.300 wsm Brass

[TJ2050]

I'm new here, but I have been browsing around this site for a while and appreciate all the variety and insight I can gather here.

So I shoot .300 wsm with Barnes 175 LRX and H4831sc at 68 grain out of a Browning x-bolt stainless.

I started reloading a little while back using brass from factory loads, and I am starting to run out. I would get anywhere from 2 to 4 reloads on this brass. I've heard from various sites that 300 wsm is hard on brass, but let me know if that isn't normal.

The main question though is, which brass should I look at buying? I'm in canada, and winchester brass is $65/50, and Norma brass is $84/25, so I have a hard time wanting to purchase norma for nearly 3 times as much per case unless I'm getting 3 times the value (either able to reload it much longer or it is significantly better accuracy). The question isn't only between those 2. Remington is like $75ish/50. Nosler is $99/25

Thanks in advance!

 

[DartonJager]

Before a useful answer can be given to you, would you please list the main purpose you intend on using your 300 wsm for, hunting, target, or a little of both. I also own a 300 wsm and yes brass is about as easy to find as snake feathers.

 

[tailbon3]

Norma brass is better than Winchester brass. If you are long range shooting/long range hunting, I think you'd be well served buying Norma. If you are normal range shooting/hunting ( 300 yards or less ), Winchester brass is just fine. I usually have to discard 1 or 2 pieces from each bag of 300WSM Winchester brass I buy and I'm not all that picky. The last round of Norma brass I bought had shallow primer pockets so I had to use a primer pocket tool to fix it. Also, Hornady makes 300WSM brass now. You might order some of that. I haven't used it but Hornady usually makes good stuff.

 

[Dosh]

Norma brass is better than Winchester brass. If you are long range shooting/long range hunting, I think you'd be well served buying Norma. If you are normal range shooting/hunting ( 300 yards or less ), Winchester brass is just fine. I usually have to discard 1 or 2 pieces from each bag of 300WSM Winchester brass I buy and I'm not all that picky. The last round of Norma brass I bought had shallow primer pockets so I had to use a primer pocket tool to fix it. Also, Hornady makes 300WSM brass now. You might order some of that. I haven't used it but Hornady usually makes good stuff.

2050, my hunting friend loads his 300WSM with my loading equipment. I have had several pieces unusable in every bag of Winchester brass, have seen some softness with Norma and for his 300 WSM loose primer pockets with Hornady. He bought 100 pieces of Remington brass and it has held up very well compared to the others. His runout is quite low and he's getting great accuracy. Pretty sure he paid $78 plus tax here so looks like brass is almost double there.
Good luck

 

[DartonJager]

2050, my hunting friend loads his 300WSM with my loading equipment. I have had several pieces unusable in every bag of Winchester brass, have seen some softness with Norma and for his 300 WSM loose primer pockets with Hornady. He bought 100 pieces of Remington brass and it has held up very well compared to the others. His runout is quite low and he's getting great accuracy. Pretty sure he paid $78 plus tax here so looks like brass is almost double there.
Good luck

WHERE ON EARTH did you find Remington brass for sale? I checked EVERYWHERE 3-4x a week for nearly TWO YEARS and except for Norma I could find no other brass for sale for 300 wsm.

Finally I received a email notification from of all sources, Cabela's had Winchester brass in 300wsm in stock. I ordered 300 pieces and after inspecting the first 100 didn't find any that were rejects.

I would love to buy Norma brass, but now that I have decided to become proficient out to 600 yards the cost of additional equipment such as better dies, better optics as well as additional measuring tools adds up to at least for me a considerable sum of money and unfortunately my funds aren't as unlimited as my love of all things shooting are.

 

[LongBomber]

No its not normal. I get very good case life, just a shot in the dark but how far are you pushing your shoulders back? Or are you stretching primer pockets out?
I anneal every third reload, size the cases with a fl die and bump shoulders back .002" and don't hot rod any pressures. I have never gotten a loose primer pocket, but I have seen case seperation after 20ish reloads.

 

[el matador]

I'm using Remington brass with good results in my 270 WSM. I have used Norma in the past and it behaves a little differently. The Norma is fairly soft and has a lower capacity than other brands. Because of this you can't run your loads as hot or you'll trash the brass quickly. Winchester brass isn't too bad but not as uniform in the neck area.

