SSA Brass(By Nosler)

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First, a heads up. I got a notice from SSA that they had a deal on SSA 6.8SPC brass($35/100)...Still listed on their website.

I ordered 200 pieces, and was wondering. Is SSA brass still as good as it was before SSA was purchased by Nosler? I have a few hundred pieces of the pre-Nosler brass, currently loaded, and a couple of hundred pieces still New-in-bag, so it will be a while before I get to this new stuff. I do also turn 6.8 SPC brass into 6mm WOA brass, so before I go through the effort to do that, I thought I should ask if the new stuff is decent brass, or should I ear mark the pre-Nosler SSA brass for 6mm WOA conversion.

FWIW, I have Hornady, Remington, and SSA brass either in use, and or New-in-bags, ready for use. IMHO the pre-Nosler SSA brass is the best of the three listed. I am not impressed with Hornady. Actually the Remington brass I have in loads seems to be better than the Hornady brass. And how I judge brass is results on targets. I tweak loads for different cases, but can't seem to find the same consistency with group size, using Hornady brass versus SSA, or even Remington. YMMV

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I have heard a lot of complaints about the quality. I bought some for my 6.8 to try and could not get any good groups. On the advice from Ritch of RPG guns, I bought some Federal brass that had the bullets pulled. My groups tightened right up. I went from 1.5"groups with the SSA to 1/2" groups with the federal. That was using the same loads. I paid more than the $35 when I bought my SSA. If I could get what I paid for them I would sell the 3 bags of new brass I still have.
 
Reb,

I guess that explains why it is on sale.
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I will run some tests on this stuff, in my 6.8s(I have two), and see if at least one of them likes it. I can always use it to load SD ammo. If I get Minute of home intruder, at 20 feet, with a 110 gr. VMax, that is plenty good.
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Did you anneal the cases before you loaded them? Just curious.

It looks like the pre-Nosler stuff needs to get formed into 6mm WOA, and neck turned for the tight necked 6mm WOA I have. Thanks for the heads up.

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I did not anneal them. I dont have the means to do it. I need to invest in something to anneal as hard as brass is to get for some calibers. I figured I would use the SSA for plinking ammo and may still try to find a load it will shoot good.
 
Squeeze how long ago did nosler and ssa do this? I ask because when I got my 6mmwoa upper from John I ordered a bunch of SSA brass for it and have not had any issues with it. But I have only shot about 250 rounds through it and have about 50 left before I have to start reloading it.
 
IME, best accuracy from Hornady (new brass) and believe it or not from Remington value packs of 200 rounds of 45g JHP (they kill coyotes too).JME, and I recently seen the Remington 200 rounds on sale..believe it was FMJ though.
 
Originally Posted By: HookedIME, best accuracy from Hornady (new brass) and believe it or not from Remington value packs of 200 rounds of 45g JHP (they kill coyotes too).JME, and I recently seen the Remington 200 rounds on sale..believe it was FMJ though.


What does this have to do with SSA 6.8 SPC brass?
 
Originally Posted By: deaddogwalkinSqueeze how long ago did nosler and ssa do this? I ask because when I got my 6mmwoa upper from John I ordered a bunch of SSA brass for it and have not had any issues with it. But I have only shot about 250 rounds through it and have about 50 left before I have to start reloading it.

As best as I can guess from internet chatter, and Press releases, within the last year, SSA was sold to Nosler. I did the same thing you did. When I got my 6mm WOA from John, I laid in a bigger supply of SSA brass. I already had a 6.8 SPC, but I expected to go through more brass, in the 6mm WOA, in the antelope and P-dog fields of WY. I would have stuck with SSA brass, except availability was spotty, so I bought Remington, for use in the 6.8s, since most of those cases get left in the field for deer, predators, and varmints. Then that got scarce, so I tried a sample of Hornady. Sorry to say, in my rifles(3), Hornady has the poorest consistency on target groups. It isn't worth the price they ask for it. IMHO So I was excited to see SSA on sale again. Except I ran across some complaints on line, when I did a search for SSA 6.8 brass, looking for other vendors and deals. That is what got me to post the question here.

I am going to do a test as soon as I get the time. I am going to load some proven loads in the new SSA brass, both new virgin, and new annealed, FL sized, and trimmed. I will do a three way comparison with new, new annealed, and pre-Nosler new, and we shall see for sure if there is a difference in group size. I will probably shoot the test in a very accurate 6.8, first, and then if results look promising, turn some necks, and run some Nosler/SSA brass through the 6mm WOA.

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I haven't got the test loads made, and tested yet, but I started a batch of case annealing, and weighed my test cases. Very interesting observations. First, the Nosler brass is easily identified, from the original SSA brass. There is a step in the brass around the primer pocket, that almost resembles a crimp ring. The original SSA brass has no such step. And weighing the cases showed interesting numbers. The original SSA brass weighed between 117 and 119 grains, with about 80% of the cases weighing 118 grains. The Nosler brass weighed between 113 grains and 117 grains, and showed no consistency across the range. The original SSA brass showed clean crisp lettering on the headstamp, where the Nosler SSA brass is fuzzier. I have a little over 200 pieces of the original SSA brass NIBag, and about 500 pieces loaded, and now 200 pieces of the Nosler SSA brass...Without even running the test, I already know I am going to load the Nosler SSA brass for ammo where cases may not be recovered...And I am going to cherish every last bit of the original SSA brass!
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