Winchester .222 Brass

[bocash3]

Howdy

Got back into the .222 business after an absence of 5 years. This month, I got into 300 new unprimed cases - Winchester brand.

Out of the 300, 5 were crumpled or had chunks taken out of the case mouths. ONE was a .223 case!!! Did not discover the latter until I noted it re-sized "funny."

So, 6 out of 300 = 2% discarded. I would not be so irritated IF they threw in a couple of extra brass in each bag, but................each had exactly 100.

To me, this is not quality.

Anyone else experienced this as of late?

Y'all take care, Bo in NC

 

[jepp2]

Anyone else experienced this as of late?

Sad to say, but that is about average. I just consider it part of the lower cost vs nicer higher priced brass.

 

[K22]

This is typical of my experience with Winchester brass except that the defect rate was about 5% especially with 22 250 brass.

 

[fatelvis]

After trying Lapua Brass in my 222. I completely switched over to it and the Win brass sits in a coffee can in the corner. The tighter primer pockets, drilled flash holes, more consistent weight, and consistent neck thickness all go to Lapua.

 

[Shaggy357]

So much competition in the retail market now they are fighting for the lowest manufacturing cost with best profit margin. What used to be culled out is now "acceptable" to the many in the market...especially in brass that is not run on a regular basis. Winchester probably runs 100 or 200 times more .223 or 5.56 than .222. So when they do make a run, and they know they have a market for it, it sells out quickly, and people are glad to get what was available, even a few duds. WSSM brass, .22 Hornet, .30-30, and many others are in the same boat. Winchester only makes limited runs and when they do, they know they will sell all of it, even with a few duds in the package.

For what its worth, I loaded up a few hundred .222 in RP brass in the spring and went out plinking with my little savage. Had a great time, and several buddies had to take a turn so went thru a box of 100 rather quickly. When I got home I pulled out some once fired .223 RP brass, did an incremental resize to .222, cut off excess, trimmed, turned the necks, and loaded them up. Took a little longer than prepping new .222 brass, but they shoot nearly as well, for about half the price.

I use .223 brass to make a lot of cases for my wildcats and more costly brass. I don't mind spending a little extra time making brass because it also leads to more time shooting.

 

[jepp2]

drilled flash holes

Actually they "used" to be drilled, but now they are punched. Nicely however. And yes, Lapua is my first choice in brass in the calibers they make.