Who makes the best 357 mag brass?

[barrabruce]

So I want to neck down some 357 mag brass into a 30 cal.
One of the Paxton/badger/rimmed blkout/aet/add many variants.
A single shot rifle so I won’t need mountains of brass or throwing them all over the country side after a shot.

So I have figured out that brass with cannalures on them aren’t the best as they end up in the neck shoulder area.
Nickel brass looks good but has issues.
Probably never even crimp.

There are makers I have never even heard of.
Like noslier.

I can more than likely get starline, Remington,Winchester,ppu maybe and maybe some others.

So which isthe thickest at the neck? If any.(may need to get a close fit for throat)
Best lasting.
Best for forming.
Consistency.
All the good dirt.

I know it may be a bit subjective but what’s the consensus for the 357 mag.

I could in the end make a 30 badger out of 38 special brass that I can buy a shipping carton full of once fired cases cheap.
People said "Ask and people will throw 38 special at you " ; but I thought they were pulling my leg.

Apparently not.
I can still get 357 mag brass pretty easy thou.

Any crusty old conundrums wish to post a view on 357 mag brass?
Wade through the good ,bad ,and ugly.


I searched but got over 100 pages of hits.
My Google fu is weak.

Thanks
Barra.

[358429]

Winchester 38 brass is thicker at the case mouth. R-p and federal 38 brass are thinnest at the case mouth (good for cast boolets) and reasonably durable.

Perfecta 357 brass seems to grow in length unusually fast when fired and sized and expanded.

Starline 357 brass is the best, thin and durable for many high pressure loads and loading cycles before it splits.

[barrabruce]

Thanks

[Cosmic_Charlie]

If you want a bunch of matching headlamps Starline is hard to beat.

[GhostHawk]

Hard to beat Starline in my experience.

[Daekar]

I only have experience with Starline and Hornady cases, but both of them have lasted through countless loadings for me, at various pressures. I have literally been cycling through the same 100 Hornady cases in high-pressure loads since I started shooting 357. I haven't yet lost a case to any kind of fatigue or splitting, only one or two which I accidentally destroyed by raising the ram without having the case centered in the shellholder.

[OBXPilgrim]

Can definitely tell the difference when a winny case is mixed in with a bunch of R-P brass when resizing.

[ddixie884]

Star-Line is hard to beat for regular loading. I have never done any necking down so I don't have any useful input on that.........

[358429]

So barrabruce... is there any chance that you might assemble these cool bottle neck casings with the ness safety bullet upside down and make the ultimate wadcutter[emoji39]

... or even cooler looking would be the 311 410 with deep hollow points[emoji41]

[barrabruce]

Haven’t a 311410 plain or hollow pointed.
I have tried the hg#38 safety bullet in 30-30 and it shot I thought really good backwards at 100 yards.
My oath it will be in the line up of things to try once I’m up and running.
Specially since it will have a normal spec barrel.
Ohhhh I’m gunna be so flash and spoilt.

I cast several hundred Lee soup cans.
And I hope it likes the pope plain base bullet.
See if I can run it up and get some Schuetzen velocities and groups at 200yrds, thou it won’t be heavy or ornate or long or pretty.

Should be a project to keep me busy for the wet season.

I figure they do the 32 Miller short and 30-20.

Bruce

[dverna]

I will be interested in the rifle when you complete it. I came close to building a .30 Badger a few years ago, but could not justify the cost.

Whichever cases you decide on, it may be a good candidate for annealing to increase case life.

[BABore]

If you have an actual 30 Badger chamber, it was designed around 38 special brass. One trip through a 30 Mauser die and done. No trimming required.

[barrabruce]

Thanks everyone..
Off to drop into the nearest gunshops tomorrow only a couple of hrs drive.
Got a good idea what to look for.
If not I’ll get some online.

I looked at the badger but would need to buy 2 sets of dies as well as a reamer.

Cheers.
Bruce

[barrabruce]

Well one of the purveyors of fine sporting equipment had some 357 mag brass.
I ended up with the last 2 bags of 357 mag brass.
Starline … so good to go.

[barrabruce]

Well I managed to reform 50 starline cases.
The best lube was vasalene in spite of using RCBS case lube and lanolin.
I cracked a few cases doing it and had to use 3 or 4 goes to get it done.

I gave up and tried annealing a case first as I wasn’t really getting anywhere.
That solved that problem.

The dies I used squashes the necks down really hard and the expander button only enlarges it to 0.305" so I might try and hone out the full length die and get a 31 caliber expander and work from that.

Those starline are hard cases.

[megasupermagnum]

As you found, Starline is not very good brass at all. It is very sad, and perplexing considering the reputation. Unfortunately the truth is Starline brass has atrocious annealing. I consider it the worst brass I have worked with. I really hope this changes. As of now, I will not use it. The only reason I don't throw them in the trash, is because people will buy them.

For thicker brass, I think Winchester is the best. I actually really like Remington and Federal the best. Some don't like thin Remington brass. Generally those who demand good brass consider Federal or Winchester the best. Nosler is going to be right up there, just not that common in handguns. Hornady is fantastic too, but they often trim short in certain calibers for no good reason.

[Walks]

I've used just about all headstamps. Best I've found is Remington or Norma. Expands to seal on light loads and Black Powder. Primer pockets stay tight after 6-7 reloadings of MAX loads.
Winchester is fairly hard, their nickel will crack after 3 HOT loads. I've a friend that necked down 1,000 REM .45ACP for .38-45, worked great.
I necked up 200 new Rem .223 cases for 7mmTCU, 5-6 loadings so far, lost only 3 cases to neck/shoulder splits. starline does not anneal their brass as a last step, sizes hard. Can't form it for beans. Lose 5-6 cases out of 100 after just 3 loadings.