Winchester brass....

[Rsadams]

I normally reload the factory once fired whatever's out of my gun but a few days ago I bought a new bag of winchester .308 brass... I opened them tonight and wow what a mess... Not one case that doesn't have dented or at best out of round mouths.. weights are just all over the place as well as lengths , some way under what trim length would be.. Some of them appear to have black magic marker marks on the insides of the necks like maybe they are rejects... After reading some reviews I guess I am not the only one who thinks that.. And the bag was sealed shut..

Lapua would be twice as expensive and would be the first time I have bought any. I know a lot of you love them and I can sorta see why now after looking at these... The dented mouths and case shoulders could easily be fixed by running them through a die but I thought new brass could be loaded without doing ALL the prep I would do to even the worst range pickup.. the mouths are cut so far from round you can get two different measurements.. just to chamfer them inside and out would take awhile with a case prep station.. There is nothing that would not have to be done to make these useable or even to reload for the first time.. I think they are getting return to Cabela's but I thought I would ask if this is what new brass is supposed to be???

 

[Brians356]

Doesn't sound like anything we haven't seen before. Remington and Winchester brass has always been like that in my 25 years of reloading. A few culls in every bag, a few dents, case mouths out of round, etc. I wouldn't bother weighing them until you've trimmed them all to the same length, but then I don't sort by weight anyway, so ...

FWIW I just ordered 100 Winchester 6mm Rem cases from Cabela's, but they haven't arrived yet.
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[Rsadams]

Doesn't sound like anything we haven't seen before. Remington and Winchester brass has always been like that in my 25 years of reloading. A few culls in every bag, a few dents, case mouths out of round, etc. I wouldn't bother weighing them until you've trimmed them all to the same length, but then I don't sort by weight anyway, so ...

FWIW I just ordered 100 Winchester 6mm Rem cases from Cabela's, but they haven't arrived yet.
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Ya I picked up a few myself in 6 mm rem while I was there.. Those are so hard to get I will do whatever to use them...
Maybe I am just being picky?? I wonder what the black magic marker on the inside of the mouths are from?? Maybe I will just keep them and do all the work to them and load um up to at least get them out to my chamber... Just wasn't what I was expecting from brand new they are rough...

 

[Texas10]

With anything less than premium brass, I figure on prepping it all thoroughly before loading and again after fire forming, and culling a few throughout the process. The biggest problem I've had is sorting out the ones with double wall thickness in the neck. Not always easy to spot. Somewhere in the drawing process a piece of the neck material gets folded back into the case before it's trimmed, resulting in a section of the neck with twice the thickness. I've found this several times including in premium brass. I usually find it with a loupe while checking my chamfer job.

 

[MS50]

I use primarily Winchester 308 brass in my rifle for shooting steel targets. I do a full prep on new brass because as you said they are a mess. I've seen lengths from 2.001 to 2.011 coming out of the bag. I don't sort components yet. I have loads worked up for the internal volume of the Win brass, so I'll stick with it for now.

 

[Rsadams]

Thanks everyone... I will just do the prep on them and keep them... It's a 75 mile round trip and I don't need anything right now..

 

[Brians356]

Ya I picked up a few myself in 6 mm rem while I was there.. Those are so hard to get I will do whatever to use them....

Hornady currently makes 6mm Rem, but it's 50% more expensive than Winchester. Fewer culls and better shape overall, though, probably.
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[Rsadams]

Hornady currently makes 6mm Rem, but it's 50% more expensive than Winchester. Fewer culls and better shape overall, though, probably.
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After seeing the condition of this brass I would be willing to pay more... Especially for the 6 mm rem brass.. I don't think I have even picked up 50 range brass shot out of an automatic that were as rough looking as these.. When I get bored I will just sit and start running them through my die and see what happens... It's not like they cost alot new for .308 but it was not what I was expecting.. I was not expecting perfection but not even the finish is nice on these... Some of these new ones I would leave laying on the ground if I saw them at the range...lol

 

[joshb]

I have a looooong history of being a "cheapskate". Range pick ups, used military cases, etc. Then I bought a 6br and had to buy some Lapua brass. When I opened that box and looked them over, I was ruined. I bought more Lapua for the rest of my "good" guns. I was being short sighted and hardheaded, before. I'd pay a couple thousand for a gun, then run cheap brass thru it?

 

[Iowa Fox]

I'm as cheap as they come. Dents and minor dings don't bother me. The last few bags of Win brass I purchased was horrible. Crooked as a crankshaft and base to Datum short. They don't give a hoot about us out here they just want to sell loaded ammo to the blasters. And, their primers have gotten out of spec also. I pick up range brass to look at it. Some of it the primers have fallen out and the bulge on the case above the web tells me that's what they are putting out.

 

[Forum Boss]

Lapua is worth the money. If you don't load to extremes, and anneal after 8-9 load cycles, you can get 20+ load cycles from Lapua. Some 30BR guys are shooting the same Lapua brass three or four dozen times. Don't even think about that with Winchester brass. I'll use Win-brand brass for pistol cartridge -- that's about it.

 

[Cecil S.]

For us "Cheapskate" minded Peterson Brass and it is made in the USA......just saying.

