top 5 best brass for reloading

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top 5 best brass for reloading

Post by bignose88 » 17 Sep 2020, 11:29 am

Curious to know from your personal experience your top 5 brass brands for reloading
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Re: top 5 best brass for reloading

Post by marksman » 17 Sep 2020, 12:25 pm

if you are a casual reloader my choice is winchester 1st because it is made thinner, the benefits being you have less problems with it being the same
eg.. the thickness of it is more uniform,
because they are thinner your can use also more powder with less pressure for a greater velocity
but the winchester cases are not as shiny, and if using once fired factory brass can have minor splits at the case mouth because of the crimp

if you can afford quality brass lapua and nosler are good IMHO nosler are sorted norma cases apparently

l like PPU, ADI, sako, norma as well but IMHO all cases can be made to work well if you will put in the effort to match prep

what l think anyway, but l may change my mind later :lol:
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Re: top 5 best brass for reloading

Post by Bugman » 17 Sep 2020, 1:04 pm

Norma for my 243 and Starline for my handguns.
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Re: top 5 best brass for reloading

Post by SCJ429 » 17 Sep 2020, 7:31 pm

Depending on what you value, the best is Lapua. Norma also make premium brass.

If you want your brass for free and pick up range scrap, I would keep ADI or Sako brass.
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Re: top 5 best brass for reloading

Post by JimTom » 17 Sep 2020, 8:09 pm

Mate Lapua is the best that I have used. I also relod a fair bit of ADI, Winchester and even a bit of Remington.
To be honest mate I think they are all ok. Pros and cons for all of them of course, however nothing sticks out as being terrible......yet.
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Re: top 5 best brass for reloading

Post by boingk » 17 Sep 2020, 10:51 pm

PPU and Starline here. Used a bit of Winchester in my 347 Mag and the case mouth splits are a thing.

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Re: top 5 best brass for reloading

Post by Gadge » 18 Sep 2020, 6:12 am

Sako brass is also right up with Lapua.

Put it this way, I paid more for 100 x .222 once fired Sako cases from Rebel Gunworks, than new Winchester from my local would have cost, simply because they're worth it.
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Re: top 5 best brass for reloading

Post by straightshooter » 18 Sep 2020, 6:48 am

Brass is brass. Most brands are OK but may have their reloading quirks.
With uncommon calibers you take what you can find.
The main requirement is that there are no flaws in the brass, the head is suitably hard and the neck is suitably soft, the rest can be dealt with by a competent reloader. In any case the neck may be annealed.
The only thing that can't be fixed are cracks anywhere in the brass or a soft case head which restricts you to moderate loads
However if you believe in magic then go with the most strident recommendations.
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Re: top 5 best brass for reloading

Post by SCJ429 » 18 Sep 2020, 7:54 am

You have to wonder if brass is brass, why every competition shooter you see walking down the line use Lapua brass if it is available to them. Perhaps they all believe in the magic.

Anyone who has done some basic brass preparation will see the shortcomings in cheaper brass. The annealing of cases is all over the place in some brands, you can feel the difference when you seat the bullet. I have seen some cases split at the neck after only one firing.

Weigh the brass and see the variation within the lot. If you started with 1000 cases of PPU you may end up with 100 that you could use to shoot some decent groups. That is a lot of work and cost for the sake of wanting to use this brand.

Without a doubt, you will get a better result with less work from Lapua brass. Ask any guy who actually competes.
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Re: top 5 best brass for reloading

Post by wanneroo » 18 Sep 2020, 8:37 am

Lapua is probably the best quality but you pay.

I reload a lot of milsurp brass from the 1970s and 1980s and the Swiss and Austrian stuff like Hirtenberger is very good.

ADI 300 Blackout brass is pretty good but you can't buy it anymore in the USA.

Prvi I never had much trouble with but I'm not bench shooting or comp shooting.

Starline brass I am about to try here soon. We will see how it does.
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Re: top 5 best brass for reloading

Post by TassieTiger » 18 Sep 2020, 8:53 am

6 months ago, I bought some Winchester 300 wm brass from a vic gun shop.
20 out of the 50 cases were very poor - neck concentricity, damaged bodies, Etc.
I took photos and sent to shop - who said, they were Very disappointed.
Later that day - the shop rang and said he’d had to go into 4 different new bags(50 per bag) to find 25 cases that he would consider “good”. He said he was putting aside the remainder of 300 Winchester cases to return and wouldn’t be buying again....
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Re: top 5 best brass for reloading

Post by Grandadbushy » 18 Sep 2020, 9:39 am

Funny you should say that TT because i was given a bag of Winchester 22-250 brass that my son had just purchased and i have sorted them and there is only 30 out of the 100 that i can use , some had neck cracking others were out of shape some had carbon crushed into the brass leaving black ash like dots all over them and some had small indents half the size of pin heads like as if acid had eaten into them so i doubt i'd ever buy them again.
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Re: top 5 best brass for reloading

Post by JimTom » 18 Sep 2020, 4:54 pm

TassieTiger wrote:6 months ago, I bought some Winchester 300 wm brass from a vic gun shop.
20 out of the 50 cases were very poor - neck concentricity, damaged bodies, Etc.
I took photos and sent to shop - who said, they were Very disappointed.
Later that day - the shop rang and said he’d had to go into 4 different new bags(50 per bag) to find 25 cases that he would consider “good”. He said he was putting aside the remainder of 300 Winchester cases to return and wouldn’t be buying again....


