Your case to reload with and why?

[Howa]

I checked a variety of my once fired cases a few days ago and was surprised to see the variation in weight.

The heaviest was FC and RWS, followed by Winchester ,Norma and then Lapua
Surprised? I was , I thought that Lapua would be one of the heaviest.

What other factors apart from what weight of brass you start off with a new case do you look for?
Or is that any of the makes of cases will do the job?
Are there any you would not use?
Do the case measurement factors tolerances etc come into play?

Would be interesting to read your replies and comments.

 

[HandB]

I am a big fan of cheap brass with minimal prep. I use PPU (neck sized only) for my .222 and 757 and I use GGG NATO brass (full length sized) for my .308 rifles. I wipe off soot etc and have a case trimmer but have never needed to use it. All produce consistency/accuracy better than I can shoot and are all between five and ten loadings per case. Ages ago I actually got some new Lapua brass for the .222 and .308s but I have never got round to using it.

 

[bogtrotter]

Being a tight Scot I have never bought cases in thirty plus years of reloading I have always bee. able to get once firer brass from clients and friends who don't reload.

I will reload whatever I can get makes no difference for stalking possibly might for long range target shooting but
certainly not for stalking.

 

[User00040]

The heaviest was FC and RWS, followed by Winchester ,Norma and then Lapua
Surprised? I was , I thought that Lapua would be one of the heaviest.

If you have a think about it, the external dimensions of the cases should be very close as they are the same chambering (what is it?).

So a heavier case means thicker brass, hence less internal volume.

The same charge in a case of lower volume is going to produce more pressure, but conversely you can sometimes get the same muzzle velocity with less powder in a lower volume case.

What other factors apart from what weight of brass you start off with a new case do you look for?

1. How hard/soft is the brass. Not universal that you want really hard or really soft brass, it depends on application.

My .223 has quite a tight chamber, and I use a Lee Loader for it. Get away with using Norma .223 which sizes and seats bullets nicely. Very accurate!

On my .270, I run some very close to the limit loads with Barnes 110 TTSX (not recommended). So much so that during development I was waiting for the hottest possible day (about 26 degrees) in the area just to ensure my loads were not dangerous. Got some 'clickers' when extracting, ejector swipe marks and brass flow into the ejector (not good!)

Decided to change from the Winchester brass I was using to some Norma I had, problem solved. Admittedly I think the case capacity was a little higher in the Norma (hence lower pressure) but the case seemed to be springing back a little better and the primer pockets took multiple firings, whereas the Winchester was getting loose at two and toast at three.

2. How long do the primer pockets last (see above).

3. How much good brass can I get for cheap (or free!).

Brass prices have risen exponentially. Lapua .223 cases were under £60 a few years ago, now over £70!... *WARNING!* Steep price hike on brass!

I am coming from the standpoint of a lazy reloader. I hate reloading but like accuracy, don't like wasting time at a loading bench or shooting loads over a chrono. You'll see a lot of comments about neck turning, primer pocket uniforming, neck mandrels and other minutiae, but I would challenge those who do this with their stalking ammo to do a blind comparison in accuracy with cases which had just been de-primed and full length sized (essentially one step).

 

[Namman]

I checked a variety of my once fired cases a few days ago and was surprised to see the variation in weight.

The heaviest was FC and RWS, followed by Winchester ,Norma and then Lapua
Surprised? I was , I thought that Lapua would be one of the heaviest.

What other factors apart from what weight of brass you start off with a new case do you look for?
Or is that any of the makes of cases will do the job?
Are there any you would not use?
Do the case measurement factors tolerances etc come into play?

Would be interesting to read your replies and comments.

This is exactly why you should separate different brands of brass. Internal volumes do vary and that is why if you change any components in a load you need to work up again.
I use any make of brass in all my calibres (40 years) and have not found any significant reasons as to why one brand is better than the next. I can hear users of Lapua brass protesting at this, but to be honest I have seen more issues with Lapua than any other make. Use what you can get hold of !!

 

[Foxyboy43]

I am a big fan of cheap brass with minimal prep. I use PPU (neck sized only) for my .222 and 757 and I use GGG NATO brass (full length sized) for my .308 rifles. I wipe off soot etc and have a case trimmer but have never needed to use it. All produce consistency/accuracy better than I can shoot and are all between five and ten loadings per case. Ages ago I actually got some new Lapua brass for the .222 and .308s but I have never got round to using it.

If you have never had to trim your cases after “5-10 loadings” you must be using a very light powder charge, my friend!

 

[HandB]

If you have never had to trim your cases after “5-10 loadings” you must be using a very light powder charge, my friend!

Yes I use mild powder charges with the 308 (180gr Sierra Matchkings with 40.3gr RS52). The .222 and 7x57 are hot but I only have one rifle in each calibre so only neck size which for some reason doesn't make the cases grow.

