How is Nosler brass?

[Exocet]

Looking at some Nosler brass for my .280 Remington.

Description says weight sorted, chamfered, and flash holes deburred. If they are deburred, they are probably punched, not drilled like Lapua and Norma. I deburr all my factory Win and Rem brass now so that's not a deal breaker.

Does Nosler make it themselves? Or, do they outsource it?

Any comments on Nosler brass from those that have used it? Longevity, quality, etc?

 

[jonbearman]

It is ok brass for sure. I only had trouble with one lot it seems in 260 rem so I think you will do fine with it.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Supposedly it's made by Norma then prepped and weight sorted by Nosler with their own personal headstamp. It's pretty good, but I bought two boxes of 300 Win Mag Nosler brass and one of the boxes varied in weight worse than cheapo un-prepped Remington brass. The other box was pretty consistent. Called Nosler and explained the issue. They had me give them the QC number for the inspector and shipped me new brass. The new box of brass arrived and it was as consistent as the other good box, but all the brass was about 7 or 8 grains lighter than the other good batch. So now I had two boxes with consistent weight, but the weights were different. In the end, it never made my load shoot any better than my prepped Federal brass. Bought Winchester brass for it later on and the same load actually tightened up. Winchester seemed to have tougher primer pockets as well. Needless to say, I never bought Nosler brass again...

 

[rcol317]

I have shot Nosler brass for years and alway have found it is more consistent than most, maybe Lapua is better but don't know. I've shot Nosler in my 280 AI because of the head stamp and it's far superior brass to Remington. I was told by Nosler rep @ SCI show that that all their brass is made by Norma and I've always had good experience with Norma, still shooting Norma brass in my 6.5X55's that I bought in the mid 60's and early 70's. I just started loading a box of Norma brass the sticker showed I bought it in 1968, annealed it before I shot it and it's working very well. While Nosler is proud of their product and you pay a higher price I'd say it's worth the extra expense up front.

 

[amlevin]

I must have received the ONLY BOX that Nosler has made with problems. I decided to see what the big deal was with brass that sold for $1 per case (.308) so I picked up a box of 50.


Yes the pieces were nice and pretty. Yes, they all weighed close to the same. Yes, they were "ready to load" as compared to Winchester of Remington brass.


Unfortunately that's where it ended. ALL of the cases were S-H-O-R-T. Apparently someone wanted to save money in raw materials so the brass all produced @ 1.999" rather than the usual 2.005" for the rest of the brands I usually buy. I also found several pieces of brass in the box that looked like a plumber had chamfered and de-burred the case mouths with his pipe fitting tools. At least three of the cases had edges so sharp and ragged they cut flesh. Somewhere along the way a tool dug in and really "boogered" the case but their vaunted inspection process overlooked this error.


Found that it didn't shoot any better than my Lapua brass which only costs me $0.74 per piece.

No thank you Nosler.

 

[JRS]

I have Nosler 257 Weatherby brass, and have found no difference whatsoever between it, and factory Weatherby brass. Both are of Norma manufacture, with a different head stamp. I have found the same with the Nosler 375 H&H brass.

 

[Brians356]

I've only ever had 223 Rem brass from Nosler, and didn't use it because it was cut very short, in fact .005" shorter than SAAMI Minimum Case Length (and a full .015" shorter than SAAMI Trim-to Length). It may be they only cheat on the length with 223 brass (since it's used predominantly in AR-15s these days) but if you want to seat lightweight bullets near the lands, and you know your chamber's leade is generous, you might want to find out how short they cut their 280 brass. Forewarned is forearmed.

 

[wolley]

I've only used their 308 brass. It is very good or at least the 500pcs I got were.
Is it worth the premium over Lapua? No!

 

[searcher]

I just prepped 800 pieces of Nosler brass for a squirrel rifle (.223) and when turning the necks, weighing, etc., I was very impressed with the uniformity, having just processed several hundred pieces of Lapua for a different rifle. Time will tell on longevity.

