Starline 6.5 grendel “Basic” brass, anyone used it?

[mao0720]

Just wondering if anyone has used the starline “basic” brass for forming wildcats, and if so how does it hold up. It’s had to find grendel brass (or brass at all these days) so I’ve been thinking of getting some of the starline basic brass to form to 6MM grendel. Any input would be helpful.
Mason

 

[jghoghunter]

One firing of a mild load and I couldn't resize to use it again in my 6 grendel ar. Shot great, great groups at 500 yards. Just couldn't size it afterwards.

 

[mao0720]

Couldn’t size it because of case head expansion or some other reason?

 

[dasherfan]

I use starline brass in 308w and 6.5 creedmoor and it hold up well. I've never used it in a wildcat before but there rifle brass is decent, it's not Lapua but it's decent

 

[457ciSBC]

Just wondering if anyone has used the starline “basic” brass for forming wildcats, and if so how does it hold up. It’s had to find grendel brass (or brass at all these days) so I’ve been thinking of getting some of the starline basic brass to form to 6MM grendel. Any input would be helpful.
Mason

Keep in mind this is non-annealed straight walled brass that will certainly need to be annealed before any attempt to form. I have used the SL Gren brass but I don’t think that‘s a fair apples to apples comparison to the “basic“ brass. The nice thing is that it’s only going down in size to 6.5mm, unlike a bigger hop down to .17 or .20 cal.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

I'd try to be patient and just get the Lapua.

 

[mchees1]

I used Starline 6.5 Grendel brass to neck down to make 6mm AR. No problems and no issues. I have not shot it enough times to address how it holds up. As far as jghoghunter's post I would think there must be some other major issue with dies or chamber issues besides the brand of brass to explain that issue. Mine resizes easily and perfectly after firing. I built my rifle with a Columbia River Arms (Black Hole Weaponry) 243 LBC barrel and I use Redding dies.

 

[mao0720]

I used Starline 6.5 Grendel brass to neck down to make 6mm AR. No problems and no issues. I have not shot it enough times to address how it holds up. As far as jghoghunter's post I would think there must be some other major issue with dies or chamber issues besides the brand of brass to explain that issue. Mine resizes easily and perfectly after firing. I built my rifle with a Columbia River Arms (Black Hole Weaponry) 243 LBC barrel and I use Redding dies.

That is encouraging to hear. I’m just wondering if I should be patient and get Lapua when I can or go ahead and form some of the starline basic brass. With components the way they are, I feel like I should get what I can while I can. What load are you running? Just curious where it is compared to what I’m shooting.

 

[Raptor]

We also formed Starline 6.5 Grendel down to 6MM ARC and it was a breeze!! Shot well and is holding us fine so far. We have several reloadings on the brass. It really surprised me how consistent the weight was. It was actually better then the Lapua that we got!!!

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Starline would have a winner if they used a more believable flash hole size. Its not a 338win mag you dont need/want an .080 flash hole on a grendel. Nice cases otherwise- wish i could use them

 

[Lefty Trigger]

I suffered horrible results with my Grendel bolt rifle until I bought Lapua brass for it. Ended up selling all my Starline for cheap.

 

[Laurie]

I suffered horrible results with my Grendel bolt rifle until I bought Lapua brass for it. Ended up selling all my Starline for cheap.

Interesting! You saw that much difference? I have some new PPU, also SP but 2mm flash-hole.

Compared to Lapua 6.5G cases, in fact compared to just about any modern brass including R-P and Winchester in other cartridge designs, it also has huge neck thickness variations. It'll be interesting to see how it performs later this year assuming we in the UK ever get out of Covid lockdown and are allowed back on the ranges! (Howa Mini Oryx bolt rifle.)

 

[Lefty Trigger]

Interesting! You saw that much difference? I have some new PPU, also SP but 2mm flash-hole.

Compared to Lapua 6.5G cases, in fact compared to just about any modern brass including R-P and Winchester in other cartridge designs, it also has huge neck thickness variations. It'll be interesting to see how it performs later this year assuming we in the UK ever get out of Covid lockdown and are allowed back on the ranges! (Howa Mini Oryx bolt rifle.)

