Less Expensive Consistent .308 Brass

peeplwtchr

peeplwtchr

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Hi All-

I am looking to acquire some consistent .308 Win brass for loading a "Bulk" reserve of .308 ammo. I've been using Lapua, but don't want to pay $1 each for this reserve ammo batch brass. I don't really want to use mixed headstamp, because I want a baseline of brass which I can adjust my Lapua load for; that's where the consistency comes in. Any recommendations on a brand/seller? This will be something like long term ammo, but I still want accuracy. Even if I could find once fired same headstamp brass I'd be good, but everything I'm seeing is mixed.

Thanks!

EDIT: Can anyone beat this? https://brassmanbrass.com/product/22h-308-winchester-federal-gold-metal-match-brass-100-ct/
 
A couple years back, Midway was selling 308 / 7.62 Lake City pull down brass for around 40 cents per piece. That was previously loaded, but otherwise new, unfired brass, WITH CCI 34 magnum primer. That stuff still shows up now and then. The midway / LC stuff was in lots of 500 pieces. The sample I got required little to no prep beyond resizing the necks (primer pin removed). Some of the once fired 308 or 7.62 LC brass, if fired from loose chambered military guns is going to be stretched pretty far. Both may require removal of the primer crimp to reload.

After that, best bet would be to pucker up and go for new Starline. Quality, reliability and is consistent. In lots of 500, not much more than the LC stuff.......sans primers.
 
Howa 9700 said:
A couple years back, Midway was selling 308 / 7.62 Lake City pull down brass for around 40 cents per piece.
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A couple of years before that, I was buying Prvi 145grn FMJ loaded ammos for .40/rd. Yes, yes, I know... I'm crying in my beer.

FWIW, I bought some of that pull down, primed LC brass (LC 18, I believe...) and it wasn't All That and a bag of chips. Corrosion spots, primarily, but it also had some weird staining that I really didn't like. In the end, it works well enough

Peep, what is this going into? A bolt, or a semi-auto?
 
Wolfshead said:
Starline has new 250 pieces for approximately $130.
I think their brass is good and it’s what I use.
It’s listed as “backorder” but in my experience it usually ships in a week or so from placing said backorder.
Click to expand...

This was going to be my suggestion too. When pricing, remember Starline ships for free. So the listed price is your final price. And yeah, it been my experience that their back orders ship in 2 weeks or less.
 
alsaqr said:
Stay away from brass fired in full auto weapons.
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dh1633pm said:
I use LC for everything 308.
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LC isn't bad brass, but as alsaqr mentioned, I would NOT buy anything 'once-fired' military, LC or otherwise. I have previously, and it was a sordid tale of woe, and I wound up having to junk about 2K mixed LC, PMJ (PMC,) and WCC cases. I have bought loaded LC ammos, and I have bought pull-down components, and while I was disappointed in the product, it worked well enough.

FWIW, aside from a source like Starline, my favorite .308 brass source is loaded Prvi ammos, or it's component brass (available at Midway, for example, for about .65/cs.) Further...

jmorris said:
Probably for the same reasons I don’t load 20 years worth of ammo and just keep the components stored well but separate not combined.
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...this is now my mantra. I've gotten completely away from loading and storing big quantities of ammos, now I just have the components on hand, prepped and ready to assemble. My long-term loaded ammos is factory, primarily in the Big 4... that is, 9mm, .45ACP, 5.56mm, and 7.62mm. When I need, say, .308 cases, for example, I buy 500 rounds of Prvi ammos, then rotate 500 rounds out of stock, shoot it up, and then I have my brass while still maintaining my factory stash. In this manner, I get new, unmolested brass, I get one firing out of it for 'free,' and I save x amount of components because I didn't have to load it in the first place. If you add the cost of components to the cost of virgin brass, it very nearly adds up the cost of simple factory ammos (not premium ammos, if you see the difference.) Just my .02 worth.
 
I was buying Norma loaded ammo for 24 dollars per 20. Now that the same ammo is 34 dollars at achedemy I don't think it's a great deal, but that was my plan. Their hunting cases are about 167 grains and their tac ammo has 175 grain cases. Ppu has simular production.
 
I'm also in the camp that has a sizeable stash of components..........by sizeable I mean at my use rates, baring a societal breakdown.............I won't run out of components in my lifetime. While I have done the load development work for each shoot'n iron....... and have residual loaded ammo from same.......most of my components remain as such. What prompted me to go this route was seeing near universal rejection of other peoples reloads.

Reminds me of the old saying........."Only two people I trust to do this right are you and me and I'm not so sure about you".
 
Howa 9700 said:
I'm also in the camp that has a sizeable stash of components..........by sizeable I mean at my use rates, baring a societal breakdown.............I won't run out of components in my lifetime. While I have done the load development work for each shoot'n iron....... and have residual loaded ammo from same.......most of my components remain as such. What prompted me to go this route was seeing near universal rejection of other peoples reloads.

Reminds me of the old saying........."Only two people I trust to do this right are you and me and I'm not so sure about you".
Click to expand...
I am more likely to trust someone's reloads in their gun, but never in mine.... 45c is a great example of having no idea what your getting....
 
It depends on the kind of shooting you do. If you are just plinking and not running maximum loads, the stretched once-fired military stuff can be about as good as anything, except case life is usually shorter. If you are shooting service rifle matches in a self-loader, then military brass, new and unfired, is probably your best starting point for reliability. Midway has it occasionally.

If you are shooting varmint or benchrest accuracy, then buying the expensive Lapua and Norma brass is a way to get something almost as consistent as benchrest-prepped brass, and it'll knock a fraction of an inch off the ultimate group size. Figure that you have to be shooting below 1/2 moa and with a pretty tight chamber to be likely to be able to tell the difference.
 
I'm another warns against getting once fired 308W cases from an unknown source. After I bought my M1A, I got a bag of once fired cases, I already had loading equipment for 308 Winchester as I already a bolt rifle.

About half of the cases had cracks or case head separations after the first loading.

I stopped buying once fired cases for all my rifles after that. More recently, I've also stopped buying once fired handgun cases. In my opinion, it is not worth the headaches these days.
 
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