Is Remington Brass Any Good?

[fecampbell]

Because I been lurking here too long, you guys have cost me a ton of money. Not only do I dream (and will soon hopefully) of hunting Alaska, but the only rife I hunt with no longer seems adequate (Remmy 308).

PLUS, I have been spending time at the range (mainly with the 308) shooting whereas before I normally I didn't. My wife says you guys are a bad influence.

So, now that I have these bad habits, I did more damage by purchasing a Sako 375. So that brings another addiction, reloading.

Now I have this brand new 375 I have yet to shoot and I REALLY want to shoot it. But I need help on where to start reloading. My first and foremost question is Remington brass good for reloading? I know there are all kinds of brass (like Norma, etc...), but I want a reliable brass I can get into reloading with and if Remington is good I can definately afford it. I will buy Norma if need be, but if Remington gets the job done then it is cheaper.

Geez, my wife is really gonna kill me.

~F

[Bill S.]

I have been reloading Remington brass in my .375 and 7mm for about 20 years. I have not had any problems with it. I've gotten 6 reloadings for a hot 7mm out of one casing. I don't know if its good or not but I'm conservative about brass so at the first signs of any problem at all, I dump it. You have to take normal precautions reloading it just as in any other brass.

[SlimPickins]

Remington brass

Remington brass is not as uniform in weight or flash hole dimensions etc as Norma or Lapua. So it is not as good for target shooting where extreme accuracy is the primary requirement. However it is good for hunting loads. For someone on a budget, will get the job done.

[Murphy]

Remington Brass

Frank,

I don't think Lapua or Norma make 375 H&H brass. I keep hoping. And there seems to be a shortage of Winchester 375 H&H, and other calibers, also, since Winchester closed it's doors in New Haven. I don't know how valid that is or if it will get better. We now have Remington, Federal, A-Square and possibly others. The most economical and available is Remington.

I have used a bunch of Remington brass, and prefer it to Winchester in some calibers, but would always first pick Lapua then Norma when available. In the 375 H&H, I would prefer Winchester but have used Remington. I don't care much for Federal.

Here's the deal, Remington brass is thicker and heavier. This means there is less room in the case for powder and charges must be reduced. In the H&H case, reduce all charges by two grains. When I use Winchester brass and 75 grains of H4350 and a 300 grain Hornady, I can usually achieve the same velocity/pressure with 73.5 grains of H4350 in the Remington case. The brass is not quite as tough as Winchester but is still good. If you full length resize, it will separate the case at the webb in fewer firings than Winchester. It simply is not as good, but will work. If you are starting to reload with a belted case and haven't bought dies yet, pay the extra $$ and get a neck sizer also. It saves brass. The Redding deluxe sets includes the F/L and neck sizer dies and seater die. That's the way I would go. Good luck with the new hobby and good shootin'.

Murphy

[fecampbell]

Norma 375 Brass

Well, I can locate 375 Norma brass for about $115 for 100. I can also get Remmy brass at about 1/2 price (or more).

If I reduce the Remmy brass by 1.5-2.0 grains, will it achieve the same accuracy and fps as say the Norma??

Also is Winchester nickle OK to reload for 338 WM?

~F

[Forestar]

R-P 338 "failures"

I was doing some 338 load development about a week ago and had TWO primer pockets leak. These were not excessive loads (strictly "by the book"). Both were R-P cases. Doesn't exactly inspire a lot of confidence, ya know?

[Murphy]

Brass n' Primers

Well folks, I'm not saying that Remington is the brass to use, just that choices are limited. Frank, you found Norma H&H, where is it I need some. If I could get Norma I'd not worry about Remington or Winchester. No conntest!
The Norma is worth the money and it is very similar to the Winchester as for weight and thickness, but better quality. You could use data for the Winchester brass.

I called Graf and they have some Norma H&H brass coming in (on a slow boat) so I'll be stockin' up on that.