Same happened up here at my local mate. He had an opened bag behind the counter and when someone purchased a bag they replaced all of the sub standard cases. I have never had a problem with Winchester in .223 though.
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Re: top 5 best brass for reloading

Post by Bill » 18 Sep 2020, 7:20 pm

Lapau, Norma, Tikka brass all good stuff. I noticed Peterson hand selected match brass has recently turned up at my local, SRP & LRP for various :thumbsup: chamberings
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Re: top 5 best brass for reloading

Post by Bello » 20 Sep 2020, 8:32 am

Hi bignose88
To answer your question, I would ask the reason you want to reload these cases.
Is it for competition, or for more accuracy or just trying something new or to save $.
Also what caliber you want to reload for.
for plinking at the range, I have found most brands are ok, but I concur with others who have tried Winchester brass and I tend to steal away from it only because it has had a short life expectancy for me.
Also I have had issues reloading Sellier and bellot, I have had issues with their primer pockets.
For the average fellow, I believe the ADI brass in 223 and 308 is good.
Lapua and Norma if you are serious about shooting, such as Comp and serious target.
This brass is more expensive to buy but tends to be of more consistent uniformity.
Just my 2c
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Re: top 5 best brass for reloading

Post by mchughcb » 20 Sep 2020, 12:55 pm

Best brass I've used is RWS, and then Geco. I don't mind Lapau or Norma but I found the Lapua 243 brass is way too tough and i've even lost a die with it getting jammed in there. I found Hornady and Nosler Custom quite affordable. If you push me, then I'll say Winchester in the 30-06 is okay for the price, but you might have to resize before loading.
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Re: top 5 best brass for reloading

Post by SCJ429 » 20 Sep 2020, 9:23 pm

mchughcb wrote:Best brass I've used is RWS, and then Geco. I don't mind Lapau or Norma but I found the Lapua 243 brass is way too tough and i've even lost a die with it getting jammed in there. I found Hornady and Nosler Custom quite affordable. If you push me, then I'll say Winchester in the 30-06 is okay for the price, but you might have to resize before loading.


How did you loose a die due to getting a piece of brass stuck in it?
What do you mean that the brass is too tough?
RWS and Geco are part of the same company, the brass would come off the same production line and just gets a different head stamp.
I believe that Nosler subcontract their brass to Norma.
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Re: top 5 best brass for reloading

Post by duncan61 » 20 Sep 2020, 10:22 pm

I have just batched out a heap of once fired PPU in .243 as I really rate it as top quality brass.Winchester is last on my list,Lots of cases have split necks after a few firings and it is not consistent.The PPU is serbian military grade ammo
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Re: top 5 best brass for reloading

Post by duncan61 » 20 Sep 2020, 10:44 pm

I will add to that I took a lot of mates shooting in the Gascoyne and .243 was common so I have 100s of once fired brass and the Highland or PPU was common in the local shop.I made field grade ammo for the .243 for years as it is good enough however I am have started going to a club that shoots 100-600 yards and I am load developing.I have thrown all the Winchester .243 in my scrap bin as some of it is probably from 1978 when my buddy first started hunting in Queensland and very dirty.I have all his reloading stuff as he has passed on and now I take his son out.His old .243 is a BRNO and it out groups my HOWA at the moment.Like I said we are starting to develop so good brass is essential.One of the club members runs a .243 with Lapua brass and Scenars in 107 gn.I will quiz him next time I go and am assuming he has had a 1;8 barrel fitted as my 1;12 22 inch barrel will probably not stabilize that weight.I am going to use Remington brass in the 7mm Rem Mag as I took my son last time and he wanted recoil so I gave him 175 gn Remington Corelokt to do the detail with so now I have once fired brass for that as well.
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Re: top 5 best brass for reloading

Post by wanneroo » 21 Sep 2020, 12:05 am

mchughcb wrote:Best brass I've used is RWS, and then Geco. I don't mind Lapau or Norma but I found the Lapua 243 brass is way too tough and i've even lost a die with it getting jammed in there. I found Hornady and Nosler Custom quite affordable. If you push me, then I'll say Winchester in the 30-06 is okay for the price, but you might have to resize before loading.


I love Geco pistol brass, resizes well and never have one issue with it.

Last year when Geco 9mm was less than $8.00 a box I should have bought a ton of it just for the brass.

The Geco brand, at least here in the USA, is disappearing and has been rebranded as Norma.

