Who makes the best (most durable) brass?

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goon

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I am thinking particularly of .303 British. My SMLE is real hard on brass. I am wondering if there might be something wrong with it too. I have never seen any signs of it having loose headspace (no evidence of primers trying to back out) but I understand that most of these were bored pretty loose to increase their reliability. I am thinking that this is going to make shooting this thing much (even with reloading) a pretty rare thing.
Even with some of the once fired brass I had I noticed some bulges down around the area where the case head meets the hollow section of the casing. I threw those away, but if it is destroying my brass on the first and second firing, that is gonna get expensive.
I am using Winchester once fired brass that has been around for anywhere from 4 to 10 years. I never really shot it much before now and the box of handloads I shot last week were the first I have shot through it in about 5 years.
I am wondering if a different make of brass would stand up better than the Winchester stuff.
Thanks.
 
Ken Waters recommended Federal brass. (Actually he preferred Sako brass, but that is not going to be easy to find.)
He also recommended neck sizing or partial sizing.
Don't screw the sizing die all the way down to the shell holder. Back it off the most you can and still let the neck grip a bullet and the loaded round go in the chamber of the same rifle it was fired in the first time.
That bulge in the brass will stay as is.
Don't use full charge or maximum loads except in once fired brass for hunting.
 
The real answer to your original question is that it varies over time.

The SMLE and No.4 rifles are well known for their loose chambers and short brass life. You may have to just end up living with the problem.

One approach is to get one of the Lee Collet Neck Sizing dies to work only the neck and leave the rest of the case alone. If the case survives the first firing without stretching too much, it should last a number of additional firings after that...

I have one No.4 that has correct headspace, but is absolute death to brass. Even great brass like Norma is only good for one reload, and then you wonder...

Good luck...
 
what brass to pick up in .40?

what brass do you think i should pick up in .40?
which ones to avoid?
 
BTW - I am neck sizing only. I am using an RCBS neck sizing die, which incidentally is about the coolest thing ever. No lube, no nothing...
Just pop it in and go to work. :D

I loaded up the rest of my once fired factory loads (the factory loads were hotter than the loads I am planning to use now) with my latest batch of test ammuntion tonight. Took the charge up to 42 grains of 760 with a 180 gr Speer RNSP. I am hoping to gain enough more with this one to get my shots to point of aim. I am confident that I will be dead on within the next half of a grain after that and the max with this bullet and powder is 45 grains, so I am pretty firmly in middle ground. I am planning to use new bulk brass for any hunting and to try and come up with a 124 grain load using an SKS bullet as a plinker. Hopefully the lighter load won't raise as much hell on my brass and I will be able to use the same cases for a little while.

Does Lapua make .303 and how good is their brass? If I can find something to stand up to repeated loadings (practice loads) it would probably be worth it to spend a little more on it.

Sigmaman - I have never loaded .40 but I have loaded alot .357, .38 Spl, and a whole lot of 9mm. Even a little .45LC in there. On top of that, I have loaded and shot an ungodly amount of .308 in the last couple years.
In all those rounds, I have never had any problems with Winchester or Remington brass. I have reloaded alot of the Speer brass too and it is good stuff.
I would avoid S&B, (haven't thrown mine away yet but haven't tried using it again either), Fiocchi, and Olympic to name a few. In my experience they just aren't consistent enough to use. When I sort my brass, I throw the Olympic and Fiocchi away and toss the S&B in my "someday when I am really bored" bag.
I would say that if you stick with good domestic ammo for practice, just pick your brass up and you should be fine for when you want to use it for reloading. That is what I have done anyhow.

The Lee Enfield action has its own problems as far as reloading goes. The chambers on most Lee Enfields are overbored to work with damaged, dirty, and corroded ammo under the worst conditions. The Lee Enfield action also locks up at the rear instead of at the front. This allows the brass to stretch a little more upon firing than an action that locks in the front would. More often than not, the shoulder will be blown noticeably forward on a fired .303 casing. You can tell by comparing it against a loaded round. This is why I am neck sizing only. If I full length size my brass I will be pushing that shoulder back every time which will be even harder on the brass.
Really, I know that I am only ever probably going to see 4 or so loadings at most out of a .303 casing and that is probably wishful thinking. I just need to know what brass is best in hopes of getting to that 4 loadings.
 
what brass do you think i should pick up in .40?
Click to expand...
Range pickups? I would avoid brass fired in a Glock. The Glock is well known for its unsupported chamber and the 40 caliber Glocks are the worst offenders. The brass is usually easy to spot, it has a rectangular firing pin/breech face mark on the primer and a bulged case head. It is the bulged case head that becomes the real weak spot and can blow out.

