Trm82
Well-Known Member
I would not use Hornady even if it was free
Hornady Brass Opinions
- Thread starter General RE LEE
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FireFlyFishing
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RegionRat
Well-Known Member
If you stay in this game long enough, you will find that every brand has some quality escapes, even Lapua.
The debate is their batting average, not that any of them are perfect.
I have had poor batches from all of them at one time or another because I started young and pre-date the internet... When you are lucky, you have an alternative in hand. When you don't get lucky, you end up rolling up your sleeves and getting to work making a silk purse out of a sow's ear..... YMMV
The debate is their batting average, not that any of them are perfect.
I have had poor batches from all of them at one time or another because I started young and pre-date the internet... When you are lucky, you have an alternative in hand. When you don't get lucky, you end up rolling up your sleeves and getting to work making a silk purse out of a sow's ear..... YMMV
General RE LEE
Well-Known Member
I had a box of Lapua 308 that had 5 cases where the case head wouldn't fit in two of my shell holders and several others were very tight.
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As Ulimate Reloader,BAT, & Alpa demonstrated, custom chambers, actions, and brass can hide pressure well.
If your getting extraordinary speeds from comparable barrel length, your likely over max pressure no matter the signs
If your getting extraordinary speeds from comparable barrel length, your likely over max pressure no matter the signs
RegionRat
Well-Known Member
Agree. I tried to give him some friendly advice not to publish things like that in the open.
He is an engineer but what he was doing was irresponsible and my fear is that the disclaimer won't hold up if someone tries to take brass/guns to that pressure and their daddy has a lawyer.
When we do dangerous non-standard research, we circulate our work among colleagues for peer review. When that shows merit, it goes to committee. When they approve, then it gets published and the circulation goes wider for general adoption and publication.
What he did was not good and I pray it doesn't bite him.
SURE! Seeing is believing, right?
I know, that never happens with the "good brass."
I've been using super-x from the late 70s and early 80s to this date. Unfortunately I only have it for 264wm. Hornady is more abundant and might be fine for range days, but I only just acquired ppu, Norma and adg in a few cartridges. Not able to do any comparisons yet. My ocd doesn't outweigh yours 
. I don't do any prs, 3gun or any other competitions.
. I don't do any prs, 3gun or any other competitions.
I've shot quite a bit of Hornady 6.5 CM brass and always get about 8 firings from it before the primer pockets are getting pretty loose and the case heads are about to seperate. It was so predictable that I started tossing it after 8 firings. I think the brass is a little soft and thin. But 8 firings for the price isn't too bad. I have some Lapua that has 13 firings and still in fine shape. I anneal after almost every firing and FL size with a .002 bump, about like most everyone else.
Check the pic below. The case on the left has had 8 firings. You can see a line starting to form at the top of the case head. Second piece, with the cutout, has 8 firings and you can see the case head body juncture starting to thin. I can feel that spot easily with a paperclip. The two cases on the right have 9 firings. you can see the hairline crack where the case head has started to separate. If the last to cases were fired again they would have been total separation.
Check the pic below. The case on the left has had 8 firings. You can see a line starting to form at the top of the case head. Second piece, with the cutout, has 8 firings and you can see the case head body juncture starting to thin. I can feel that spot easily with a paperclip. The two cases on the right have 9 firings. you can see the hairline crack where the case head has started to separate. If the last to cases were fired again they would have been total separation.
I will be sure to keep my eyes open for such. To be honest, getting 8-10 reloads on brass I paid $30/100 - I'm tickled pink!
I am sure that it is a lot more now but they all are.
JakeC
Well-Known Member
I have used it since I started reloading 5 years ago, I just started refurbishing factory ammo brass and naturally focused on what I had the most of. I got very good results right away across a huge range of age and batch and original product line. It's only gotten better as I've added steps over time. There's a lot of variability to start with in erms of pocket depth and flash holes and receptivity to sizing, but it's very userr friendly to mess with, seems to have good life and it's rewarding to learn on. I did the same prep with SIG, could not get the same results out of it. I reinstalled the barrel that the Hornady stash is for around Christmas. I went all in on about 500 cases, I annealed it finally, I weight sorted, the whole works from scratch. It came out really great. Annealed easily. I turned the necks and they were very shockingly consistent in terms of thickness and concentricity. Out of 300 pieces I found about ten that were more than a thou out of concentric and twenty that were not the same thickness. This was 300 cases of wildly different age and round count that just happened to fall within the same 5 grain weight window. So that's to to say I have a gigantic sample size. There could definitely be some bad inconsistency within individual batches, that would change things of course.
So, I've obviously put a lot of work in but they're receptive to everything I do and results are commensurate. And if I squash one in the press I can just can it and move on with my life. I bought some Nosler for my 25-06 and my plan for this weekend is to find some Hornady 270 to replace it with. I just am not enjoying the Nosler, I keep wishing it was Hornady honestly. I'll probably try to get one some peterson too. It reminds me a lot of the Gunwerks saum brass I have, Hornady is more similar to that than it is to win or nosler or Rem.
Just my findings. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to someone who enjoys elbow grease, even though it takes less than you might think.
Edit: I'm remembering that the factory loads had a fair number of pockets that gave up after two or even one firing. But the CM loads come hot from the factory so it's not shocking, just worth saying that a certain number were gone after 1 or two mild handloads while hundreds of others are on 5 and going.
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Seabeeken
Well-Known Member
I recently had the same thing happen with some 7x57 PPU brass, new unfired wouldn't fit in shellholder
Seabeeken
Well-Known Member
You can braze that and buff it out.