I have not seen Remington brass in stores for many years but I did get lucky and find some in the classifieds a while back. You can buy Remington loaded ammo for around $1.90 apiece here in the states. When I need more brass I'll try a box of Remington ammo and see how it shoots in my gun. If it shoots well I'll buy 100 rounds, and if not I'll get me a bag of Winchester brass. You can clean up the Winchester stuff pretty well if you get a neck turning tool and skim the necks.

 

[el matador]

Are you shooting Federal ammo and reloading the brass? I got some Federal stuff as a gift and tried it out - the primer pockets were loose after the first firing. Pretty good ejector marks too.

 

[DartonJager]

Are you shooting Federal ammo and reloading the brass? I got some Federal stuff as a gift and tried it out - the primer pockets were loose after the first firing. Pretty good ejector marks too.

I'd contact Federal and see what they say as loose primer pockets after 1 firing is not normal. In the past I have reload max or near max reloads for 300wm, 338wm, 7mmstw and never did I experience any pressure signs beyond the rare stiff bolt lift and certainly never had a primer pocket get loose.

When I first bought my T3 in 300wsm the only brass I could find was Norma at a cost of between $1.60 to $2 each, I then stumbled across a ammo web sight that had 300 wsm Federal Power Shock ammo on sale for $24 for a box of 20 and Winchester Super-X for $26 for 20 with free S&H for orders over $99. I bought 5 boxes of each just for the brass. If you would have told me the day would come I could buy factory loaded ammunition cheaper than brass I would have thought you were suffering from long term chewing on lead paint chips, but to my complete astonishment it has become a reality.

Thankfully I was recently able to buy enough Winchester brass to last me at least 3 or 4 barrels, which for my non competitive purposes will serve me well.

 

[Dosh]

WHERE ON EARTH did you find Remington brass for sale? I checked EVERYWHERE 3-4x a week for nearly TWO YEARS and except for Norma I could find no other brass for sale for 300 wsm.

Finally I received a email notification from of all sources, Cabela's had Winchester brass in 300wsm in stock. I ordered 300 pieces and after inspecting the first 100 didn't find any that were rejects.

I would love to buy Norma brass, but now that I have decided to become proficient out to 600 yards the cost of additional equipment such as better dies, better optics as well as additional measuring tools adds up to at least for me a considerable sum of money and unfortunately my funds aren't as unlimited as my love of all things shooting are.

DJ, found the Remington brass a couple years ago in a gun shop in a small northern Az town. Shooting friends and I keep in touch and when we go out of town we check these small town shops. We've found 215M primers, powders and other components which are scarce in the big cities.

 

[el matador]

I'd contact Federal and see what they say as loose primer pockets after 1 firing is not normal.

I agree its not normal. These were 270 WSM 140 grain Accubond loads and the ejector ring was very pronounced after the first firing. When I tried reloading the brass I found many of them with loose primer pockets. Not so loose that the primer would fall out but they required almost no pressure to seat a primer. My gun has a custom barrel with SAAMI min chamber so it will see a bit higher pressure than a sloppy factory chamber would.

I'm not too worried about the situation but I think this information is useful to anyone looking at Federal brass for a WSM.

 

[LoneTraveler]

Last fall at a range I picked up about 20 Federal empty 300 WSM Brass once fired and a fresh Federal 300 WSM box was in the trash can. I was working with my Kimber Montana and 165 Hornady GMX Bullets and 168 Nosler E Tip for a moose hunt, I was working up from starting loads and about the 2nd loading you could not feel the primers seating with a Lee hand primer on some. May just be soft case heads on the cases.

 

[LongBomber]

When you guys had the loose primer pockets in the fedral brass were you loading woth fed primers or another brand? The fedral primers are just a tad larger in dia than cci/rem primers. If you use the fedral once the cci or rem primers feel like they slip right in.

 

[LoneTraveler]

Thanks for the information LongBomber. I was using WW LRM primers. I have some Federal LR Primers in the one of my dry boxes. Have to get them out and give them a try. Thanks again.