If you are going to buy new brass, go straight to Starline. Their brass is reasonably priced and of very high quality. Winchester brass is always good. Speer brass seems pretty solid.

which ones to avoid?
Click to expand...
As I previously mentioned, avoid brass fired in a Glock. Some batches of Federal brass had thin case heads, thin enough that there was a warning about firing it in Glocks and there might have been a recall, I don't remember the details. I don't care for Remington (RP) brass, it seems a little on the soft side. If you run into any cases marked AMERC, run away! Run fast and run far from AMERC brass unless you want to have a miserable reloading experience. This stuff has got to be the worst brass ever produced.
 
As far as AMERC brass goes in 9x19mmP, I have found that there is tremendous variability in softness over time.

The early stuff was so soft that, essentially, it couldn't be reloaded.

I have had more recent stuff that is perfectly fine.

So, in terms of reloading, don't automatically throw the AMERC stuff away. Try resizing a few cases and, if too soft, throw those individual cases out.
 
Range pick up 40 is so plentiful I just throw away A-Merc and Remington (R-P). They're not worth the extra work to see if that particular specimen is usable. With WWB being so popular it's possible to find enough at a busy range to use Winchester brass exclusively.
 
Do IMI and Starline make .303 British?
If so, where can I get some?
 
Starline makes mostly pistol brass, but is making some rifle brass, but not for the 303.....
I reload 303, and I do not reload them hot, so my brass last longer....
 
greg531mi - When you say light loads, how light do you mean? I am planning to work up something mild using a 123 grain .311 for the 7.62x39 for use in my Enfield in hopes of keeping the cost as low as possible and keeping my brass around as long as possible.
 
Goon;

There is another factor in the .303 SMLE situation that I haven't seen mentioned here. If I remember correctly, (and I don't own one) the SMLE series locks up at the rear of the bolt. Therefore, there is a certain amount of bolt flex to deal with also. SMLE's have a well deserved reputation for going through brass in short order. Please inspect all your brass very carefully before reloading it. In fact, sectioning a couple of used brass is probably not out of order.

900F
 
CB900F - Thanks. I already did know that but it is good to remind people when in doubt.
I have already noticed small bulges in some of my twice fired cases and I think that the flexing of the bolt is the cause. I don't really understand this though because I have reloaded 308 brass that was shot through my brother's Ishy and it doesn't have this problem.
I am hoping that when I come up with a 124 grain practice load the lighter pressure will be easy enough on the brass that I can get some more life out of it. For now though, I will be able to get myself through hunting season with it. All things considered, that is good enough. Especially considering that it is the only rifle I have to hunt with this year.
 
I have read of forming .303 out of .30-40 Krag brass which is a few thousandths larger diameter and will bulge less in the oversize SMLE chambers. See if you can scrounge a few and try them with plenty of lube and many passes into the sizing die.
 
Go to any reloading manual, I like lyman the best....and start at the begining loads and work up til the budge gets bigger, and then reduce a grain or two....pretty simple.....
 
Go to any reloading manual, I like lyman the best....and start at the begining loads and work up til the budge gets bigger, and then reduce a grain or two....pretty simple.....

One would think, but...
I am one grain over the starting load right now and it is still destroying brass. It was doing it when I was at the starting load.

After deer season I'll work on some light loads with the 124 gr bullets for the 7.62x39 and see if I can't come up with something that is easier on brass.
 
You must have a large chamber. Have you tried Lee dies? I think they are the best at not having a budge after reloading around the base of the brass. I think after these suggustions, and you are only getting one or two firings, and tried backing off the sizing die, so you are only neck sizing, (as long as you have only one 303 britsih rifle), you might have to live with it.
Check your brass for cracks and head separations after every firing.
The only other way to fix the problem is to buy a new barrel or ream the chamber for the 7.62 x 54 which I heard fixes the problem.
 
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