 

[MrBottleneck]

You mean to tell me there is other brass makers then Lapua?
Used to buy Win. but the primer pockets loosen up way to quickly.
Never a problem with the .308 and 6BR brass I use from Lapua.
The additional amounts of firings you get from the Lapua over the competitors offsets the price. Its just that much better.

 

[joshb]

For us "Cheapskate" minded Peterson Brass and it is made in the USA......just saying.

A few days ago I ordered a couple hundred from Peterson, to try. I grew up in Pa. Some of the guys here think it's good stuff.

 

[Cecil S.]

A few days ago I ordered a couple hundred from Peterson, to try. I grew up in Pa. Some of the guys here think it's good stuff.

I purchased 50 6.5 Creed PALMA. Small primer is where I want to get to. Looks good and the price was......well.....did I mention "Cheapskate"....LOL

 

[dminn1]

My latest batch of Winchester .308 brass I bought 100 pieces. All pieces were good to go with a few dented case mouths that easily smoothed out when ran over the neck mandrel. After fire forming, neck turning, and trimming, weights were very consistent and they do offer considerably more internal volume than Lapua. This batch of brass is on its 12th cycle with no cases lost and primer pockets still good. I run these pretty warm with 155.5 Bergers at 2980fps.

My most recent batch of .243 Winchester brass had 100 pieces of which one had a badly collapsed shoulder and was not usable. The other 99 cleaned up very nicely and had consistent weights on par with the .308 brass. This batch of cases is on its 8th firing cycle with no cases lost and primer pockets remaining snug. These cases have excellent internal capacity as well and allow me to run the 105g Berger Hybrid out of a 26" barrel at 3130fps with single digit sd and no pressure signs.

I like my Lapua Palma cases for driving 200g Berger Hybrids at 2630fps but Winchester brass is not as bad as some make it out to be. Bottom line is test it yourself and come to your own conclusions.

 

[SheepDog]

I ALWAYS prep brass before loading. The only brass I have found that required no prep was Nosler brass. well that's not completely true, I did chamfer and deburr the necks. The length and weights were as close to the same as I have ever seen. Too bad they were 257 Roberts +P brass. It is 3 grains lower in volume than regular brass.

 

[Zero333]

I like Winchester brass as much as Lapua brass. And I get many more reloads from Win. brass compared to the Finn stuff.

I do however weight sort Winchester brass. Never sorted Lapua brass.

My experience comes from shooting both Win. & Lapua brass in 243win, 7mm08 and 308win (large primer only).

 

[onelastshot]

Winchester brass, you buy it knowing that your buying a mediocre product. You have to accept the reality that up to 10% of the brass will be throwaways. Not exactly what any of us want but if you want a product that is top notch you will pay twice the price for Lapua.

It's unfortunate but American brass is mediocre, that includes the other brands, including Hornady and Remington. It's frustrating because made in America is supposed to stand for quality.

 

[Rsadams]

My latest batch of Winchester .308 brass I bought 100 pieces. All pieces were good to go with a few dented case mouths that easily smoothed out when ran over the neck mandrel. After fire forming, neck turning, and trimming, weights were very consistent and they do offer considerably more internal volume than Lapua. This batch of brass is on its 12th cycle with no cases lost and primer pockets still good. I run these pretty warm with 155.5 Bergers at 2980fps.

My most recent batch of .243 Winchester brass had 100 pieces of which one had a badly collapsed shoulder and was not usable. The other 99 cleaned up very nicely and had consistent weights on par with the .308 brass. This batch of cases is on its 8th firing cycle with no cases lost and primer pockets remaining snug. These cases have excellent internal capacity as well and allow me to run the 105g Berger Hybrid out of a 26" barrel at 3130fps with single digit sd and no pressure signs.

I like my Lapua Palma cases for driving 200g Berger Hybrids at 2630fps but Winchester brass is not as bad as some make it out to be. Bottom line is test it yourself and come to your own conclusions.

I'm as cheap as they come. Dents and minor dings don't bother me. The last few bags of Win brass I purchased was horrible. Crooked as a crankshaft and base to Datum short. They don't give a hoot about us out here they just want to sell loaded ammo to the blasters. And, their primers have gotten out of spec also. I pick up range brass to look at it. Some of it the primers have fallen out and the bulge on the case above the web tells me that's what they are putting out.

I'm as cheap as they come. Dents and minor dings don't bother me. The last few bags of Win brass I purchased was horrible. Crooked as a crankshaft and base to Datum short. They don't give a hoot about us out here they just want to sell loaded ammo to the blasters. And, their primers have gotten out of spec also. I pick up range brass to look at it. Some of it the primers have fallen out and the bulge on the case above the web tells me that's what they are putting out.

I grabbed two or three and measured them of course right out of the bag with a hornady comp. and found 2 that were .008 from head to datum apart , WAY short... that's what raised an eyebrow... They are cheap but I guess as I said I was just expecting more from a USA brand.. it's ok I will work them and give them a try but I have a feeling I won't be buying more , but hey they could work out great.. I normally just buy a box and reload them awhile this is the first time I bought new brass... I don't shoot competition rifle I just shoot for fun and was planning on blowing these out , loading them and putting them away for a rainy day... I like to have some loaded and put up...

I am not sure why this post grabbed three replies sorry.. I was replying to Iowa fox... And you are correct... If you go to their Facebook page and read the reviews I don't think anyone would buy their stuff.. there are some really bad ones..lol