Brass difference

T

Threewolves

Member
I have reloaded for years. Through use I have never noticed any big difference between winchester and remington brass. I went to sportsmans warehouse to pick up some new 25.06 brass and there was a difference of about 4.00. The win was 12.99 and the rem was 16.99 (for 50). I checked cabelas basically the samething.

Is remington any better or can winchester just make it cheaper? Is there suppose to be any accuracy difference?

(my old brass was just used up 25.06, converted 30.06 and 270 brass, by rem, win, fed, pmc, etc. Also, I know I can get brass cheaper other places, but sportsmans is right here and convenient) Thanks, Paul
 
In recent years Winchester has normally been much better than Remington. Of course, it all depends on the lot but most lots of Win are better than most lots of Rem.

Jack
 
I have never seen a difference as far as case life or consistency case to case or accuracy. I will say that the last couple bags of Winchester brass I have bought had several dented cases in them.
 
Tap2K, I have been loading for a while myself and have very recently noticed a difference between brass. I posted on the Long Range Hunters board to inquire as to why and got some very good suggestions. I tried using WIN brass in my Rem 700 7mm RM for the first time and had gas marks showing on the shoulder, really erratic grouping and could not seem to get the neck/shoulder to seal with hotter loads. Swithced back to my old standby REM brass and haven't looked back. I have had great luck with WIN brass in my 22-250. Go figure. Hope this helps. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Threewolves,

I never used to think there was much difference over the years, but since this last summer, I'm sticking with Remington.
Maybe Jack had a point with past Winchester brass, and they use to be more consistent, but after testing new lots of Remington and Winchester brass this last summer, it was an eye opener.

I was building a new load for my .22-250 for fox & coyote hunting this winter, and thank god I did it in Remington brass. After getting a load that shot phenominally, I tried loading it in the Winchester brass. It was well below maximum in my gun, so I just substituted the brass for the hell of it. Just to see.
Instead of putting 10 shots into one nice cluster like the Remington's, they were all over within a 2" circle. No consistency what so ever.
I then weighed the cases, 10 Remington's, and 10 Winchester's and there was a large variation in the Winchester's, and by far, more than the Remington's.

My question would be, why ? What's changed recently ?
It's nice to have a choice, as many times I can only get one, or the other, not both.

Anyway, I still use their handgun brass, as it seems more durable, but oddly so, Remington handgun brass is more readily available where I stock up at. Winchester rifle brass seems to be the prominent brass they carry also.

I've decided to start ordering large lots anyway, so from now on I can get what I want.

My 2......

Take care,
Bob
 
With the Brass I have used I "think" the Rem. seems a little softer, seems like it dents and scratches easier. and in my 22-250 brass and 223 brass the Rem. brass has less volume, holds less water. Fill the case, trim to length first, dump the water into a cheap chem lab pipette , you can measure volume.
Carl
 
Here is the thing:
For each caliber, the brass is different.

I don't use Rem. brass in the 22-250...reason being, they are lots lighter, than say Fed or Win. Thus, they have thinner necks and after just a couple loads, the neck tension is about gone. So I stay with the Win brass.

270 brass:
Here now is where I use the Rem & not Win. There is lots of variance in the weight between these casings, I have seen Win brass go as much as 12-15 grs lighter than the Rem. So in this caliber it's either Rem or Fed.

30-'06:
Same thing here as the 270.

I guess most of the brass I use is Rem, even for the 300 WM. I do like the heavier brass, makes for more reloads and tighter necks. I have some Rem brass here in the 7 mag that I have reloaded 7 times now and still holding up.

When I am working up load for any given caliber, I will use the heaviest brass I got, then when the max is reached I will then switch back the medium wt casing that I have & finish loading.
 
Typically, WIN is made with much harder brass and RP brass is made more uniform.
Personally, I like the WIN brass better as most of my guns are in “hot rod” chambers that require fire forming. With the WIN brass, I can get a near perfect yield rate but I can’t say that about RP brass. Plus, I get 2~3 more reload out of the WIN brass before the primer pocket gets too big to hold the primer. A hand loader can always rework brass to make them more uniform, but it’s very difficult to make the brass harder.
 
Had a competition shooting acquaintence tell me to weigh my brass. He didn't say anything about brand, but I think he assumed the same make/lot, etc. but he said sorting the brass by weight would tighten up groups. I don't shoot for points, so I didn't bother, but I thought I'd throw it into the ring.
 
Threewolves,

As noted above, usually the Rem brass is a bit thicker than Win. This means less internal volume in the thicker-walled case, which means it will run up pressures faster (with the same load) than the thinner-wall brass. So, if you work up a safe load in, say, a Win case and then load that load in a Rem case, you might find yourself having to hammer the bolt open after the first shot (happened to me in .270 once).

What I do is to work up a given load in one specific brand of case. I keep the different brands I have separate and don't use the same load across them, unless I adjust the powder charge slightly to account for the internal volume difference.
 
Quote:
This means less internal volume in the thicker-walled case



This is true, but not always.
The density and amalgamation of the brass also have effects on the weight of the casing, the only sure way to measure the case volume is weight the brass before and after filled with pure water but we are now getting to the deeper end of this discussion.
If load close to the top end, anytime you change any ingredient(lot)in the mix of your recipe, you should always start low and work up again.
 
Sirs, Hey, Thanks for all the great replies. It is really great getting info from people who know what they are talking about (you can tell by reading these replies).

Also,I have had similer results with my 22.250 and my 300.win. They both shoot 3/4 in. I am trying to get the 25 to do the same, it seems like it seldom gets below 1.5 in.

Called cabelas and brass shows 26.99 for 100 JUST WENT UP to 28.99, two dollar in crease. Take Care, Paul
 
Winchester brass as a general rule will have slightly more case capacity(thinner walls)than Remington, and in the past Winchester had a reputation of being slightly more brittle. But saying that I use both, Remington in my 44 mags, 45-70' and 30-06 but I use Winchester in my 308, 270WSM, and 357 Mag. Usually Federal or Winchester in my 45ACP.I am looking at Starline for a future projest though.
 
threewolve's...good question...i just did the same today @ sportsmans warehouse with 25/06 brass i like you went with the winchester...price ?? oh sure to some degree..a few buck's ain't gonna break us...having alway's heard solid thing's about winchester i didn't feel i was "skimping" you know what's funny ?? if the price was revearsed i would feel fine ??
 
Up here in the NorthWest corner of Washington, the #1 ammo that is bought over the counter is Remington.

This is also verified by the amount of brass that I accquire each time that I am at the rifle range. I bring home a 3 gal bucket each time and once I filled a 5 gal bucket.
98% of the brass is Remington. This past summmer I sold 1300 '06 casings for scrap, but befor I sold it I wanted to get as many Winchester casing for myself. But, guess what, out of all them casings I got only 45 casing that were Winchester!

Winchester ammo is not to popular here.
 
I use them interchangably, and have, for price reasons, bought Win in the last few years. Can't say I can tell a difference whether in my 22-250 or my 25-06.

It looks to me that the brass I see and find at the range appear to be bought due to price (low). The UMC/Remington and the regular standard Rem are more plentiful cause their factory loaded rounds are cheaper than the Win. at the local stores
 
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