I built my rifle on a Savage platform with a custom barrel (short throated for light weight bullets) and a PTG bolt head. Its built on a single shot action because I never could get it to feed right from factory Savage mags. When I built it I bought 200 pieces of Starling brass for it and only so-so grouping results with no improvement so after checking on this site I decided to try the Lapua and groups shrank right away and things progressed towards what I was expecting from it.

 

[243Mendoza]

I used Starline 6.5 Grendel brass to neck down to make 6mm AR. No problems and no issues. I have not shot it enough times to address how it holds up. As far as jghoghunter's post I would think there must be some other major issue with dies or chamber issues besides the brand of brass to explain that issue. Mine resizes easily and perfectly after firing. I built my rifle with a Columbia River Arms (Black Hole Weaponry) 243 LBC barrel and I use Redding dies.

checked the Columbia River Arms website and could not see the option to choose 243LBC barrel. Are they still offering that caliber?

 

[TimGunn]

I have had great luck with it, but keep in mind I shoot it as a 6.5 Grendel. I shoot it a little hotter and have some cases reloaded as many as 10X.

 

[Raptor]

I neck turned all of mine. I just did a "Clean" up of the necks and was surprised at how little I was actually taking off. When I turned my Lapua brass I had numerous cases that seemed to take a lot more off of one side of the neck. I also noticed that the Starline was very consistent as far as weight went. I have not personally shot any of it yet but from my initial exam of it it appears to be very consistent brass......

 

[mchees1]

That is encouraging to hear. I’m just wondering if I should be patient and get Lapua when I can or go ahead and form some of the starline basic brass. With components the way they are, I feel like I should get what I can while I can. What load are you running? Just curious where it is compared to what I’m shooting.

Sorry for the late reply - I didn't see your question until tonight. I have been doing some testing but haven't decided on my best load yet. I have tried H4895 27.2gr with Scenar 105gr bullets at about 2710fps 2.262 oal. I have tried H4895 25.7-27.2 with Berger Hybrid Target 105 gr bullets at about 2520fps-2670fps 2.262 oal. I tried CFE 223 28.3-30.1gr with Scenar 90gr but seemed to be getting too much pressure so I stopped with the CFE 223. I tried AR Comp 25.0-25.9 but got terrible groups so stopped the AR Comp. I tried some 8208 XBR 27.0 with Scenar 90 but it was way too hot. So far I think my best load is H4895 26.0gr Berger Hybrid Target 105 2.262 oal (0.110 jump) at 2539 fps.

 

[mchees1]

checked the Columbia River Arms website and could not see the option to choose 243LBC barrel. Are they still offering that caliber?

I don't see it on their site. I guess you could try contacting them to see if they offer it any longer...

 

[GerryM]

I use it for my 6.5 creedmore It,s great stuff neck thickness is with in .0005 run out
on the brass i have

 

[Ray123]

I have used both 6.5 grendel Starline, and Starline Basic brass for 6 mm ARC. The 6.5 grendel brass is easy, just trim, lube, neck it down in full length 6 mm ARC die.
Got the Starline basic brass $125 for 250 pcs.
It's a lot of work...a retired machinist, I built resizing dies to neck it down in steps. You have to anneal before any sizing...than anneal after each time it goes through a different die. I annealed 1000 times for 250 pcs of brass. It turned out great and has the same water capacity after firing as the Starline 6.5 grendel brass.
Been doing alot of 6 mm ARC shooting with 55 grain to 115 gr DTAC. This brass will do 3 to 4 firings so far but when ya push "the book" envelope of AR loading pressure you ruined it.
I have 3, 6 mm ARC ar rifles, all 18" barrels. The Proof Research stainless are the ones to buy for accuracy. They will stabilize the 110 SMK wit a 7.5 twist. I prefer 108 grain and above for target shooting, the slight loss in velocity to the 105 doesn't make up for the better BC. With the exception of Berger 105 hybrid and 108 target BT are great Shooters. If ya had a lot of primers to waste you can make 6 mm arc out of 7.62x 39 brass cases, most have LR primer pockets....so you can use LR primers in your 6 mm ARC, if ya have em. May try some for curiosity to see what kind of accuracy to expect...have fun.