Winchester brass

[Sidewinderwa]

I have not bought Winchester brass for some time, not available! I have been hearing from customers that they have been getting bad Winchester brass. Some of the holes are not centered. The mouth of the cases are messed up and not usable. I am wondering is someone else is making it or just poor manufacturing??? What has been your experience with Winchester brass lately? It has been good brass for me in the past. I did pick up some Nosler brass for a good price, thanks for someone on the board saying there were blems available! I have not had a chance to try out the Nosler 204 brass yet.

[Albertacoyotecaller]

I haven't been able to find any Winchester brass for a while now but I am not sure if I would buy it anyways. Very poor quality with offset flash holes or double holes. About 20% of the last two bags were like this.

[Darkker]

Winchester or more correctly said, Olin, sold their cartridge case business about a decade ago. They have had it built by whomever bids lowest price, ever since the sale.

I don't believe Nosler is using the Silver State Armory facility to actually make their own brass yet. Unless that has changed very recently, they have Norma stamp their name on brass and ship it over here.

[Sidewinderwa]

I guess it will be Remington for bulk. I hope to get some more Nosler blems when available. Put the word out if you hear of any please.

[futuretrades]

When I first purchased my 204, about 8yrs ago now, I started out using Win brass. Right off the bat I started having problems with said brass, I had 600 pieces of the Win brass, so I was reluctant to try some other brass. I did get some RP brass, and took care of problems I was having with the Win brass, so I sold my win brass here!
Due to the volumes of shooting I do, at skippy, I had to purchase a lot of RP brass to replace what I sold, and since then, I have close to 2000 rounds of RP brass. After initial prep, I've not had a problem with the RP brass, even with numerous loading's. I will have to start annealing this brass, this year, but I don't foresee any problems. JME

[russ2far]

I bought 1000 Winchester brass for my 204 back in 2002. I think I had 40 necks split first time I shot them with no troubles since, I have 4 on all and maybe 5 load cycles on some. Back in 2011 I picked up 100 220 swift Winchester brass for a 220 Wilson Arrow I bought. Yes I know that I changed the neck on the brass before I ever loaded it, and if I didn't do it right that every round was fire formed and so on, Anyway 4 of the first shot split, and I have had at least one split every load cycle after, I am just starting the 4th load cycle on that 100. I bought some Remington 220 swift brass at a pawn shop that I am guessing was twice shot, silver primer not gold. I do the exact same loading process as I do with the Winchester brass and haven't had one neck split in 3 load cycles. I bought 100 222 Winchester brass in 2008, and another 100 in 2009 have 3 and 2 load cycles on them with no troubles. Winchester brass was the cheapest around here by a long shot for a long time, that's why I bought, and would buy it in small rifle cases still today, but none of the stores have it any more, all have Hornady and Nosler so I am guessing there were to many complaining about Winchester brass.

[Silverfox]

Most of the WW brass I purchased was bought prior to 2007. I have not had any neck splits or other real complaints about this older brass. I do anneal my brass after three or four firings which no doubt helps guard against neck splits.

I was very impressed with the quality of the WW .204 Ruger brass I had purchased. So much so that I used WW .204 Ruger brass to form approximately four hundred .17 Remington brass casings. Those casings were for my Stiller Predator action in .17 Remington which I had built during the spring of 2010. Using the WW brass, which had thicker neck walls than .17 Remington factory brass I had purchased over the years, allowed me to have a reamer made with a chamber neck ID of .201". The formed casings seem to be as good as Nosler .17 Remington brass so far. The formed casings have slightly less volume than factory .17 Remington casings, so one has to be wide awake when choosing a starting load for a new bullet!!! With the powders I have tested for 25 gr., 29 gr., and 30 gr. bullets for this brass I can start slightly above the load listed as a starting load and get velocities close to the velocities listed for the maximum loads.

I'm sad to hear that so many folks are having problems with the quality of WW brass.

[RAMOS]

Most of the WW brass I purchased was bought prior to 2007. I have not had any neck splits or other real complaints about this older brass. I do anneal my brass after three or four firings which no doubt helps guard against neck splits.

I was very impressed with the quality of the WW .204 Ruger brass I had purchased.

I'm sad to hear that so many folks are having problems with the quality of WW brass.

Exactly the same experience that I have had. If the negative reviews continue, I will most likely switch over to Nosler cases when the need arises. The good news, for me, is that my 'old' WW brass shows no sign of being close to needing to be scrapped.

[Darkker]

The formed casings seem to be as good as Nosler .17 .

Nosler brass is Norma brass.
When they bought Silver State Armory, my assumption was in part for the case mfg capacity. But as of yet, I have not been able to confirm they are building any centerfire cases yet.

[Travelor]

A friend and I bought 1000 new Winchester brass last year. We found 20+ cases that were deformed from the factory. I have emailed Winchester Customer Service 5 times about this and have yet to get a response!!!!

Just saying.......................

[oldfox]

Sad to see an icon company like Winchester producing inferior quality reloading components. I have purchased 100 30-06 brass, and so far these appear ok after 2 firings

[RAMOS]

The formed casings seem to be as good as Nosler .17 .

Nosler brass is Norma brass.
When they bought Silver State Armory, my assumption was in part for the case mfg capacity. But as of yet, I have not been able to confirm they are building any centerfire cases yet.

There is one difference between the Nosler and Norma headstamp for me. If I have any issue with cases wearing the Nosler stamp, I have zero doubt that Nosler will give me fair consideration. Just a great bunch of people to work with. Not saying Norma is any different, I just don't have any kind of track record with them.

Sad to see an icon company like Winchester producing inferior quality reloading components. I have purchased 100 30-06 brass, and so far these appear ok after 2 firings

Could not agree more, it is sad.

[acloco]

Same experience when using Win 204 headstamped brass - split necks.

I DO use RP 204 headstamp brass in my 222 Magnum AI with ZERO issues.

[Darkker]

Ramos,
Can't fault that reasoning at all.

My greater point to my ramblings was simply the old story of "what's in a name?!"
Too many folks get caught-up in old stories of Brand X's quality, when that company may not have actually "made" anything in a long time. There are a couple of exceptions of course, but the reloading world has always prominently been the waste market, or a side gig to defense contracts.

[RAMOS]

Darkker, I hear what you are saying. Seems to be especially true when it comes to brass. Norma/Nosler I think has been a pretty steady relationship. When you get into RP, WW and Hornaday it's anyone's guess who actually manufactured it at a given point in time. All of my VT cases are formed from Lake City brass and I am extremely satisfied with it after uniforming EVERYTHING on it. All of our 'regular' cases are being replaced with Nosler head stamped brass as the older WW cases reach the end of their lifespan. Partly because I like the Norma brass and partly because Nosler is more or less in our back yard. Always liked WW brass but, as time goes on, I find myself less inclined to gamble my own bingo shells on it based on what I am hearing. Many may disagree but, I would be very reluctant to purchase Hornaday brass. That IS based on first hand experience, none of it good.