Is Remington Peters brass really that bad?

[FEENIX]

Depending on what rifle and range you're using them for the culling process might not be necessary. It may make you feel better, and it could give you some better accuracy/ performance. but the extra work might not be worth your effort. Since you already culled them load 20 or more of each selected brass and shoot them for comparison. Do a full comparison once the brass has been fire formed to the chamber.

He might also see a difference after running it through the sizing die.

 

[GSRetrievers]

I remember the days back when the 338 edge was just coming around in the early 2000s when we thought we had hit the lottery if we found Remington 300rum brass to form the edge. I can assure you, it had to come out of the bag badly deformed (think a truck running over it) to get culled. I never had an issue with precision out to distance with Remington brass out of my edge that is long down the road. I don't use rem brass now and wouldn't in an edge I built today just for longevity reasons

 

[Rflshootr]

I'd skim neck turn about .001 off the culls. You'll probably see the concentricity be near as good as the good ones.

 

[dtalbot]

I've used R-P brass exclusively for my reforming needs, as the R-P brass is soft enough to form without splits, etc.

 

[Shane Lindsey]

300 RUM brass lasted longer than ADG. And supposedly those are all the old Rem engineers.

 

[Rosebud]

Older Rem brass was very good, the new brass, not so much.
Bought factory 25-06 ammo to get the brass two years ago because no brass was available. Fired it then ran it through a Forested shoulder bump neck bushing die. When I was inspecting them and priming I handed one to my wife who knows nothing about reloading and asked what's wrong with this.
In under ten seconds she said one side of the hole one the end has a thicker side.
One firing and it had run out,very bad run out. I culled down to about twenty-five pieces to hunt with until I found better brass.

 

[MarkInPA]

For me, I kept maybe 50 of the best brass that met my standards. The rest is being used for tools such as setting up my annealing machine, maybe modifying a case to use to loosely fit a bullet to find the lands and things of that sort. New Lapua brass is on its way.

 

[300WSMGUY]

Is Remington Peters brass really that bad? I was working with new, virgin .308 Winchester brass this morning. It was bulk brass. I expanded the case mouths, chamfered and deburred. I then proceeded to cull my undesirable brass by checking the case necks for concentricity and then by case neck thickness. I only pulled a few for concentricity over .002" but I pulled a pile of them for neck thickness variances by more than .0015". Just looking at my piles of brass, I'm guessing that I am keeping 1/3 of them and 2/3 are getting tossed or repurposed. I think I might run these through my sizing dies just to see what happens.

I only have the Remington brass because I got them for nothing. If I was buying brass, I would be looking at different options.

YES! They are that bad

 

[Allen Kitts]

Well everything depends on what you are using the rounds for. I have loaded Remington Brass for so many years I lost count. I never had any issues at normal hunting distances. From 0-400 yards maybe even a little farther. If you using it to try and ring out a rifle for the best groups, tight tolerances and ES possible then I would say no it is not what you are looking for. If you are hunting with it at distances less than 400 yards I doubt you would ever notice a difference. Start taking it past that and you may see some issues. I would load it all and shoot it!

 

[MagnumManiac]

Just to make a point, my R-P 7STW brass is excellent out of the box, only 1 of 100 pieces needed culling, now this brass, not seconds, it was bought in 1000 lots, has the deepest primer pocket I have ever experienced.
To get MY standard of .004" crush, I have to seat them .008" below flush, no other case has required this, yet, they all shoot very well. 3/8" MoA is normally what results, a few 1/4" groups in a session are normal too, so, is this the brass, bullet or gun?

Cheers.

 

[Mikecr]

I only pulled a few for concentricity over .002" but I pulled a pile of them for neck thickness variances by more than .0015". Just looking at my piles of brass, I'm guessing that I am keeping 1/3 of them and 2/3 are getting tossed or repurposed. I think I might run these through my sizing dies just to see what happens.

Neither concentricity nor runout can be credibly compared until brass is fire formed, but thickness variance does matter.
It's the first thing I check with all new brass, regardless of brand.
That you might discard 2/3 of a batch still leaves you with 1/3 that are good. As long as this leaves you enough it's fine,, just throw the rest away and save yourself the troubles with it.

Running it through a sizing die will not fix it in the long term, and will eventually amplify the issue.
Thickness variance at necks runs the full length of cases. So with any body sizing cycles the case will take a banana form and runout grows. Eventually the runout exceeds chamber clearance, and you get thrown shots.
If you neck sized only, then there is no action to cause bananas, and cases with thickness variance wouldn't matter so much. But most people cannot get away with neck sizing only (It takes a special plan).

There can be further culling, as cases have there own character.
After 3 fireformings with no body sizing, I compare H20 capacities, typically culling 1/4 away there.
And for any shot thrown, ever, I toss the offending case without hesitation.

With a WSSM project, Win Reloading brass, and my process, I managed to settle with 80 cases from 1,000.
I was and am satisfied with this as I only need 50 cases.
2.5 barrels later, I'm still using these 50, so it's not really a bad deal for me.

Someone mentioned brand blindness. I couldn't agree more.
With thickness variance, I don't see it resolved by brand.
The best, and the very worst brass I've measured, were different lots of brown box Lapua 6BR.

 

[MarkInPA]

Neither concentricity nor runout can be credibly compared until brass is fire formed, but thickness variance does matter.
It's the first thing I check with all new brass, regardless of brand.
That you might discard 2/3 of a batch still leaves you with 1/3 that are good. As long as this leaves you enough it's fine,, just throw the rest away and save yourself the troubles with it.

Running it through a sizing die will not fix it in the long term, and will eventually amplify the issue. Thickness variance at necks runs the full length of cases. So with any body sizing cycles the case will take a banana form and runout grows. Eventually the runout exceeds chamber clearance, and you get thrown shots.

This sounds like good advice to me. I've heard this from multiple credible sources. Thanks Mike. I find it interesting that you will even cull a case if it shoots outside the group on paper. Makes sense to me.

I bet once you find your 50 cases, you do your best to take care of them.

 

[P7M13]

I have it but won't buy it because I have found
308 : loose primer pockets after 3 firings.
243 : split necks after only two firings, even though I annealed them.
I used to have it for 7 mag, all from from 2007, and didn't have any problem in the few reloadings I did, but that gun and brass are long down the road.

I have hardly any R-P brass left, as it has all died for the above reasons. For 308 I have a ton of Lapua, and for 243 I have Lapua and PPU.