Is 35 year old rem brass better than the new stuff?

[Deleted member 109523]

I have a ton of once fired 270 win brass, of all brands, from back in the day. most of it is remington. I wanted to do an AI of some sort, probably a 270 AI or a 270 Sherman. Or maybe even use in my sons 280 AI. I wondering from the experts here if it's better than the new stuff. Thanks

 

[Dosh]

If it cleans up well, anneal it and shoot it. Perhaps keep the Remington and sell the rest in same brand lots. My brother in law is using 30+ year old Remington 7Mag brass shooting way sub MOA. He had over 300 pieces. I sized, steel pin tumbled, annealed, and trimmed it. Not much different than the contemporary Remington brass. Good luck

 

[Kansaswoodguy]

I don't think there is anything wrong with older brass but modern manufacturing practices are so much tighter than 30 years ago current production brass is most likely superior in consistency.

 

[Deleted member 109523]

I don't think there is anything wrong with older brass but modern manufacturing practices are so much tighter than 30 years ago current production brass is most likely superior in consistency.

that's what I was curious about. I thought I had read somewhere that the quality was better though back then

 

[MagnumManiac]

I find the older brass more consistent, regardless of brand.
Recent manufacturing has cut corners for cost. Very few brands hold up to their quality, European brass has not changed much over the years.
Remington brass of new manufacture is miles ahead of Federal, Hornady or Winchester. It's capacity is pretty uniform in the same lots, but if you segregate by headstamp lettering size, you get much better consistency. It's so good that I use it my Hunter class rifles. Was using Norma, but primer pockets open too soon for me.
With proper case prep and sorting, Remington brass has just the right hardness in the head and softness in the necks to give very good accuracy, but it has to be sorted for case capacity, not case weight.

Cheers.

 

[ButterBean]

I find the older brass more consistent, regardless of brand.
Recent manufacturing has cut corners for cost. Very few brands hold up to their quality, European brass has not changed much over the years.
Remington brass of new manufacture is miles ahead of Federal, Hornady or Winchester. It's capacity is pretty uniform in the same lots, but if you segregate by headstamp lettering size, you get much better consistency. It's so good that I use it my Hunter class rifles. Was using Norma, but primer pockets open too soon for me.
With proper case prep and sorting, Remington brass has just the right hardness in the head and softness in the necks to give very good accuracy, but it has to be sorted for case capacity, not case weight.

Cheers.

X-2

 

[Deleted member 109523]

I find the older brass more consistent, regardless of brand.
Recent manufacturing has cut corners for cost. Very few brands hold up to their quality, European brass has not changed much over the years.
Remington brass of new manufacture is miles ahead of Federal, Hornady or Winchester. It's capacity is pretty uniform in the same lots, but if you segregate by headstamp lettering size, you get much better consistency. It's so good that I use it my Hunter class rifles. Was using Norma, but primer pockets open too soon for me.
With proper case prep and sorting, Remington brass has just the right hardness in the head and softness in the necks to give very good accuracy, but it has to be sorted for case capacity, not case weight.

Cheers.

Thanks much. that's what I was looking for.

 

[Kansaswoodguy]

So how many people believe factory ammo today is less accurate that 30 years ago? Let's see a show of hands.

 

[Varmint Hunter]

If I was spending the money on a new custom rifle I wouldn't be trying to save money by using old brass which was fired in different rifles and apparently from different lots. Today' high quality brass is well worth the money. Why waste barrel life with the old/odd brass when you'll end up using quality brass in the end?
Just my 2 cents.

 

[gpo1956]

If I had three hundred rounds of good once fired brass available, I wouldn't care what I was shooting it in. If it's good, then it's good.

 

[Deleted member 109523]

If I had three hundred rounds of good once fired brass available, I wouldn't care what I was shooting it in. If it's good, then it's good.

Yep. I have a lot more than that. I'm retired. I have plenty of time to sort brass.

If I was spending the money on a new custom rifle I wouldn't be trying to save money by using old brass which was fired in different rifles and apparently from different lots. Today' high quality brass is well worth the money. Why waste barrel life with the old/odd brass when you'll end up using quality brass in the end?
Just my 2 cents.

This will be a back seat rifle for when I'm bird hunting exc, built off a Stevens 200, cheap boyds stock, vortec viper.