I’ve been digging through the forums here looking for info for the new-ish Starline rifle brass and couldn’t find that much objective data on 308, particularly the Small Primer (SP) variety. As I’ve worn out some other large primer brass, I figured that I would give the cheaper Starline SP a shot instead of paying the premium for Lapua.
I ordered two of the 100 round bags from an online retailer and began measuring them out of the bag when they arrived. According to the Starline website, the brass is supposed to measure between 2.002” and 2.009” OAL. After measuring the first 75 and having 71 measure at 2.002” and four measure at 2.003” I figured it would be a wasted effort to continue with this level of consistency.
I do not turn necks, and did not measure neck thickness.
Moving on to the weight, I was surprised at the results. The lightest case out of the 202 that came in the bags (they actually had 101 each) was 171.8 grains and the heaviest was 173.9 grains. That gives an extreme spread (ES) of 2.1 grains over the 202 cases, equating to a ES as percentage of weight of 1.2%.
The mean/average was 172.86 grains out of the 202, with a standard deviation (SD) of 0.389 grains. That means that 95% of the cases were within 1.56 grains of each other, or 0.89%.
The purpose of this was not to bash Lapua or try to hold Starline up as the new gold standard. I’ve been using Starline pistol brass in 9mm and 45 for Service Pistol for years and they’ve got a great reputation for their pistol brass. I use Lapua exclusively in my 6BR as well as 223 FTR and have achieved phenomenal results with them. This was simply to report my findings with 202 cases of the Starline 308 Match Small Primer brass, brand new out of the packages. YMMV, but I was very impressed with the consistency of how they came out of the packages.
Due to work commitments, I won’t be able to shoot these within the next couple of weeks, but I will attempt to follow up whenever I’m able to.
A couple of references…
Shows SD of .7 grains, and ES as percentage of total weight is 3.4%.
Precision Rifle Blog 223 Lapua analysis: https://precisionrifleblog.com/2012/07/05/lapua-223-rem-brass-quality/
Lapua 308 brass, 200 cases with a 3.4 grain ES.
http://forum.accurateshooter.com/th...riation-should-be-in-lapua-308-brass.3858399/
Lapua 308 brass, 300 cases with 2.3 grain ES.
http://forum.accurateshooter.com/threads/lapua-308-case-weights.3737876/
I ordered two of the 100 round bags from an online retailer and began measuring them out of the bag when they arrived. According to the Starline website, the brass is supposed to measure between 2.002” and 2.009” OAL. After measuring the first 75 and having 71 measure at 2.002” and four measure at 2.003” I figured it would be a wasted effort to continue with this level of consistency.
I do not turn necks, and did not measure neck thickness.
Moving on to the weight, I was surprised at the results. The lightest case out of the 202 that came in the bags (they actually had 101 each) was 171.8 grains and the heaviest was 173.9 grains. That gives an extreme spread (ES) of 2.1 grains over the 202 cases, equating to a ES as percentage of weight of 1.2%.
The mean/average was 172.86 grains out of the 202, with a standard deviation (SD) of 0.389 grains. That means that 95% of the cases were within 1.56 grains of each other, or 0.89%.
The purpose of this was not to bash Lapua or try to hold Starline up as the new gold standard. I’ve been using Starline pistol brass in 9mm and 45 for Service Pistol for years and they’ve got a great reputation for their pistol brass. I use Lapua exclusively in my 6BR as well as 223 FTR and have achieved phenomenal results with them. This was simply to report my findings with 202 cases of the Starline 308 Match Small Primer brass, brand new out of the packages. YMMV, but I was very impressed with the consistency of how they came out of the packages.
Due to work commitments, I won’t be able to shoot these within the next couple of weeks, but I will attempt to follow up whenever I’m able to.
A couple of references…
Shows SD of .7 grains, and ES as percentage of total weight is 3.4%.
Precision Rifle Blog 223 Lapua analysis: https://precisionrifleblog.com/2012/07/05/lapua-223-rem-brass-quality/
Lapua 308 brass, 200 cases with a 3.4 grain ES.
http://forum.accurateshooter.com/th...riation-should-be-in-lapua-308-brass.3858399/
Lapua 308 brass, 300 cases with 2.3 grain ES.
http://forum.accurateshooter.com/threads/lapua-308-case-weights.3737876/
