Thread: preferred brass brands

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

From your comments Oli1102 am I to think that some brands actually produce better accuracy than others as well as the better reload life that quality brass has ???

Yeah some brands use harder brass or are manufactured thicker than others. For example Federal because of its softer nature will usually have loose primer pockets with moderate loads within 5 loads or so. Where as Lapua you might be looking at more like 15 or so (limited by cracked necks rather than primer pockets) and can go even longer if annealled.

Some brands are more consistent than others. Internal volume is really the only consistency that matters and you can’t change (some use weight to gauge that consistency, as if outside dimensions are the same and they are heavier then they must be thicker... therefore less internal volume and different pressures). For example Winchester seem to be a good budget brass as far as internal volume consistency. But new out of the packet the case lengths, headspace etc are all over the place and they will likely have burred flash holes (quality control and simplified processes makes it cheaper). But with some work, sizing them all consistently, trimming and deburring flash holes you now have some pretty good and consistent brass... it just takes some work to get there. Norma and Lapua are more consistent out of the box and ready to just load... but you pay for it.

Amateur poll

Lapua!

Originally Posted by Oli1102

Yeah some brands use harder brass or are manufactured thicker than others. For example Federal because of its softer nature will usually have loose primer pockets with moderate loads within 5 loads or so. Where as Lapua you might be looking at more like 15 or so (limited by cracked necks rather than primer pockets) and can go even longer if annealled.

Some brands are more consistent than others. Internal volume is really the only consistency that matters and you can’t change (some use weight to gauge that consistency, as if outside dimensions are the same and they are heavier then they must be thicker... therefore less internal volume and different pressures). For example Winchester seem to be a good budget brass as far as internal volume consistency. But new out of the packet the case lengths, headspace etc are all over the place and they will likely have burred flash holes (quality control and simplified processes makes it cheaper). But with some work, sizing them all consistently, trimming and deburring flash holes you now have some pretty good and consistent brass... it just takes some work to get there. Norma and Lapua are more consistent out of the box and ready to just load... but you pay for it.

Ok so does this mean that for general hunting we can mix brass but need to adjust powder load according to internal capacity, as an example my 2506 AI shoots 3200fps with Winny brass and the same load gives 3250 with Rem ??

I use Lapua in my Tikka 6.5x55 and Norma or Hornady in my other three 6.5’s. Also found that S&B had some neck tension issues, so have put that to one side.

Originally Posted by Gibo

Amateur poll

Lapua!

Yep, I'll admit to being amateur - both to reloading, and to this forum. See earlier post re. trying to edit the poll to include Lapua, and why it wasn't in the mix in the first place.

Originally Posted by mopheadrob

Yep, I'll admit to being amateur - both to reloading, and to this forum. See earlier post re. trying to edit the poll to include Lapua, and why it wasn't in the mix in the first place.

Its all good mate. Nothing i say in here is meant to offend you, was just a wee raz up

Originally Posted by ChrisW

My preferred brass is not necessarily the best brass.
I mostly use Federal or Hornady due to reasonable price, being readily available, and being good enough for what I do. I place a heavy emphasis on being readily available. When all's said and done I mostly load with federal brass.

I do have Lapua and Norma which I would agree are arguably the best, but I only have that because Federal/Hornady brass is not readily available in some of the more obscure calibers. (7.5x55 swiss for example).

There should be a new contender for the best brass soon. Sako ammo is not far off hitting NZ. Im interested to see how that does. Supposedly the brass is good for more reloads than other other brand.

Who makes Sako brass @ChrisW? Probably Lapua!

In the forest service days the main 222 Rem ammo we used was Sako 50 gr and it worked well, the brass was good to reload as well.

I think you need to flesh out the something else options, a lot of responses in there. Mine is starline

Originally Posted by Flyblown

Who makes Sako brass @ChrisW? Probably Lapua!

Sako makes it

I have Lapua for 243win and 6.5cm, Norma fir 300wsm. I've good things about Peterson brass, but havent tried it.
Both premium brand but if you're looking the most consistent/best brass. I'd Lapua every time
My 2c

Originally Posted by ChrisW

Sako makes it

https://sakocollectors.com/forum/thr...unition.14437/
Plug for Sako brass/ammo.

My first dealings with Sako brass was over 50 years ago when I bought my 308 Sako Forester. The dealer gave me a 10 round packet of Sako factory ammo.
In those days the government protected CAC who were still in operation and no other brands of factory ammo were available in NZ. The 10 rounds of Sako hardly gave me enough to set up handloading so I bought 100 Norma Re cases which were available. So, I have no recollection of that original Sako stuff in terms of quality, durability.

Recently had a lot of old Sako factory 22 Hornet given to me. Still to fire it.

The Norma Re stuff was very very good. I would hazard to say that the Norma 7.5 Swiss cases I am currently using is not as good as the old stuff - weight consistancy not as good.

Other experience is Norma 6.5/284 brass necked up to 284. Primer pockets gone west typically after as few as 3 firings. No such problem with necked up Lapua.

Have also brought in 100 cases of straight Norma 284W to try. It was a special run into the States. Specifically designed with stronger base plus a few other features. Have still to try it. It measures up as excellent and so it should given the cost.

The guys who make the AMP annealing machine say that Norma, Peterson and Lapua, in no particular order, are the best brass they've tested. They know a lot about brass.

Originally Posted by zimmer

https://sakocollectors.com/forum/thr...unition.14437/
Plug for Sako brass/ammo.

My first dealings with Sako brass was over 50 years ago when I bought my 308 Sako Forester. The dealer gave me a 10 round packet of Sako factory ammo.
In those days the government protected CAC who were still in operation and no other brands of factory ammo were available in NZ. The 10 rounds of Sako hardly gave me enough to set up handloading so I bought 100 Norma Re cases which were available. So, I have no recollection of that original Sako stuff in terms of quality, durability.

I bought a couple of packets of .243 Sako Hammerhead 90gr (orange, white and black box) from Sportsway's in Fort Street, Auckland in 1974. It was good ammo and shot really well in my Steyr Mannlicher - dropped those Urewera reds without any issues. I had only starting reloading back then and can't say whether it was top brass or not as I didn't know too much about the subject.

I reload for a few rifles, and the answer for me is "It depends."

For the 223 I use for small game/pest control it is what is plentiful and cheap. For this I use the brass from the Hornady Training ammo.

For the 243's I follow a similar line and use some PMC I picked up cheap from someone that used a heap of factory ammo but didn't reload. Seems reasonably good.

For the 7mmRM's factory ammo was too expensive so I bought new Norma brass because it has a reasonable reputation, readily available and was 'on-special'.

Yeas, I'm a cheap bugger!