Hornady brass, any good?

[long40shot]

I'm going to need a new batch of 22-250 brass soon. But, it looks like Hornady may be my only viable option. Is it fairly consistent? How's it do on life span?

Thanks
Matt

 

[hogpatrol]

 

[Sniper338]

Nope... lapua brass will last waaayyy wayy longer. Winchester brass would need good prep but ive had it shoot really well before inca 22 250. Only use lapua now though.

 

[hogpatrol]

I'm going to need a new batch of 22-250 brass soon. But, it looks like Hornady may be my only viable option. Is it fairly consistent? How's it do on life span?

Thanks
Matt

http://patsreloading.com/patsrel/prices.aspx?category=Brass

 

[Tokimini]

Hornady brass work hardens very quickly. Use it as a last resort.

 

[MagnumManiac]

I have some Hornady and some Frontier, the Frontier seems better quality than the Hornady I have.
I anneal every firing, so, the work hardening isn't an issue for me.

Sorry to hijack the thread.
I have a question about Lapua 22-250 brass, does it have small rifle primer hole or large rifle primer holes?

Thanks.
Cheers.

 

[Pistolwhip]

I'm going to need a new batch of 22-250 brass soon. But, it looks like Hornady may be my only viable option. Is it fairly consistent? How's it do on life span?

Thanks
Matt

My recent experience with Hornady brass was very disappointing. Hornady advertiseson their website:

"Consistent Weight and Capacity
Every single Hornady case, regardless of the lot in which it was produced, is virtually identical to other Hornady cases in the same caliber. For you, this means consistent pressures, velocity and accuracy — every time."

This is nothing but a lie fabricated by Hornady's marketing department. Hornady only guarantees their brass to meet SAAMI specification. Hornady quoted me for the 17 hornet that means 11.25 gr variance in the weight of the 50.6 grain case. If you go a step further the cases can hold anywhere from 12.5 gr of water down to 11.4 grains of water. That is a greater variance than the difference between a 30-06 and a 300WSM. How many of you would use 300WSM load data in you M1 Garand?

I have found that Hornady makes two weights of 17 hornet cases and I have found both weights in the same lot of loaded ammunition. 80% of my 450 cases weigh 50.6 gr give or take a couple tenths, the remaining 20% weigh 56.4 gr. again give or take a couple of tenths. (A classic bimodal distribution). Needless to say if you work up a max load with the light cases and then touch off the same load with a case with 5% less case capacity you could very well have a blown primer.

What is worse than Hornady's lack of Quality Control, is their refusal to meet their promise. The official Hornady position (told to me by one of the engineering managers) is "virtually identical" and "consistent weight" means it meets SAAMI specifications (+ or - 10%).

This problem is on top of the many of us who have had problems seating primers in extremely tight primer pockets.

Hornady cases (and possibly everything else they make) are junk and now I am stuck with $225 of scrap brass.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

It's decent. Dimensions are fairly consistent. I would put it above Remington, but below Winchester and Norma with Lapua being the best. I grudgingly have to use it in my 338-375 Ruger because Hornady is the only manufacturer that makes 375 Ruger brass to my knowledge, but it gets the job done. Well I suppose Nosler started brass for the 375R too, but it's just a hunting rifle and I'm not pushing pressures hard so Hornady will work. Anyhow, that's off subject.

For the price of Hornady brass, I would just look for some once fired pieces of Winchester 22-250 brass on gunbroker. If you prep Winchester properly, it's actually really good brass and the primer pockets will last a long time.

 

[MrBottleneck]

I prefer Win. brass more. To me they are more consistent in weight and the primer pockets tend to last longer.
Although, the last bag of Win. brass (50) I bought sure had too many slightly bent neck mouths. That may be the shipper or retailers fault so, I am not blaming Winchester.
I wish they would box it though for sure. Even just a hard cardboard box would do and still keep the price down.

 

[P72]

I use once-fired Winchester .22-.250 brass that is sized, trimmed and neck turned. I also use Serbian PPU brass (cheap) with no problems. PPU makes all kinds of munitions like armor piercing tank rounds and 20mm and bigger stuff. PPU also makes 7mmX57 brass that I form into 6mm AI. I bought a box of Hornady 6mm Rem brass but have not done anything with it. I don't have access to some type of device (spectrometer) to analyze the brass content but most cartridge brass should be 70% copper and 30% zinc and should work harden at the same rate. Possibly the Hornady brass in question that appeared to work harden faster never had adequately annealed necks to start with.

The only Hornady brass that I have used is .204 Ruger and I use a Forster .204 R F/L die with a .226 neck. Many firings with minimum neck work hardening.

Buying brass in plastic bags is no problem for me. I can easily see what is inside the bag and if time permits count it looking for bags having more than 50 or 100. Dinged up case mouths usually can be rounded out easily but occasionally the mouths are so squashed down they cannot be opened up.

 

[Grimstod]

Second worse brand of brass on the market. If i find it at the rang I put it in the trash can to save other people the trouble.

 

[hogpatrol]

Second worse brand of brass on the market. If i find it at the rang I put it in the trash can to save other people the trouble.

Agree. Just comparing notes, what's your worst? I'm partial to Federal.

 

[Grimstod]

Remington is probably the worst. I have not experianced federal enpugh to say.

 

[hogpatrol]

Remington is probably the worst. I have not experianced federal enpugh to say.

Yeah, probably a tie between those two. I do use Remington .17 Fireball and it's not the greatest. With my practical, I use .223 Remington range brass so I can afford to scrap can it after one or two uses.

 

[Pistolwhip]

Remington is probably the worst. I have not experianced federal enpugh to say.

The other thing Hornady told me is they make the 17 hornet brass for the other ammo manufacturers. So if I buy Winchester brass I am only getting Hornady brass with a different head stamp. More than likely the 375 Ruger brass from Nosler is re-stamped Hornady cases, sorry lead slinger.

 

[hogpatrol]

The other thing Hornady told me is they make the 17 hornet brass for the other ammo manufacturers. So if I buy Winchester brass I am only getting Hornady brass with a different head stamp. More than likely the 375 Ruger brass from Nosler is re-stamped Hornady cases, sorry lead slinger.

That may be true for that caliber because it's a round that Hornady commercialized but do you have anything to substantiate your "more than likely"?

 

[RonAKA]

It seems strange that so many are winning in PRS shooting with Hornady brass, when it is claimed to be so bad...

 

[hogpatrol]

It seems strange that so many are winning in PRS shooting with Hornady brass, when it is claimed to be so bad...

Are they getting the brass free? Are they a sponsor? Isn't this a professional sport? The cynic in me has doubts about the veracity of the use of Hornady brass in a professional venue. From this chair, Hornady is down near the bottom of the barrel for consistency. YMMV.

 

[SheepDog]

Well, being the most popular doesn't mean it's the best but remember that these shooters routinely weigh, form and equalize everything to do with brass. I would be willing to say that none of them use the brass as it comes from the maker. While not my favorite I will use it.

 

[K22]

My experience with Hornady new unfired brass has been positive. Granted I've only purchased and loaded two bags of 50 rounds each in 223 Rem. First, none of the cases contained any defects. Every bag of Winchester brass I ever purchased had at least 3 to 5% defective cases, the 22 250 being the worst i.e. cold laps in the shoulder and split necks. Secondly, I full size all new cases anyway but I was surprised to find that the Hornady case had to be full sized to chamber.

I've got 12 reloads through this lot and so far there has been no problems. Remington and Winchester brass is very hard to find in the local shops in my area so that's why I purchased Hornady.