Starline 223 Brass

[Chris Shelton]

I went ahead and grabbed 300 pieces to try. On this trip I don’t plan to bring more than 300 rounds for this gun due to the amount of rifles my wife and I are bringing. Forgot I burned a bunch of points on 39 gr blitzkings when they had them on sale so it wasn’t as cheap as I banked on, but still got them for about $10 per hundred so I’m good with that. We shall see what they do. Now to decide whether to try the 53 gr vmax or 50 gr Nosler BT instead of the 50 gr vmax

 

[jelenko]

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!

Sorry!
If you bought them all at the same time, I'd have really high confidence they had Starline's consistency.
The 223 I bought was over 2 years in three different purchases.

 

[NF1E]

Used a 1K batch of Starline .223 while Lapua was hard to get. No problem here with it at all. Whatta Hobby!

 

[17VLD]

What is the neck thickness? Thank you.

My batch of 500 Starline 222 brass measures right at .0125" to .01300" at four points

 

[NF1E]

My batch of 500 Starline 222 brass measures right at .0125" to .01300" at four points

.223 is right in that ballpark. Whatta Hobby!

 

[rfd]

All my brass, from .223 to .45-70, is Starline. I anneal all new brass before loading.

 

[ggshoots]

I have had good luck with Starline. Making some wildcat cartridges with Laupua the rims nicked and damaged very easily during the process. With Starline there was no problem.

 

[nakneker]

Enjoy your new brass! Starline offers a good product at a great price. I use a lot of their brass in pistols and rifles. For my 223s I use LC in my semi autos, Lapua, Norma and Starline in my bolts. Lapua is my favorite of the three but Starline does a good job. I typically buy direct, especially when they have their 45-70 brass in stock but it’s worth checking other sources, sometimes you can find it cheaper than direct but not often.

 

[CF Junkie]

Lapua is generally my favorite and first choice, but it is hard to find for .223 lately.
I bought Starline as a replacement for Lapua.


I bought 400 rounds and found that the cartridge length varied among the set from 1.747 to 1.744. The average was just over 1.745. I was concerned with that pretty wide range of cartridge lengths and, although the bags were all marked with the same lot number, I would suspect that the bags were made loaded with the products of more than one forming machine.
Lapua brass usually is 1.750 +/- 0.001 out of the 100 in the box with only a few brass off the mean.

There was no statistical difference in group average, so if you adapt for trim length variations in your loading process, they are essentially equivalent.

I also found that Starline would handle from 12 to 14 reloads before I started to see neck splits early. By the 12 reload I also started to see loose primer pockets. (I don't load anywhere near Pmax, so the early loose primer pockets surprised me.) Starline brass does not show any neck discoloration so there is no evidence that they were annealed.

Lapua usually gives me 20 to 23 reloads before I notice primer pockets loosening, and I rarely get neck splits before the primer pockets wear out. New Lapua brass has obvious discoloration around the necks which indicates that they are annealed.

But Starline is about 1/2 the price of Lapua so it is still a value. If I can't find Lapua .223, I would again buy Starline.

 

[Aaron23]

New Lapua brass has obvious discoloration around the necks which indicates that they are annealed.

But Starline is about 1/2 the price of Lapua so it is still a value. If I can't find Lapua .223, I would again buy Starline.

I can guarantee that Starline brass is annealed more than once during manufacturing.

You don’t ‘see’ the torch marks after cleaning...

 

[Rich S]

I’ve found Starline 223 brass to be very good quality and consistent. In my Varmint rifles I have shot Lapua, LC and Starline. Starline is my preference for quality and value. The first batch I bought about 10 years ago was because I got a certificate they donated at a shoot. I’ve been using it since then for varmint rifles and pistols. They have been generous to donate to a number of shoots like the Sierra Cup.