What brand of brass do you like?

[runfiverun]

R&P for rifle and starline for handgun would be my first pick

this one.
i have really good luck with norma brass in many rifles that know the difference too.

[willk]

Starline in handguns with nickle for .45 Colt and .32 H&R to keep them separated from .44 and .357, Winchester for .223, 7TCU and .300 Whisper, cause it is cheap and it forms well as well as .243 and .308 and finally Remington for Remington specific rounds being the .221 Fireball and 7 BR. No one and I do mean NO ONE would ever form 7BR cases from anything unless they absolutly had too.

[geargnasher]

Starline is the only handgun/straight rifle brass I will buy new.

Lapua, RemChester, and some military is the only rifle brass I will pay for, only because Starline doesn't make it.

Gear

[Old Caster]

It completely depends on caliber and use. Many people shooting benchrest use Lapua but none of us would use Lapua for 223. I agree that Amerc is the worse manufacturer there is. Their brass primer holes are enough off center to sometimes break a depriming pin in 38 specials. Some Aguila has tight primer pockets and might mess up your cycle when you suddenly realize the primer isn't in far enough and hangs up when trying to turn to the next shell. Most of the time you can just feel it and stop but your rhythm is ruined. If I had to make a choice for the best there is, I would have to pick Norma hands down but the price is so steep that except for special ocasions there is no point and lots of brands are fine for normal shooting especially so with pistol.

[uscra112]

For pistols, it's R-P or more likely range pickup. I generally chuck any foreign stuff I pick up during initial sorting. I don't shoot pistols seriously enough to buy Starline.

Rifles, I've used lots and lots of R-P, but I bought Norma for my K-31, and I seek out Lake City for .30-06 and .223. Lot of work swaqing primer pockets, but you only do that once. Weights are quite consistent. Also hardness.

Have a habit for the .25-20 Single Shot and it's offspring the .22 Lovell R2. Bought 300 pieces of Jamison for those. Really good stuff. Sadly, Jameson went OOB. Hopefully I've got enough to last me out.

Consistently WORST brass I have ever had is Bertram. Don't like Federal much - too much weight variance.

[SlippShodd]

this one.
i have really good luck with norma brass in many rifles that know the difference too.

I'm in LuckyDawg and R5R's camp with the R-P rifle brass and *-* for pistol, if I was ever to buy brass for pistol. Mostly I just scrounge that and I don't seem to have any handguns that much care to any negligible extent. My rifles wouldn't know what to do with Norma brass, however 3 of them favor loads that won't fit in a Win case, but the R-P will take it.
My old man wouldn't buy anything but Remington ammo, and all of his guns were of the same brand. He figured there might be a performance correlation to shooting ammo loaded by the manufacturer of the gun. So my early endeavors with guns were influenced to the point that pretty much any gun I bought, got started with Remington ammo. Until I got into reloading. But I still have a prejudice toward the Big R brass.

mike

[Alzado]

JonB, I'm curious what kind of issues you've had with S&B in 40. Reason I ask is because I've just aquired 7000 once fired S&B brass.

[marlin39a]

RP, Win, FC in that order for most rifle and handgun loads. LC for AR and M1A.

[Boyscout]

Winchester for Rifle, Priv-Partisan for Mosin-Nagant, Winchester or Starline for pistol if buying new. Avoid Fiocchi because of off center flash holes and broken decapping pins. Use S&B 45 ACP but have trouble with tight primer pockets.

[Aje]

Starline for all handgun & 45/70, Lapua for precision rifle. Also got a few Bertram for the 45/75 because thats all I can get there a bit average for $4.00 each.
I Was given about 500 S&B 357mag & 45acp cases, couldn't get a primer into about 1 in 5 of the 357's but the 45's were fine

Aje

[kenyerian]

I like RP for forming 7TCU and 22 hornet if I'm buying new brass. My boy and my grandson's have picked up my thrifty ways and always come home with a lot more Brass from the Range than what they take so for the more common calibers I never have to buy anyto load up plinkers. For any special hunts I do I'll buy some new brass or if they are on sale I'll buy some factory loads to practice with , save brass and use them to work up hunting loads. Some times Cabela's and Vances have factories loads almost as cheap as just buying the brass.