 

[rem708cdl]

I reload to get the performance that I want and get the satisfaction of shooting them . If you worry about all the prep that goes in just buy ammo
colin

 

[Border]

I use Norma, Lapua and Remington brass.
I can get cheap Norma ammo at the range or free 1x fired brass. Lapua in 6BR and Remington in 17 Remington.

 

[User00044]

For long range stuff , I'm sticking with Lapua . For the time being at least .

I'm presently trying Starline in the 223 , 200 cases for less than the price of 100 Lapua . Initially the necks were a little hard and I was getting inconsistent seating plus a witness mark from the seating stem . Easily sorted out by annealing .
Initial load development is very promising . Starline could be the way forward .

I shall endeavour to do more testing .

 

[Brno2e]

Norma from choice. Sako and PPU.
Failing that anything in these uncertain times.
The constant is powder primers and projectiles.

 

[aquarius11]

Lapua for the 308 presision target, Thompson for the 6.5 creed, bin diving at Bisley gets me once shot ggg 308 for anything else (full-length re size)

 

[Gil89]

I am a big fan of cheap brass with minimal prep. I use PPU (neck sized only) for my .222 and 757 and I use GGG NATO brass (full length sized) for my .308 rifles. I wipe off soot etc and have a case trimmer but have never needed to use it. All produce consistency/accuracy better than I can shoot and are all between five and ten loadings per case. Ages ago I actually got some new Lapua brass for the .222 and .308s but I have never got round to using it.

I’m a big fan of ppu brass. I have tried the more expensive brass such as lapua and ppu is just as good

 

[paul o']

.270 PPU cheap and very good for the price and I won't cry if I can't find it when dropped in the long grass lol . 6.5cm Lap LP as i found x 300 cheap otherwise it would have been Starline LP .

 

[MarinePMI]

Believe it or not, someone (Brian Litz) already conducted a study of weighing brass for consistency.

BLUF: It's a waste of time.

An interesting find of the study was that the greatest variation in weight had nothing to do with case wall thickness. Believe it or not, the greatest variation came from the cut extractor slot in the case rim. It varies a LOT in mass produced cases.

Your variation in charge weight (most scales are not as accurate as people think) and primer seating (inconsistent ignition) have a far greater impact on consistency of ammunition (ES/SD) than the consistency of wall thickness (i.e. volumetric consistency) in the case.

 

[MarinePMI]

To add to my previous comment:

The selection of your brass is usually a personal one based on:

1. Cost that can be justified (in the reloaders mind) of the cases themselves. Some people are happy with 50 or 100 cases, and they will last them years in a hunting rifle. Others may compete in "lost brass" matches, and so cost comes into play when you know you'll be losing cases.

2. The number of times they want to reload the case (some cases just last longer due to the variety of brass sheet stock the manufacturer uses). "Brass" can come in a large array of percentages of copper, zinc and additives, that give one brass type higher durability, while another variety may give better malleability during the forming phase of manufacture. It's always a trade off.

3. The variation in lot to lot performance of one brand over another. Lapua has incredible consistency from lot to lot, but is pricey. Hornady (i.e. Frontier) has greater variation from lot to lot, but is cheap enough (and available enough) to buy 1000 cases at one time from the same lot. If you're curious, go look at the AMP annealer website, and peruse the makes of brass by lot numbers of a particular cartridge, for annealing settings. You can quickly and easily see which brands have very consistent lot to lot variation (induction annealing settings are usually affected by neck wall thickness and material (stock) differences in the brass itself).

4. The pressure that the case is being run. Some cases (like Lake City) are extremely thick (especially in the case head), and are better suited to semi-auto/auto firearms, where action timing can have some cases still expanding as they are extracted (which means that thick case head gives a measure of insurance against case head failure upon extraction). They can be very difficult to resize though, if fired in a bloated or out-of-round/wallowed chamber (or an out of time semi-auto/auto action).

5. How much prep work you are comfortable with performing on virgin brass. Lapua cases (and I believe Norma) have the flash holes that are drilled. So as a result, there is no need to uniform flash holes. Unlike the punched flash holes in many US brass, that can sometimes require trimming/deburring the flashing (for lack of a better term) around the flash holes for more uniform ignition of the powder column. This falls into the "how anal do you want to be about your brass" category.

There are other reasons, which I'm sure others will add, but these are some of the ones I can think of, just off the top of my head.

JMTCW...

 

[flyfifer]

Just buy lapua

 

[antsa]

Just buy lapua

.....and neck size only.

Cheers

 

[JockStalk]

.....and neck size only.

Cheers

Norma too....

 

[dropmdead]

Depending on cartridge, I choose lapua first and Norma second.
I treat one set of cases to each rifle, but case prepare them all to the same standard as my competition rifle that are shot to 1,000 yards and beyond.
Otherwise, use factory ammo...