Starline 223 Brass

[Chris Shelton]

I have a rem 700 223 that I wanted to dedicate some brass to. I worked up a load with new LC18 brass that shot good in the bolt and more than acceptable in my AR for prairie dogs. Kept me from having two different loads. It’s all once fired now and I didn’t keep the brass separate between bolt and AR (like an idiot). Thought about starting with a clean slate for the bolt and just use the LC for the AR. Any opinions on Starline? Or should I just stick with the LC brass? I have some cabelas points to burn, so I’d have little to no money in 4-500 pieces of brass for the bolt action. Any opinions are much appreciated!

 

[jelenko]

For PD's, I wouldn't worry about it.
I would want to check the headspace in each rifle to ensure I'm sizing the cases right. If the headspace was more than a couple thousandths different, I'd set my dies to accommodate the difference.

 

[Leo_B]

I'm starting from scratch. Other than whatever is in the factory loads that will become my once fired I've only bought Starline. Great CS experience with them while asking new guy questions. They earned my business and respect and will be my only packaged brass purchase ever.

 

[17VLD]

I like the fact that Starline has free shipping and are great to deal with and most often cheaper than Cabelas, but totally understand the points thing. It's almost like free money
While not 223, I absolutely love the last batch of 222 from Starline because the neck thickness is very consistent for domestic brass.
Matt

 

[Chris Shelton]

I like the fact that Starline has free shipping and are great to deal with and most often cheaper than Cabelas, but totally understand the points thing. It's almost like free money
While not 223, I absolutely love the last batch of 222 from Starline because the neck thickness is very consistent for domestic brass.
Matt

The company I work for requires us to use our own cards the do an expense report for reimbursement. I only use it for work and run $40-50k of expenses on it a year. They truly are free in this situation…at least to me lol.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

I have several bolt and AR 223's I keep cycling the same batch of range brass. Sizing to fit a Lyman ammo checker. I shoot prairie dogs with them. One bolt gun has a proven long range load, I still use the same brass size/prep. Just load it different for that rifle. I pull 200 out of the prepped brass bin and load for a trip. Brass ends up mixed again and prepped when most are fired. I'm terrible about organizing brass, gave up after messing up separation a couple times.

 

[JohnHenry]

I like the fact that Starline has free shipping and are great to deal with and most often cheaper than Cabelas, but totally understand the points thing. It's almost like free money
While not 223, I absolutely love the last batch of 222 from Starline because the neck thickness is very consistent for domestic brass.
Matt

What is the neck thickness? Thank you.

 

[243winxb]

Starline makes 223 & 5.56, they different.

I use mixed year LC thats been BR Prepped. Free match brass, except for labor.

new LC18 brass that shot good

Looks like a winner to me. I would keep it separated, between guns.

 

[K22]

Good idea to start with virgin brass, dedicate it to a specific rifle. This is the first step to problem free reloading of bottle neck rifle cartridges.

I would not hesitate to use Starline brass for your applications. As long as you size properly, rotate use, and monitor case length you should not have any problems.

 

[mike mccormick]

The starline 5.56 brass has a harder case head, due to omitting an annealling step in the forming process. That is the only difference between their 223 and 5.56 brass

 

[STOMP442]

Starline brass has been nothing but excellent for me, including the price. Starline has always been very uniform and consistent in my experience. Leaps and bounds better than Hornady at a similar price point.

 

[Paddyd]

Starline is budget brass, but just as good as any other 223 brass, except for Lapua. I use it and have had good luck with it. Especially for the price.

 

[dusterdave173]

Starline is budget brass, but just as good as any other 223 brass, except for Lapua. I use it and have had good luck with it. Especially for the price.

Agreed
Starline is Tough quality brass but....it has lower internal volume than any other I have used--that usually is zero issue and especially for PD loads--but beware it can be a factor

 

[Rick300]

I bought 1400 pieces of Starline 223 to make 20 Vartarg brass about 5 years ago. After 1 or 2 firings I started to have a fair number of them start separating about half way up the case. So I called them and they told me that they haven't had any reports of a failure and to send them pictures, which I did. The customer service guy was very nice and was asking me about the process to form the brass to 20VT. After looking at the pictures he sent me 200 pieces to test. I explained that it would be several months before I could test and he said no problem. So about 6 months later I called him back and told him that there was no issues with the new brass. While keeping me on the phone he got a gal on the call and told her to send me 1200 new brass. I was floored! Their customer service is outstanding. Their brass is very consistent and I wouldn't be afraid to buy more.
I'm not sure what happened to my original lot of 20VT brass but it wasn't every one and the new lot has been flawless.

 

[Leo_B]

Good idea to start with virgin brass, dedicate it to a specific rifle. This is the first step to problem free reloading of bottle neck rifle cartridges.

