Is this normal?

[Lucky6547]

I don't know if I should contact Winchester about this, as it may be the norm...or perhaps it isn't something I should worry about...I have been using Lapua brass for my bolt guns, and ran some through an ar-10...felt like the gas gun was really rough on that pricey brass, so I bought some Winchester brass for it...
I opened a bag of new winchester brass, and found that all have bent and deformed case mouths, some case mouths are visibly not square, half (25 of 51) have primer pockets with dents that seem like they would keep me from seating a primer nicely (these dents are all similar in shape and nature, some being bigger or deeper, but all make the primer pocket out of round)...I'll attach pictures, hopefully they are clear enough...
What would you guys do? Just size it, load it and shoot it so you can fix it later, or try and get some new brass?
Thanks,
Ken

 

[2506]

Case mouth dents are normal and with sizing, which I always do with new cases because the necks are usually too tight if you don't, will fix them. But out of round and dented primer pockets is another thing. I would contact Winchester and demand a replacement. For an AR it would probably be easier and cheaper just to find some once fired cases around some place. It might take Winchester a few years to actually sent you replacement cases. LOL At least in my area most cases and loading stuff seems NOT TO BE MADE ANYMORE.

 

[Canadian bushman]

Ive had lots of win brass with really beat up necks, but those primer pockets worry me.

 

[swampshooter]

It appears that quality control at Winchester is slipping. IMHO you should complain. As long as everybody accepts this crap and doesn't complain about it problems will get worse.

 

[Judd]

I got some recently the necks were so screwed up I had to run an expander through the necks before I could size them. Once fired they all look fine but they looked like some of them were scooped off the floor after the forklift had ran over them ;D

I chaulked it up as being spoiled by Lapua brass and kept working them. I will say it's a lot more work to get Win brass prepped for shooting than it is Lapua. Wait until you see how much brass you are taking out of the primer pockets to uniform them.

All I've got to say is it's a good thing they are cheap...but you definitely get what you pay for.

 

[amlevin]

It appears that quality control at Winchester is slipping. IMHO you should complain. As long as everybody accepts this crap and doesn't complain about it problems will get worse.

People buy Winchester Brass because they don't want to pay for Lapua Brass.

The brass is thinner, more irregular, seems to be just dumped in bags with minimal inspection, and has more than it's share of defects. Winchester brass requires a lot of sorting, prepping, and in some cases just "tossing out" in order to get to the same level of quality the "high priced brass" delivers from the start.

Save money on one end and spend the time on the other. That's the "price" you pay for the lower "price you paid".

 

[CatShooter]

It appears that quality control at Winchester is slipping. IMHO you should complain. As long as everybody accepts this crap and doesn't complain about it problems will get worse.

People buy Winchester Brass because they don't want to pay for Lapua Brass.

[....]

Or maybe they buy Winchester because Lapua doesn't make what they need...

 

[MQ1]

Lucky,

I once discovered that a couple new bags of Winchester brass I purchased had horribly misshaped flash holes...some were double punched in a figure 8 shape, and 80 % were damaged that way.

A quick call to Winchester, and they provided me with gift certificates to cover the cost, and asked that I ship the bad ones back (they provided the packaging and shipping costs were covered).

Your brass looks like it was handled rough after manufacturing...I bet Winchester would still cover it, but it may be easier to run it through your dies first, then shoot it.

MQ1

 

[Lucky6547]

thanks, I'll call winchester.
Ken