Winchester brass quality

[mikea5232]

7 Remington mag brass i just bought and was prepping. I had a crinkled up shoulder on a piece of .243 brass last year. Is this typical?

 

[Dans40X]

1 item Winchester won't have to recall!
Don't measure belt to head as it will scare you.

 

[Mark W]

I usually lose at least one out of every 50 new Winchester brass due to defect. The irony is that I typically find the other 49 to be perfectly acceptable for my purposes.

 

[Lindy]

In Dec. a bag of 50 - 270 Win. brass had 3 crimped and folded necks. One bag of 50 7/08 had 49 total pieces and the second bag had 2 crimped necks. I've never had this kind of problem with Winchester brass before. Contacted customer service and received a check from Winchester covering the total cost, but what a hassle.

 

[K22]

Yes in my experience. I have had as high as 5% defective cases with split necks and, cold laps in the shoulder rendering those case unuseable.

Remington less so, the new Hornady very much less so.

 

[mikea5232]

Good to know. There were 4 in that bag of 50 that were bad. That 1 actually has a big chunk on the neck. Think there could be better quality control before they leave the factory.

 

[long40shot]

I've noticed a drop in quality in all the different calibers of winchester brass I've bought in the past year. Crimped necks, crushed shoulders. Usually 1 or 2 in a bag of 50.

 

[spaniel]

Five years ago, I thought Winchester was a great value on brass. Based on my last couple purchases, I'm almost scared to use it outside of straightwall pistol brass. Noticeable decrease in quality. Coupled with the fact that they have apparently abandoned the reloading market....looking elsewhere. Guess they don't want my money.

 

[Zero333]

I had 2 bad pieces of 243win from 250pcs (same lot). Not a big deal, but the difference in weight from lightest to heaviest was 2.5 gr.

The last 300 pcs I was using before this new lot had a weight difference of only 2.1 gr from lightest to heaviest. The kicker is that those 300 pcs were from 3 or 4 different lots together. I still have them, just thought I would retire them since I already reloaded them 20x !!! and have not lost a single piece since their first firing.

I also have Lapua brass for my 243win (and 308win & 7mm08rem Lapua brass), but my groups did not get any smaller using the Lapua brass and the Finnish brass gets loose primer pockets from as little as 5 firings.

I also get less bullet run-out with the Winchester brass. My theory is the thinner neck thickness of the Winchester brass conforms easier in the die ? I was thinking of skimming the necks of the Lapua brass to see if my theory holds some water.

After firing... the soot on the Lapua brass goes all the way down to the sholders while the soot on the Winchester brass is at the top of the neck / case mouth.

 

[Mtstalker]

I had a box of 100 243 win and 10 had folds in the neck. I also had a bag of 50 in 270 win and most were drawn crooked, you could set them on a table and spin them, a visable wobble was there i even checked against a square. Switched to hornady and am pleased so far with quality and avalibility.

 

[Capt. Oblivious]

I have 300 pieces of Win brass for my 300WM that I bought prob 4 years ago and I still use them, very good brass. Bought 200 when I started with my SLR, 10% had mashed up shoulders or cracks in the necks, around half off them had ovel primer pockets that left me with some awesome smileys on my boltface, the others was toast the first time I pushed the load just a little. This after spending countless hours turning the necks and classing them. Only blue box for me from now on if I can help it.

 

[strut64]

I was told that Olin the has completely given up direct manufacture and out sources all Brass manufacture. God knows where this stuff is coming from. Could be Korea, Taiwan, Mexico or what ever. I am not surprised at all. My LGS advised me not to buy ant Winchester brass. I have no way of comfirming this rumor but would not be surprised at all if it were true.

 

[Milo 2.0]

I do know you have better luck buying bags of 50 pcs over bulk from some place like midway, that crap totally misses the quality control line, lol
A few yrs back, buying bulk meant getting a few extra pcs to help with the cull, not today.

 

[JRS]

I was told that Olin the has completely given up direct manufacture and out sources all Brass manufacture. God knows where this stuff is coming from. Could be Korea, Taiwan, Mexico or what ever. I am not surprised at all. My LGS advised me not to buy ant Winchester brass. I have no way of comfirming this rumor but would not be surprised at all if it were true.

Olin continues to manufacture brass and ammo. Purchasing Monarch was a wise move. They spun -off a number of their other businesses.

 

[Dgd6mm]

I do know you have better luck buying bags of 50 pcs over bulk from some place like midway, that crap totally misses the quality control line, lol
A few yrs back, buying bulk meant getting a few extra pcs to help with the cull, not today.

I bought 250 pieces from Midway the end of last year. They came packaged in white cardboard boxes, 50 to a box. It's obvious that they get it in bulk and box the quantity for you. No writing, nothing on the boxes. Some with banged up necks, didn't weigh any but after reading this probably should have. It all shoots pretty good for what I use it for.

 

[snert]

Back about ten years ago I bought 400 222 brass WIn. It all turned out to be at or below min SAAMI spec for thickness. Played heck with my seating and tension. I had prepped all of it before I learned to look for that. Stuff was like .009 neck wall thickness. I still shoot it, but it requires quite a bushing adjustment, and is not nearly as accurate as the Lapua I bought later. In the big picture I got the 400 for the price of 100 lapua, and the groundhogs and PD don't register complaints either way. But it does show up on the target when I really care to try.

 

[Milo 2.0]

I bought 250 pieces from Midway the end of last year. They came packaged in white cardboard boxes, 50 to a box. It's obvious that they get it in bulk and box the quantity for you. No writing, nothing on the boxes. Some with banged up necks, didn't weigh any but after reading this probably should have. It all shoots pretty good for what I use it for.

I learned this 5-6 yrs ago buying Rem brand 7 saum brass by 500 bulk ct, at least 16-20 would have case heads so big they would not go into a #38 shellholder and just pitched brass from the first 2 batches, the 3rd I decided to call Rem and demand they replace it, and I would need to send in defective pcs, oh well, lol. Today I would kiss some butt for the same brass in bulk. I just got a 500 box of Win brand 243 bulk, only 5 were noticeably bad, no extras in box, was actually 1 case short of 500 too.

 

[Liven The Dream]

Winchester is still ok. It is not what it was 20 years ago.
I shoot Palma .308 8,9 & 1000 yards. I shoot 98% Win. Brass
I do complete Pre. and weight sort . Yes one or two end up in the waste can.

 

[dickn52]

Kinda like a car....every now and then one slips off the line that is pure lemonade waiting to be squeezed.

 

[mikegaiz]

I think for what you pay the quality and durability is there. If you are not competing it is great Brass for less than half the cost and will outlast the rest.