Hornady Brass

[Eraser]

I have just purchased some Hornady in .223 that I'm going to shoot in FTR. Hornady is claiming the brass is consistent in ever way.
So I took 10 pieces (I know, not a big enough sample) and weighed them and measured the neck thickness. The weight averaged 89.48/ES 0.9, and the necks, which I did not average are running .012 to .0125. I think this outstanding.
Thoughts?

 

[Murray Brook]

I've read some posts in the past stating that Hornady was very poor brass. I've used it in my 25/06 and 22/250 and that most certainly was not the case. I've gotten north of 20 firing on most cases with tight primer pockets. They certainly have to be prepped, but I found them to be very good. JMO

 

[Rdlningcltchdmpr]

I have just purchased some Hornady in .223 that I'm going to shoot in FTR. Hornady is claiming the brass is consistent in ever way.
So I took 10 pieces (I know, not a big enough sample) and weighed them and measured the neck thickness. The weight averaged 89.48/ES 0.9, and the necks, which I did not average are running .012 to .0125. I think this outstanding.
Thoughts?

I had to return 100 pcs of hornady 6.5 swede. Because of primer pocket variation. They gave me a bunch of gobbly gook bla, bla. About how they have quality control. I might give them another try in 30-40 years.

 

[Bill K]

I use Hornady brass, along with other brands and have had no issues with their brass. I guess it is all in how you handle, load and prep it, as it is with any brand of brass.

 

[hillbillydruggist]

I have just purchased some Hornady in .223 that I'm going to shoot in FTR. Hornady is claiming the brass is consistent in ever way.
So I took 10 pieces (I know, not a big enough sample) and weighed them and measured the neck thickness. The weight averaged 89.48/ES 0.9, and the necks, which I did not average are running .012 to .0125. I think this outstanding.
Thoughts?

Take alook at my 6mm Creedmoor stress thread

 

[IdahoSharpshooter]

I bought once-fired Hornady 308 Win Match brass from a gentleman who only shot factory ammunition in his rifle. It shot a little better than moa in my AR-10 out to 500M. It shot under .5moa in my 700 Varmint Special in a stock rifle in a MagPul hunter stock after bedding it, also out to 500M.
I like that.

 

[Homerange]

Been using Hornady once fired range brass in a 223 for years, same brass dunno how many firings and only ever Lee LCD sized. Never annealed and the stuff just keeps trucking along. Basic case prep, only flash hole chamfered and the occasional trim. Not pushed hard.
Some more recent 243 brass is looking similarly good, also not pushed hard.

 

[dolek]

Hornady has worked fine for me , I use it in 30-06,.308 , and.223 ...never a problem .If it's prepped well and used with sane loads it will last a good long time.

 

[Texas10]

I suspect that Hornaday doesn't actually make their own brass, preferring to contract that job to outside vendors. If so, it's quite likely that quality varies from time to time according to which low cost vendor manufactures it. Therefore what someone experiences years, or even months ago may or may not be a good indication of what you might experience today with your particular cartridge brass.

Case in point is the reputation Federal has for making "soft" brass that will not withstand more than a couple cycles of hand loading. Federal deliberately uses "soft" brass for their FGGM .308 ammo, preferring it for the consistency it produces on the target.

Some will use this fact to "peanut butter" label all Federal Brass as soft, when in fact many of their other cases are quite hard and able to withstand dozens of hand load cycles. Their 223 cases are a good example of this.

I've got about 1000 Hornaday 6.5 CM once fired cases from factory ammo that I'm using for hand loads. I've seen no issue with primer pockets so far, and don't anticipate any as i've used it for several years. However I do anneal the necks from time to time.

One other fact often overlooked is that the SAAMI specifications for primer pockets and primers cups overlap to produce possible loose primers at the initial load stage. If you find your primers are inserting a bit too easily, try a different primer, or even a different lot of the same primer. Production dies do wear out, and the decision to change them may have more to do with costs and availability than quality.

 

[T-shooter]

I've had really good and pretty bad. I bought a couple hundred for a .308 (all from the same lot) and found out that they were as much as 7% larger inside than my other Hornady brass. And that'd not the worst thing. The necks were not centered with the body. I had to anneal all of them and resize to get the necks closer. They were .007 to .010 runout even after turning. Annealing got them back to .002 to .004. Some of the necks still were out too far and I annealed them again with no benefit. So I gave about half of them away to a friend.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

Couple years ago I purchased several hundred Hornady 204r brass, easy to work up .5 moa load for my TC Dimension barrel. PD hated that load. Brass has reloaded well, hoping to run next summer again.

 

[K22]

I'm on my third lot of Hornady 223 Rem brass - I can find no fault with it - completely satisfied - bolt rifle - precision varmint and predator hunting.

 

[Burnt Powder]

I suspect that Hornaday doesn't actually make their own brass, preferring to contract that job to outside vendors. If so, it's quite likely that quality varies from time to time according to which low cost vendor manufactures it. Therefore what someone experiences years, or even months ago may or may not be a good indication of what you might experience today with your particular cartridge brass.

Case in point is the reputation Federal has for making "soft" brass that will not withstand more than a couple cycles of hand loading. Federal deliberately uses "soft" brass for their FGGM .308 ammo, preferring it for the consistency it produces on the target.

Some will use this fact to "peanut butter" label all Federal Brass as soft, when in fact many of their other cases are quite hard and able to withstand dozens of hand load cycles. Their 223 cases are a good example of this.

I've got about 1000 Hornaday 6.5 CM once fired cases from factory ammo that I'm using for hand loads. I've seen no issue with primer pockets so far, and don't anticipate any as i've used it for several years. However I do anneal the necks from time to time.

One other fact often overlooked is that the SAAMI specifications for primer pockets and primers cups overlap to produce possible loose primers at the initial load stage. If you find your primers are inserting a bit too easily, try a different primer, or even a different lot of the same primer. Production dies do wear out, and the decision to change them may have more to do with costs and availability than quality.

In years past Hornady did indeed outsource their brass. It was both Frontier and Hornady headstamp. It was both Federal and Winchester manufactured brass. I used to have a paper barrel that I got from Hornady that Federal manufactured 243 brass was shipped in. I asked the guy who filled it with H-4831 for me about it and he said; “Yes, it’s Federal brass, we get brass from Winchester too.” That was in ‘73. Today they do make brass themselves, all of it? I can only tell you what I’ve been told second hand from a couple people that work at Hornady. Yes, they make all their own brass, have for many years! Hornady says they make their own brass too. I’ve had both good and poor Hornady brass.
You be the judge!

 

[Bluetip]

To say that the brass they make now, is I diamond in the rough, is a little of a overstatement, but I just bought a box of 7-08 brass, that after fully going through it, cutting pockets, deburring flash holes, trim and chamfer, it sometimes rivals premium brass. The necks sometimes feel a little mushy, but fairly consistent. I'm not a total fan, but it's not the worst I've shot.

 

[vegas]

I’ve had one split neck with 7mm RM but other than that, they have been very consistent and have helped record the smallest groups of any of my precision calibers and guns. That said, I know the 6.5 stuff my friend used was garbage and he ended up trashing 200 cases because of inconsistency. Seems like it’s a by caliber basis for good and bad.