Hornady 308 brass

[Longone1]

OK, let's try this. Has anyone used this brand of brass for reloading? Do you feel this is good brass for reloading?

Longone

 

[Longone1]

Post reworded.

Longone

 

[SmokinJoe]

I have been using it with good success in my factory 308's. Most of mine is "Hornady Match" brass from fired A-Max ammo. Note that primer pockets are crimped on some, if not all, of this line. It weight sorts well & targets are as good as anything else I'm using right now (Fed, W-W & LC Match).

 

[Longone1]

Thanks for the reply Joe, what weight is this brass?

Longone

 

[broncman]

I have always heard that hornady brass is manufactured by winchester. The neck dimensions and thickness of my hornady brass match the winchester I have.

 

[SmokinJoe]

I would have to check to be more precise, but I'm thinking it ran in the 160's - 170's.

 

[mac86951]

I'm about to try some too, I know their 6.5CM brass is very good, so I'm diving in for 308. I'll be prepping my brass in the coming days I'll post any oddities I find.

-Mac

 

[SmokinJoe]

I checked weight when I was in my shop last night & they were in the 160's. If you use once fired brass, don't forget the possibility of crimped primer pockets. I loaded 20 last night & used my recently acquired Fed 210 primers, and they were almost too tight, so you might consider another primer for the 1st few firings if you have more than one that works, YMMV.

 

[memilanuk]

Speaking of primer pockets... how do these hold up in the long run?

Coming from the 6.5 Creedmoor realm, which was my first real run-in with reloading Hornady brass, I was less than impressed. Running loads that were certainly less than 'hot', probably not even really 'warm' - roughly equivalent to the 'recipe' on the back of the box... and I had loose primer pockets within 2-3 firings. By 4 they wouldn't even hold a primer. Another batch is better (so far) but still a long ways off from what I was expecting.

Some of the Hornady factory loads I've encountered in the past (.338LM) were more than a little hot, also with relatively soft brass... makes me wonder, if these factory match .308 cases have crimped in primers... is that just to keep them from backing out long enough for one good stout firing...?

 

[Longone1]

I was wondering the same thing (crimped PP) Winchester had(s) commercial 223 ammo that the PP are crimped. Generally speaking the primer is loose after the first firing, so in the scrap bucket they go.

 

[SmokinJoe]

I have loaded some of these 3 or 4 times now, and as noted above, primer pockets are still tight enough to make seating Federals almost too tight, meaning it takes enough pressure that I'm afraid of deforming/damaging the primer. I will probably load these with WLR plated primers from now on until the pockets loosen up a bit. I'm not shooting wussy loads, either, running 150BT bullets at or above 3,000 fps in my 308.

 

[Longone1]

Are the pockets factory crimped? If so, were they swaged to allow the crimp to be pushed back?

Longone

 

[SmokinJoe]

I have removed some with a Wilson chamfer tool, but got a Dillon primer pocket swager & use it now. I can't tell any difference in one method versus the other, but swager is easier.