which surp. The "military rifle" guys seem to like Lake City better than anything else, but they have preferences for certain years. I haven't shot any military brass for many years myself. It tended to run heavier than commercial brass of the same cartridge.

For my "serious" rifles I bite the bullet and pay for really good brass. For my "non-serious" rifles I use whatever comes to hand.

 

[USSR]

Depends upon which cartridge you are talking about.

Lapua, hands down the best in both .30-06 and 6.5x55. Have heard nothing but good reports regarding it in .308 as well.

Norma .30-06 brass is Excellent; Norma 6.5x55, not so much.

Hornady Match is Excellent in .308.

Winchester in .308 and .30-06 is Very Good brass.

Remington in .308 and .30-06 is Good brass.

No experience with Nosler, but for the kind of $$$ they want for it, I would rather buy Lapua.

Don

 

[Rokman]

From what I have used:

Nosler, Hornady, Winchester, Remington, Federal. I like Lake City for .223, and would like to try some Lapua .308.