[koehlerrk]

What do I use.... PRVI Partizan for my 7.5 Swiss and 22 Hornet, R-P for my 22-250, Hornady for my 204, and Winchester for everything else.

[ubetcha]

I kind of started doing some checking on my existing assortment of 30-06 brass that I have on hand. They consist of Fed,R-P,and Win.I first stated off by cleaning and squaring the primer pocket,deburring the flash hole,sizing and trimming to 2.465.I then weighted them,but they were all over the place.Not very consistence.I mix up a combination of water and some rubbing alcohol and water weighted them.The majority of Winchester brass was the most consistent.I know I could eliminate most of that work by purchasing lupa or Norma brass,but that take away all the experimenting.I do think I will purchase some new Winchester brass and follow the same procedure.

[mdevlin53]

Had some AMERC in 45-70 almost all split on first firing on good they are is for dummy rounds. I have had good luck with starline and Remington.

[zomby woof]

I've always liked Winchester brass for handguns. You can't beat Lapua for rifle brass.

[Lizard333]

Free for pistol brass. Not picky and don't sort.

For my military rifles I prefer Lake City. Bolt guns my first choice is Remington followed by Winchester.

If its free, I shoot it. 98% of the brass I own was range pick up or traded with range pick up.

The other two percent I bought for scrap value only.

[canyon-ghost]

I'll use Winchester if it's all I can get from the reloading store, it's pricy. But, I buy bulk (500) Starline. http://www.starlinebrass.com/ Somebody always picks up the phone when I call and nowdays, that's a valuable thing. Another human on the end of the telephone is ten times better than digital, electronic sophistry.

[PS Paul]

For heavy .45 Colt loads, before there was Starline, there was Federal. In THAT caliber, I have WW, Magtech, Fed, Starline and a little RP, which are shorter out of the box. Each has a use, but nowadays, starline sees the bulk. Magtech (CBC on headstamp) has that swaged crimp on the case, but it smooths out over repeated loadings. It is well-annealed and a little "soft" at the neck, so for light .45 Colt loads, I like it.
For .357, WW in avg. loads and starline for heavier loads. Thicker case=higher bullet pull. Especially if using a bullet with no crimp groove or cannelure like some of the plated stuff out there that i have to sometimes use at indoor ranges.
I've used some WW nickel-plated WW in .357 and had one in 5 case necks split the second loading. Don't use those much any longer unless I must. but I have about 300 sittin' around, so sometimes I do.
I've used some S&B in .38 and .357 and the occasional "hard to seat" primer is an issue. Usually I can just turn the case 180 deg. in the shellholder and that allows a new primer to be seated...... In rifles, honestly I have WW, federal, PPC (so-so), Rem, Prv, Hornady and some odd military, but I've not done anywhere NEAR the playin' around as with revolver and pistol brass.
Paul

[Dave C.]

Winchester for the long line ( 50yds 38 spl & 45 acp).
Mixed cases for the short line (25 yds).

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

JonB, I'm curious what kind of issues you've had with S&B in 40. Reason I ask is because I've just aquired 7000 once fired S&B brass.

Crushed cases during seating j-words.

I don't sort the brass, I just load from a pile of cleaned mixed brass. While this could surely be due to not enough expanding from Lee's powder through expander die, BUT I haven't had any crushing issues in 40 with other brands of brass, except Amerc.

also I've had issues with cast boolits and Lead fouling in 40, that I have never rectified, I just gave up for the time being. That could also point to insufficent expanding before seating, then the case could be swaging the boolit smaller...causing the leading.
Jon

PS, I know some may like S&B and think it's good brass, but I've been part of many conversations were reloaders dislike S&B. I'm not sure where you got the 7000 S&B 40 cases, but ya gotta wonder why they sorted them out to sell them...I suppose it could be all one guy shot and doesn't reload ??? Good Luck.