I would not hesitate to use Starline brass for your applications. As long as you size properly, rotate use, and monitor case length you should not have any problems.

One of the advantages of being poor and a plinker, only one rifle in any given caliber. No mixing up which gun the brass came from or goes back to. Well, except for 22lr's and then it doesn't matter as it's one and done.

 

[topclass2017]

I have used Starline brass in pistols and rifles of various calibers, and have never had any issues. I have bought directly from Starline (free shipping, excellent customer service) and would so again. There are a couple calibers where I use Lapua, Peterson, or Alpha brass, but that is mainly a function of either availability or load data based on that brass when I purchased the rifle.

 

[Dgd6mm]

I have a rem 700 223 that I wanted to dedicate some brass to. I worked up a load with new LC18 brass that shot good in the bolt and more than acceptable in my AR for prairie dogs. Kept me from having two different loads. It’s all once fired now and I didn’t keep the brass separate between bolt and AR (like an idiot). Thought about starting with a clean slate for the bolt and just use the LC for the AR. Any opinions on Starline? Or should I just stick with the LC brass? I have some cabelas points to burn, so I’d have little to no money in 4-500 pieces of brass for the bolt action. Any opinions are much appreciated!

You have a good plan. I shoot LC'18 in one of my .223 pdog rifles and Starline 5.56 in my 600 yard .223 FTR rifle. I prepped the Starline out for Match shooting and I'm able to shoot HM scores with it. Buy the Starline and go for it. Just remember what Dave said, it has lower H20 capacity.

 

[jelenko]

You have a good plan. I shoot LC'18 in one of my .223 pdog rifles and Starline 5.56 in my 600 yard .223 FTR rifle. I prepped the Starline out for Match shooting and I'm able to shoot HM scores with it. Buy the Starline and go for it. Just remember what Dave said, it has lower H20 capacity.

From several different purchases direct from Starline 4-5 years ago, I've found the 223 brass came in two different weights. Some are right at 93 gains while the others are right at 101 grains. The 101 grain cases have a H20 capacity around 30.0; the 93 about 30.65.

ETA. Please note! The 223 Starline brass that I bought was over a couple years in three different purchases - so different lots.
Consistency within each of the different weights was, as far as I can remember, less about 2 grains extreme spread. No idea of SD.

 

[Aaron23]

Any opinions on Starline? Or should I just stick with the LC brass? I have some cabelas points to burn, so I’d have little to no money in 4-500 pieces of brass for the bolt action. Any opinions are much appreciated!

If you got points to burn then go for it!

If you did not have points to burn and wanted to save money on it I would suggest shopping around at places other than starline.

Most recent example for me: Bought 500pcs of new Starline 7.62x39 brass from Ravenrocksprecision.com a little over a week ago for 129.90 total delivered. Bought 500 pieces of the same directly from Starline a month ago for a little over 230 delivered... That’s a 100 dollar difference on identical orders of the same exact stuff!

Example 2: A few years back I got into 460Rowland (special brass that only Starline makes btw). First bit I bought was from Starline directly and guessing I paid around 30cents each for what little I bought. A few months later Midway had that exact brass on ‘get it gone’ Clearance for about a third of what Starline wanted! I laid in DEEP on that stuff from Midway to the point I probably have enough to kill at least 2 barrels and one frame before I wear out all the brass!

Midway does not just run oddball brass on clearance - If you shop their clearance section regularly you will often see fairly common stuff (other kinds of Starline brass for example) go on super sale...

The reason stuff like that is possible is because some vendors / dealers are buying from Starline by the drums (multiple drums for dealer pricing) to get get dealer pricing. Even if they decide to sell at what they call a ‘clearance’ price they are still likely making a little bit of profit over what they paid for it.

I have Starline in 9mm (both brass and nickel plated), .45acp (both brass and nickel plated), 460ROWLAND, and now in 7.62x39. Likely a little over 20k worth of their cases in all.

Pretty sure that out of the 20k worth that I only bought about 1.5k from Starline directly because i found much better deals elsewhere on the same exact stuff.

Out of all the Starline brass I have bought new over the years I found my first damaged / unusable case (crack in the neck) in my last order from them. Order was for 500pcs and contained a total of 502pcs with the one having the defect... I was STILL one over the 500 pieces I paid for and those 501 were flawless...

Nothing but good things to say about their quality and consistency and I will continue to buy their brass in the future as I need it for whatever.

 

[Aaron23]

From several different purchases direct from Starline 4-5 years ago, I've found the 223 brass came in two different weights. Some are right at 93 gains while the others are right at 101 grains. The 101 grain cases have a H20 capacity around 30.0; the 93 about 30.65.

Crap! Now you got me set to compare the 2 different batches of x39 brass I just bought of theirs from different places!

Thanks for that brother!