HSM 243 Varmint, 75 gr V-Max

hunt0168

hunt0168

Active member
I recently purchased a couple boxes of HSM 243 Varmint that shot well from my new Tikka T3x. I inquired here about the case head stamp as I was not familiar with it and you guys quickly identified it as Starline brass. Well because it shot well and the price was reasonable (by today’s standards anyway) I purchased another 10 boxes. I purchased them from the same place as the first two boxes.

Well after inspection of the contents of all 12 boxes in my possession I have 6 boxes with Starline Brass and 6 boxes with brass that has HSM for a head stamp.

I haven’t shot it yet but I’m curious about your thoughts. Do you think there will be any deviation in performance between the 2 different casings? I have emailed HSM with some questions but haven’t heard back yet.

As mentioned previously, I do not currently reload but may get into that in the future. I do save my brass. Anybody have experience reloading the HSM brass?
 
That would be a 'definite maybe', but I would expect accuracy to change.

My experience has been, that if you change one thing in the load, such as brass make, primer make, powder charge, seating depth etc., you potentially change the accuracy.

Try 3 shots from the HSM brass, let the rifle cool a bit, and then 3 shots from the Starline brass. You will have your answer.

I had a bag of new, Winchester 243 brass, that I trimmed. 37 pieces weighed 165-170grains, and the remaining 13 weighed 190-200grs. I keep them separate.

Think of the brass weight like compression in a car engine. If your 6cyl has 5 at 120lbs and 1 at 85lbs, you will probably notice a bit or a rough idle.
 
K22-hornet said:
That would be a 'definite maybe', but I would expect accuracy to change.

My experience has been, that if you change one thing in the load, such as brass make, primer make, powder charge, seating depth etc., you potentially change the accuracy.

Try 3 shots from the HSM brass, let the rifle cool a bit, and then 3 shots from the Starline brass. You will have your answer.

I had a bag of new, Winchester 243 brass, that I trimmed. 37 pieces weighed 165-170grains, and the remaining 13 weighed 190-200grs. I keep them separate.

Think of the brass weight like compression in a car engine. If your 6cyl has 5 at 120lbs and 1 at 85lbs, you will probably notice a bit or a rough idle.
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Thanks for the reply. Shooting them both for groups and POI is for sure going to happen. I do understand that changing one component in a cartridge can (and probably will) have some effect. I just know some of you reloaders know a ton of stuff that I don’t. Like maybe Starline produces HSM brass. Or both cases have the same internal dimensions. Stuff like that. Ultimately I know it’s up to me to find out. Figured it couldn’t hurt to ask and fire up a conversation.
 
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