 

[a1712]

I ordered 1000 rounds of Nosler .222 Rem. brass. When it arrived it had a Rem. headstamp. I sent it back. Brian.

 

[Brians356]

I ordered 1000 rounds of Nosler .222 Rem. brass. When it arrived it had a Rem. headstamp. I sent it back. Brian.

Seriously? You sent it back, but did you happen to ask Nosler to explain? Tell, please do!

 

[amlevin]

I ordered 1000 rounds of Nosler .222 Rem. brass. When it arrived it had a Rem. headstamp. I sent it back. Brian.

Seriously? You sent it back, but did you happen to ask Nosler to explain? Tell, please do!

He'll get an answer from Nosler about the same time as I get mine when I asked them about the crappy brass I got. Been waiting for a year now with no joy.

 

[chevytruck_83]

Ive only used it in one of my 223 bolt guns. Some of my best groups were shot using it. Ive never measured it against lapua or anything else so i cant say how they satck up in that regard. But on the target there great. At least thats my experience

 

[Brians356]

I ordered 1000 rounds of Nosler .222 Rem. brass. When it arrived it had a Rem. headstamp. I sent it back. Brian.

Seriously? You sent it back, but did you happen to ask Nosler to explain? Tell, please do!

He'll get an answer from Nosler about the same time as I get mine when I asked them about the crappy brass I got. Been waiting for a year now with no joy.

How often do you call Nosler about it?

 

[Ledd Slinger]

As far as quality to cost ratio goes, Lapua is the best brass out there. When a company like Nosler prices their brass as high, or higher, than what you would pay for Lapua brass, it had better be every bit as good if not better...ALL THE TIME. That's my opinion. Your rarely hear anyone talking about how messed up or out of spec their Lapua brass is. I thought maybe my experience with Nosler brass was just a fluke because anyone can mess up. But after reading all the other negative experiences here, it seems to be a half way common problem. So sorry Nosler, you won't be getting any of my business ever again.

I'm know Nosler CAN make top quality brass, but if they can't do it CONSISTENTLY, the price paid isn't worth the gamble. There is virtually no gambling with the quality you'll get from Lapua.

The only thing Nosler has going for them is that they offer cases that Lapua does not produce.

 

[audredger]

I'm using there 6.5 Creedmoor brass and like it as well as my 308 Lapua brass.

 

[Hanbleceya]

As far as quality to cost ratio goes, Lapua is the best brass out there. When a company like Nosler prices their brass as high, or higher, than what you would pay for Lapua brass, it had better be every bit as good if not better...ALL THE TIME. That's my opinion. Your rarely hear anyone talking about how messed up or out of spec their Lapua brass is. I thought maybe my experience with Nosler brass was just a fluke because anyone can mess up. But after reading all the other negative experiences here, it seems to be a half way common problem. So sorry Nosler, you won't be getting any of my business ever again.

I'm know Nosler CAN make top quality brass, but if they can't do it CONSISTENTLY, the price paid isn't worth the gamble. There is virtually no gambling with the quality you'll get from Lapua.

The only thing Nosler has going for them is that they offer cases that Lapua does not produce.

IMHO...they make excellent hunting brass, not bench/competition brass.

 

[hogpatrol]

 

[Steve morgan]

Looking at some Nosler brass for my .280 Remington.

Description says weight sorted, chamfered, and flash holes deburred. If they are deburred, they are probably punched, not drilled like Lapua and Norma. I deburr all my factory Win and Rem brass now so that's not a deal breaker.

Does Nosler make it themselves? Or, do they outsource it?

Any comments on Nosler brass from those that have used it? Longevity, quality, etc?

Norma & Lapua are punched

 

[moondog]

I got some 7SAUM brass from them quite a few years ago. got spanked pretty hard for sure!
It seemed good to go, very uniform, shot well----for 3 loadings. The cases failed at the
body. longitudinal splits below the shoulder almost to the head. I have been told the newer
stuff is better. My Remington brass, although requiring a lot of prep work has been stellar.