No, don't use nickeled cases in your loading dies. The Nickel will come off and leave a deposit on the die which will cause a problem with the next case.To load them once or twice just neck sized they are OK, but the finnish fails quickly.

Forestar,

1. Even if the loads are by the book, they could be a little warm.
2. If the leak is a normal pressure load, it could be the fault of the primer. sometimes the cup is so hard it doesn't expand quickly enough to seal the opening. Did you punch out the old primers and attempt to seat new ones? Was the pocket expanded? If not the pressure was probably ok.
3. What brass do you prefer? Remington isn't my favorite, especially in belted cases, but sometimes the only choice.

Good shootin'.

Murphy

[chris112]

I wouldn't hesitate to use it. Depending on the use as it gets worn out replace with a primuim grade if needed.

[RainGull]

Get the Remington

Get the Remington and get a neck turner and primer pocket uniforming tool. Then for not much more than the Norma you will have good cases and more importantly skills and tools for future reloading.

[Shortwave]

Brass

Hey Y'all:
I do a lot of reloading down here in Kalifornia, and travel around to many of the gun shows. If there are some calibers you'd like me to keep an eye out for I'd be happy to do so. A couple of guys I reload with seem to come across brass by the bushell. Some rather "exotic" stuff too.

Murphy; I like my .338-06 'cause brass is so easy to get... oh wait, we've HAD this conversation.

Anyhow, let me know I'll keep me eyes peeled.

[Forestar]

Favorite brass

Murphy:

The R-P brass I was using was once-fired factory ammo that was given to me by a co-worker that doesn't reload (don't know why he saved the brass). I did punch out one of the spent primers (Federal 210), but did not attempt to seat a new one, since I have no plans to re-use this brass again (But I'll do it now to check for pocket expansion; thanks for that tip.). I've been using these primers for years and never had this sort of failure before. On the other hand, this is the only batch of R-P brass I have. I prefer Federal brass when I can scrounge it (salvaged factory ammo brass). Second choice, by default, is Winchester. I've never used any premium brand brass, except Starline for my Dan Wesson 445.

Forestar

[mauserboy]

Rem brass

You'll probably get all kinds of opinions on brass, but Remington brass, in many different rifle and pistol calibers has worked just fine for me for many years, along with Winchester, Federal and Norma when I can get a deal on it. But, why would you think that Remington brass wouldn't be good? An awful lot of Remington ammo works just fine with it. Enjoy your reloading.

[grizz106]

When I first started out to reload my first round I was informed that Winchester was the brass to use-still recommended. I do not load as much as Murph does and I am sure his reasons are based on years of research and shooting up tens of thousands of rounds in his life time. I too have shot and reloaded R-P brass and have found them to be acceptable.
I have resized nickel and did not like what I have encountered, easily split mouths/necks and flaking finish. Residual flakes in the die is something to think about. I generally try to buy Winchester brass if it is available then R-P, I don't even think about the spendy stuff.
just my .02

[George]

brass

Yep, good info already here. Just avoid the plated stuff for reloading- works great for one-time factory loads but not for reloading. And, nothing wrong with Remington brass. I use it for a couple of cartridges because it's the only game in town for those. It has performed fine. One thing to do when buying brass is try to get a fairly large amount at one time. Twenty here, fifty there, twenty somewhere else won't give the most consistent group of matched brass. Each "lot" or production run will vary a little. [I've made that mistake more than once- thinking of the short-term budget instead of the best long-term approach] Get 100 or 200 to start with then no worries about inconsistent mixed batches later. Another good practice when the new bunch of brass arrives is to do the prelim prep work to get it ready. Inspect, trim length if needed, de-burr flash hole, etc. Do that to the whole bunch. Put 20-50 in your loading box and the rest away in a large, marked zip lock bag.

[TomM]

Brass

I second Rem. brass only to Federal. However, I have not tried any of the expensive stuff.

Good Loads, Case life, and Accuracy come from meticulous reloading, testing, then some more. If I could attribute one step of the reloading process to accuracy it would be case preparation.