300 Win.Mag. Brass - Light vs. Heavy ?

[Bluejay]

What are the pro's and con's of one vs. the other, in .300 Win.Magnum caliber loads ?

Light brass (Remington, Winchester, Federal, Hornady....) having more internal capacity (volume) while Heavy brass (RWS and NORMA Heavy) having more sturdy walls.

I know they need to be treated differently, while working up loads....for difference in pressure...but apart from that ?

Question is....which ones are better than the other (if so...) and which type Ones should use.... ?

Is the light type brass going to withstand more resizing, or viceversa ?

Chip in Guys...

TY

 

[MudRunner2005]

Thicker brass doesn't expand as much or as rapidly as thinner brass...Therefore, you can reach pressure quicker with heavy brass, because it doesn't have as much "give".

It will also last longer, unless the compound is soft, then primer pockets will loosen up and you might as well chunk it.

My thoughts...If you're going with belted magnum brass, it's hard to beat Nosler and Norma. If you're going for non-belted, Lapua is the top-dog.

This is all my opinion based on my experiences, but here's how my personal brass tier looks for precision bolt-action rifles:

Lapua
Nosler
Norma (Weatherby brand brass is also made by Norma)
Hornady
Winchester
Federal
Remington

For my AR reloading of 5.56 & .300 BLK, I strictly use FC 5.56 Mil brass or Lake City 5.56 brass.

For my 6.5 Grendel, I use Hornady brass.

For my revolvers and lever-action rifles, I use Hornady brass.

I do not currently load for pistols.

 

[Barrelnut]

It will also last longer, unless the compound is soft, then primer pockets will loosen up and you might as well chunk it.

This is a good point. Hardness of the brass alloy is a significant attribute shooters use to rate the quality of brass. The harder the brass the longer the primer pockets usually last.

Here's a link to an article on brass alloy differences between few cartridge makers.
Cartridge Brass Alloys Revealed by X-Ray Spectrometers « Daily Bulletin

 

[918v]

What are the pro's and con's of one vs. the other, in .300 Win.Magnum caliber loads ?

Light brass (Remington, Winchester, Federal, Hornady....) having more internal capacity (volume) while Heavy brass (RWS and NORMA Heavy) having more sturdy walls.

I know they need to be treated differently, while working up loads....for difference in pressure...but apart from that ?

Question is....which ones are better than the other (if so...) and which type Ones should use.... ?

Is the light type brass going to withstand more resizing, or viceversa ?

Chip in Guys...

TY

I have some Norma 300WM brass and it is lighter than everything else. So I don't see it as heavy brass for the 300WM.

My position on brass is that it depends. I have one rifle that is more accurate with more powder in a lighter case vs less powder in a heavier case even though the muzzle velocities are identical.

I think it is worthwhile to try using different brass before abandoning a powder or bullet in search of better accuracy.

 

[Bluejay]

I have some Norma 300WM brass and it is lighter than everything else. So I don't see it as heavy brass for the 300WM.
......

To my knowledge (take it with a grain of salt...) Norma produces (or used to...) two types of brass : "Light" and "Heavy", for which they give separate reloading data, as shown here :
300 Winchester Magnum - heavy - Norma
300 Winchester Magnum - light - Norma

In fact, if you compare the given data for the same bullet, you'll see a much lighter powder charge for the "heavy" is suggested...


The "Light" Norma brass should be similar to the more common thinner brass out there (Remmy - W.W. etc...).

 

[just country]

morning, mudrunner very good info. I will make acopy of the info.

thank ulightbulb

 

[918v]

Thanks for the info. Anyone knows which flavor is in current production?

 

[just country]

morning, barrelnut thank u for the very good info!!lightbulb

 

[brentc]

Lapua, Norma, Nosler all weigh the same at around 215-220 grains because it's all Norma. The other popular choices weigh up around 235 grains.

 

[engineer40]

Thicker brass doesn't expand as much or as rapidly as thinner brass...Therefore, you can reach pressure quicker with heavy brass, because it doesn't have as much "give".

It will also last longer, unless the compound is soft, then primer pockets will loosen up and you might as well chunk it.

My thoughts...If you're going with belted magnum brass, it's hard to beat Nosler and Norma. If you're going for non-belted, Lapua is the top-dog.

This is all my opinion based on my experiences, but here's how my personal brass tier looks for precision bolt-action rifles:

Lapua
Nosler
Norma (Weatherby brand brass is also made by Norma)
Hornady
Winchester
Federal
Remington

For my AR reloading of 5.56 & .300 BLK, I strictly use FC 5.56 Mil brass or Lake City 5.56 brass.

For my 6.5 Grendel, I use Hornady brass.

For my revolvers and lever-action rifles, I use Hornady brass.

I do not currently load for pistols.

Thanks for typing this up Mudrunner. Very helpful.

My pistols go through ammo too fast to keep it all separated like to I my rifle stuff. I just put it all together. Plus add the fact that I always seem to pick up extra brass when I'm at the range. I just keep an eye on it during reloading. I'm not scared to throw some cases away during the reloading session, and usually do.

 

[Bluejay]

Got some RWS, R-P, Hornady and Norma brass.

I am gonna weigh them and see the figures...

 

[Bluejay]

OK, for Those interested in different weights for different Brands of 300 WM Cases, here are some results (over batch of 10) :

NORMA (NEW) - Average weight : 215,8 grs. - SD : 0.5082

HORNADY (2 Resizing) - Average weight : 235,4 grs. - SD : 1.3583

REMINGTON (3 Resizing) - Average weight : 237,5 grs. - SD : 1.1227

RWS (1 Resizing) - Average weight : 262,1 grs. - SD : 1.3393


Maybe non an accurate method, but enough to give the idea....

Would be interesting to get also some data from Winchester, Federal and Nosler Guys.

 

[RobStar]

I've never even thought of this but I am now.

I've been saving all my once fired factory Barnes 300 win mag brass for two years now in anticipation of reloading and have almost 600 pieces now. I think Barnes is Remington brass or at least I would assume it is.

Thanks for sharing!

Robert