What Brass to buy For .280 and .257?

[centershot]

I know this has been hashed over several times before, but most of the posts are very old. I know everyone likes Lapua but they do not make brass in this caliber. Neither does Starline. I have a terrible time with Remington .280 splitting necks both in firing and reloading.I do not think that reloading five times is excessive. The .257 +P Winchester brass is doing the same thing. I have tried with and without annealing. Federal does not sell brass in either of these calibers. HAve not researched Peterson.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

In the 280 its hard to beat nosler. If you want to do some more advanced loading you can use lapua 30-06
For the 257 you can use norma 7x57

 

[jepp2]

I have a terrible time with Remington .280 splitting necks both in firing and reloading.I do not think that reloading five times is excessive.

I shoot Remington brass in both of those calibers and don't have problems with neck splits. So I'm going to go out on a limb and think:
- you are shooting a factory chamber that has a very generous neck diameter (what is the OD of a fired case neck)
- your sizing die is seriously undersizing the case neck before the expander opens it back up (most do unless you hone them). Measure the neck OD after sizing a case with the expander removed.

If that is the case, case neck splits are going to be pretty routine due to the amount of "work" you are putting into the brass each firing cycle. Can't do anything about the chamber neck, but using a bushing die and annealing would be steps in the right direction. When you anneal, how do you measure the temperature you are getting the brass to?

 

[AckleymanII]

Lapua 30/06 brass formed to 280 AI will need a CIP spec chamber as the brass measures .470 in the web. Lapua brass is tough, but presents some problems as Rem is .495-6, and Nosler is .498.

Problems abound with Full length sizing Lapua after 10 firings.

Centershot, you have a very large neck vs loaded round dia. Anneal your brass every 3rd firing, problems will be over.

 

[Patton243]

I use Norma brass in my 280. It works pretty well. I will never use Nosler brass again. The brass is ultra soft from my experience using it in a 7 mag. Not to mention everything Nosler sells is over priced IMO. If you're shooting bullets 150 grains and heavier, try Reloader 23 in a 280. This powder works great IMO.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

I use Norma brass in my 280. It works pretty well. I will never use Nosler brass again. The brass is ultra soft from my experience using it in a 7 mag. Not to mention everything Nosler sells is over priced IMO. If you're shooting bullets 150 grains and heavier, try Reloader 23 in a 280. This powder works great IMO.

Unless you bought them recently they were manufactured by norma and is typical of norma brass. They now mfr their own brass and its good quality stuff

 

[Patton243]

Unless you bought them recently they were manufactured by norma and is typical of norma brass. They now mfr their own brass and its good quality stuff

Do you have physical proof on where Nosler gets their brass from? I doubt it. I've heard so many rumors and speculation on where their brass comes from, but nobody can officially prove it. My friend bought 280 AI Nosler brass and that only lasted 4-5 firings and it wouldn't chamber in his rifle. And he was full length resizing too. Nosler is over priced and soft. That's a fact. And IMO, they make their brass soft so you buy more of it in the future.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Do you have physical proof on where Nosler gets their brass from? I doubt it. I've heard so many rumors and speculation on where their brass comes from, but nobody can officially prove it. My friend bought 280 AI Nosler brass and that only lasted 4-5 firings and it wouldn't chamber in his rifle. And he was full length resizing too. Nosler is over priced and soft. That's a fact. And IMO, they make their brass soft so you buy more of it in the future.

Did he actually have a 280ai nosler or a regular 280ai? Nosler bought silver state armory. If he has a regular 280ack he needs to use 280rem brass- the nosler 280ai is a different chamber

https://www.ammoland.com/2013/06/nosler-ammunition-acquires-silver-state-armory/#axzz5U7D5MRpm

 

[JRS]

Do you have physical proof on where Nosler gets their brass from? I doubt it. I've heard so many rumors and speculation on where their brass comes from, but nobody can officially prove it. My friend bought 280 AI Nosler brass and that only lasted 4-5 firings and it wouldn't chamber in his rifle. And he was full length resizing too. Nosler is over priced and soft. That's a fact. And IMO, they make their brass soft so you buy more of it in the future.

Norma used to produce most of the brass Nosler marketed. Winchester also produced brass with the Nosler head-stamp. Norma produced factory Norma-Nosler ammo. As Dusty stated, Nosler brass is now produced by Nosler. The old Nosler boxes that contained their brass was marked "made in Sweden".