Winchester brass good enough or not worth it?

[Predator 22]

The last 200 pieces of Winchester brass (red bag) I bought will be the last Winchester brass I buy. The blue bag stuff was ok but not worth the effort now. If you figure in the time it takes to get it ready it is much cheaper, easier and faster to just buy better brass.

 

[General RE LEE]

Well dang…I just ordered 3 bags of 50 .30-06 red and black bag Winchester brass. Kinda bummed seeing this thread lol. I will full length resize and measure all case lengths and trim if necessary.

 

[bigbrad53]

Found a good deal on some Winchester brass and there's a couple bags available at my sportsman's warehouse. I normally use Norma brass but it is extremely hard to come by right now. Anyone have thoughts on the Winchester bag of brass? Primer pocket issues with higher pressure loads? Bad accuracy? These will mostly be used for hunting loads.

Have used Winchester brass in lots of different calibers for years. Only had 1 bad batch in 45 Colt and all they needed was the primer pockets deepened. Easily do with a hand tool.

 

[Tulsa Reiner]

Recent lots have very poor QC.
I have recently bought several bags because nothing else was available.
Bought 150 300WM, 100 338WM and 100 22-250.
All had about a 20% cull rate with pleated necks and shoulders, flash holes not centered or round, even some with 2 distinct flash holes.
I fired 10 of the 338WM brass to get a volume average and was shocked to see neck splits on 3 pieces. The volume also varied quite a bit. I don't know where it's being made or by who, but it is no way as good as in previous years.
I will not be buying more, Remington brass is a whole lot better.

Cheers.

Magnum: you got the "export quality" brass that they send to Australia.

 

[Greyfox]

My experience has been similar to others seeing about 5%-10% of a bag being deformed/defective. I'll use it in some of my older short-mid range hunters/plinkers, or when in a pinch for brass availability. Unlike some of the higher end brass, more frequent trimming and annealing is necessary to maintain consistency. I have experienced case head separations and neck splitting when pressures were pushed, so I'll keep loads well within spec. With recent lots of 300WM brass I found that I could not use my Wilson case trimmer until the brass was fire formed. The exterior dimensions of the body of the case was too small to be held by the standard Wilson collar. This was not the case with any other brands of 300WM brass.

 

[Lenny Foffa]

I use Win. Brass. A lot! Mostly. In 270 win Hunting loads and .308. Target loads ! I. Would purchase 3 bags if 50 , in the. Hopes of getting 30 rounds in the. Same. Weight. Range ! The. Brass is. Light , but I like it. For Max. 270. Win Hunting. Loads ! The. Brass. Needs all. The. Work. Done to. It ! Inside. Flash hole de burr! Resize. All. Necks , VLD Chamfer tool,De Burr. Clean all. Necks. With a. 270 bore brush on a. Drill. Press. Then. Sort by . By weight, then. Prime ! I. Have. Loaded. My 308. Target Ammo 8. Times and. Have. Had. Just. One. Split. Neck on the 8thLoad ! I MH O. It's. Not. Terrible, and it's. Very available!! I. Have to. Do. All those. Same steps on. Lapua. Brass anyway

 

[Stammster]

That's . a . lot . of . periods..

 

[Hard rock]

I use Win. Brass. A lot! Mostly. In 270 win Hunting loads and .308. Target loads ! I. Would purchase 3 bags if 50 , in the. Hopes of getting 30 rounds in the. Same. Weight. Range ! The. Brass is. Light , but I like it. For Max. 270. Win Hunting. Loads ! The. Brass. Needs all. The. Work. Done to. It ! Inside. Flash hole de burr! Resize. All. Necks , VLD Chamfer tool,De Burr. Clean all. Necks. With a. 270 bore brush on a. Drill. Press. Then. Sort by . By weight, then. Prime ! I. Have. Loaded. My 308. Target Ammo 8. Times and. Have. Had. Just. One. Split. Neck on the 8thLoad ! I MH O. It's. Not. Terrible, and it's. Very available!! I. Have to. Do. All those. Same steps on. Lapua. Brass anyway

What is your acceptance on weight variance the win 284 brass I was trying too work a load on my 25-284 was running up too 15 grs different in weight after turning necks trimming deburring etc I was having a hard time getting 5 cases too get close too each other out of 50 plus cases finally ordered some 6.5 -284 Lapua unbelievable quality compared too win I wasisted a lot of time messing with Win brass been doing this a long time I'm new too guality brass I'm impressed with the consistency of Lapua brass

 

[Mike Matteson]

^^ This ^^
If you are going to sort do case capacity sorting not weight sorting. You really have to fire the brass 1-3 times before you can get consistent capacity.

I have read about this. I can see there going to be a change, and increase in volume by some? Your chamber is your chamber, and expansion would about equal after each firing I would think. I can see that the volume would increase some. I would think the case would be all about equal after each firing. I can see the increase of volume do to fire forming the case, and bumping the case only a couple of thousands back each time, with FL resizing. If case weight being very close to same to start with, the volume I would think would be very close to the same. Weight by volume in each case, I feel is part of the key in getting your ES & ED closes.
The biggest problem presently is most of my reloading equipment, and up date equipment is in Montana or going there, and I am still in Mex-lifornia presently. Going through getting my home here in Mex-lifornia ready to sell. I can't stand what has been done here in Mex-lifornia. So I can't prove it one way or the other. I should be getting a couple of new rifle completed so it will be a test to see what the out come are at that time.
Love the forum! I have gain a great amount of info over the pass few years.

 

[meatyrem]

I have only picked up one 50ct bag of 7mm rem Mag brass
Out of all 50 I only found one that had an odd shaped primer hole from inside the case it looks good and round. From the primer pocket you can see like a gouge on the side of it like an oval but does not go all the way through. I have not used them and they still sit in the bag, other than that I can't see any issues yet.

 

[meatyrem]

What is your acceptance on weight variance the win 284 brass I was trying too work a load on my 25-284 was running up too 15 grs different in weight after turning necks trimming deburring etc I was having a hard time getting 5 cases too get close too each other out of 50 plus cases finally ordered some 6.5 -284 Lapua unbelievable quality compared too win I wasisted a lot of time messing with Win brass been doing this a long time I'm new too guality brass I'm impressed with the consistency of Lapua brass

The most I seen with the win brass I have is no more than 4-5 grains

 

[Hard rock]

The most I seen with the win brass I have is no more than 4-5 grains

The Lapua are nearly identical from case too case with the exception of one weighing less than a half gr difference from lightest too heaviest . The win brass that I have has as much as 15 grs variance I think you divide by 80 and convert back too granule volume half gr diff would ud be negligible even 2 too 3 grs would be ok but not 15 for sure

 

[MagnumManiac]

Magnum: you got the "export quality" brass that they send to Australia.

More like the stuff Winchester Australia orders cause they won't pay full price for it and it's the stuff swept up off the floor and from behind the machines, just like the rifles they bring in, misaligned scope base holes, defective firing pin springs etc, etc.

Cheers.

 

[meatyrem]

15gr is a lot. Like I say the biggest difference was no more than 5gr but I did have to deburr quite a few maybe half the bag had little stickers on the primer holes
I haven't used any of it as that's a last resort as I have a whole new bag of RP and 120 RP on 1 or 2 firings and won't touch the win brass unless I get desperate but at the time that was all I could find. Last I seen and for the last handful of times i visited the lgs they had several new bags of RP sitting there waiting for me.