RWS and Geco are the same company I believe.
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Re: top 5 best brass for reloading

Post by straightshooter » 21 Sep 2020, 7:29 am

Bello wrote:Hi bignose88
To answer your question, I would ask the reason you want to reload these cases.
Is it for competition, or for more accuracy or just trying something new or to save $.
Also what caliber you want to reload for.
for plinking at the range, I have found most brands are ok, but I concur with others who have tried Winchester brass and I tend to steal away from it only because it has had a short life expectancy for me.
Also I have had issues reloading Sellier and bellot, I have had issues with their primer pockets.
For the average fellow, I believe the ADI brass in 223 and 308 is good.
Lapua and Norma if you are serious about shooting, such as Comp and serious target.
This brass is more expensive to buy but tends to be of more consistent uniformity.
Just my 2c

Bello
Your post may only have been 2 cents worth but in my opinion it was of more value than most of the posts on this thread.
Although I tend not to be too critical of Winchester or any other brass for that matter, as what may be considered as drawbacks in some circumstances may be considered useful features in other circumstances.
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Re: top 5 best brass for reloading

Post by straightshooter » 21 Sep 2020, 7:32 am

SCJ429 wrote:
mchughcb wrote:Best brass I've used is RWS, and then Geco. I don't mind Lapau or Norma but I found the Lapua 243 brass is way too tough and i've even lost a die with it getting jammed in there. I found Hornady and Nosler Custom quite affordable. If you push me, then I'll say Winchester in the 30-06 is okay for the price, but you might have to resize before loading.


How did you loose a die due to getting a piece of brass stuck in it?
What do you mean that the brass is too tough?
RWS and Geco are part of the same company, the brass would come off the same production line and just gets a different head stamp.
I believe that Nosler subcontract their brass to Norma.


Sounds like somebody missed lubing a case and in like in many comparable incidents it's the brasses fault.
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Re: top 5 best brass for reloading

Post by Bello » 21 Sep 2020, 9:43 am

Hi bignose88
I may have some handfuls of various types of brass in various calibres you can try and reload if you want some.
I have some 223 and 308 etc you can try.
I am based in Sydney if you want. If I can be of assistance to you.
Was there a particular calibre you were wanting to load for?
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Re: top 5 best brass for reloading

Post by 9.3x64 » 21 Sep 2020, 11:43 am

wanneroo wrote:
mchughcb wrote:Best brass I've used is RWS, and then Geco. I don't mind Lapau or Norma but I found the Lapua 243 brass is way too tough and i've even lost a die with it getting jammed in there. I found Hornady and Nosler Custom quite affordable. If you push me, then I'll say Winchester in the 30-06 is okay for the price, but you might have to resize before loading.


I love Geco pistol brass, resizes well and never have one issue with it.

Last year when Geco 9mm was less than $8.00 a box I should have bought a ton of it just for the brass.

The Geco brand, at least here in the USA, is disappearing and has been rebranded as Norma.

RWS and Geco are the same company I believe.

I too have had the best case life from RWS and then GECO.

RWS and GECO I have been told is the same except RWS is annealed 7 times, and GECO 3 times.
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Re: top 5 best brass for reloading

Post by madang55 » 30 Sep 2020, 8:19 pm

As usual, I thought I was going mad. I was sorting through a few things, making sure I had in the box what was written on the outside of the box and came across some 308 loaded with what I thought was some Speer Soft points. So I looked some more and remembered that I picked up some Woodleigh 165gr PP. I pulled one just to make sure and confirmed it. Now....for some reason, I had a box of 165gr of another make on the bench at the same time. Game Kings. For some reason, I weighed a sample of loaded rounds from each box. The Woods averaged 400gr, the Game Kings 372gr. xxx@#**^^%. I weighed the brass from each box, the Woods loaded in OSA brass and the GK's in Winchester brass. It was a rough weigh-in, but it made me sit up and take notice. Someone said that Win brass is lighter, Yes it is.Lots!
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Re: top 5 best brass for reloading

Post by Wyliecoyote » 09 Oct 2020, 8:13 pm

TassieTiger wrote:6 months ago, I bought some Winchester 300 wm brass from a vic gun shop.
20 out of the 50 cases were very poor - neck concentricity, damaged bodies, Etc.
I took photos and sent to shop - who said, they were Very disappointed.
Later that day - the shop rang and said he’d had to go into 4 different new bags(50 per bag) to find 25 cases that he would consider “good”. He said he was putting aside the remainder of 300 Winchester cases to return and wouldn’t be buying again....


Some time back a young fellow was chasing 300 WM brass on another forum. I replied saying i had RWS weight batched cases in bags of a 100 count that i had imported from the US for a BR rifle i was using at the time. I even offered some long discontinued Lapua cases i had at a reasonable price. He went on to buy Win brass at roughly the same price i was offering the RWS brass for. Don't know the outcome there but 50 cases i prepped for one match barrel saw the barrel die at 2500 rounds using the same 50 cases through the entirety. They were annealed twice. So that is 50 reloads on RWS cases at $2 each. I can never understand the way some shooters think.

Winchester and Remington cases, unless from the white box or green and orange box days are not worth the packaging they come in. RWS and Lapua cases if cared for properly and annealed in later life will often outlive the barrels they're shot in.
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