270 Winchester brass. Federal or Winchester?

[Cascade1911]

Which is better brass for reloading, Federal or Winchester? I've generally used Remington but that's not an option in this case (..and really, I only gravitated to Remington because that's the ammo I started with so when it came time to pick up once fired brass.......) . This is once fired brass I'm looking at.

[LOLBELL]

Lately I've had better luck with Federal. I've had trouble with Winchester sliding into the shell holder. I've had the same problem with 44 mag also. This has only been with newer brass.

[Mike / Tx]

To be honest, once upon a time I purchase only new Winchester cases. That however was a long time back and the joint I got them from offered them in 100, 250, or 500 piece lots. I usually picked them up in the 250rd count.

As I got into loading for our .270 I found that case brand made little to no difference in regard to accuracy. Ours is all about seating depth or OAL. Keep them the same no matter what weight or style bullet and it will deliver stellar accuracy.

I find that Federal brass is fine but is does have a shorter life than the Win cases to. That said, I find the Win cases of old to be the best, the newer stuff has suffered some pretty wide ranging issues of late. The newer Hornady cases however are also great. I have loaded some of them from mild to wild and find them to hold up really well to either end.

Hope this helps, and if your lucky maybe yours will not be a picky eater.

[BumbleBug]

Over the years I've used a number of different brands of .270 Win brass having owned 3 rifles in that caliber. As Mike / Tx said, they all have worked fine, but I've had more quality control issues with Winchester brass than any other. Off-center flashholes or inconsistent rims, things like that. Even then, only a few out of a batch. I find that Win brass is lighter & more capacious than other brands which I like when loading my 4831 bulky, compressed loads. Either Win or Fed should serve you well!

...bug

[johnjohn]

Doesn't seem to make too much difference in my gun.

[old roper]

Once fired brass I'd buy Win if that was the only choice.

[myfriendis410]

I've seen recent Winchester brass that I refused to put through my loading dies for fear of breaking a decapping pin. I always prefer Federal simply because the primer pocket and flash hole are more uniform than the other two (R-P and WW).

[SL1]

My experience is that Winchester .270 brass is harder and has a larger internal capacity than Federal. That means that I need slightly higher loads in Winchester cases to get the same velocity as Federal cases, but doesn't really mean significantly higher top velocities. It also seems to mean that the Federal case head expands ONCE at lower peak pressures than happens with Winchester brass, but it then work hardens so that it does not keep expanding any faster. Because the necks seem harder in the Winchester brass, they seem to need anealing sooner to avoid loss to splits.

So, I use both, but keep them separated for reloading purposes.

SL1

[totaldla]

I like both better than Remington, which tends to have loose primer pockets after 2 cycles. I don't have any new Winchester, so I can't comment on current quality, but the old stuff sure is good. I've never scrounged up enough federal to have an opinion.

[Paul B.]

THere was an article in IIRC Handloader Magazine by the late Bob Hagel and again IIRC Ralph Avery whenre they did Rockwell testing on brass, acid etching and photomicography on Winchester, Remington and Federal brand brass cases. Winchester came out as being the hardest and Federal the softest. Remington sat comfortably in the missle.
Recently I was given 1,100 rounds of once fired Federal brand Gold Medal Match .308 brass. I decided to load up 50 rounds and when seating the primers, the pockets were almost too loose to be of use, at least with Winchester primers. CCI primers have always seem to be a tighter fit when primer pockets started to loosen up so maybw they'll allow me to use that brass with some chance of getting more that one or two loads from them before they have to go in the scrap bucket.
Paul B.

[hooligan1]

I use all the free range brass I can get, probably more RP than any, but Hornady makes good brass, except I'm done buying their commercial ammo, can't get decent accuracy and primers always flattened.
Winchester has been fine so has Federal but I mostly use RP.

[Cascade1911]

Thanks guys. Between TFL and other forums the consensus seems unanimous that FC is better than WW except when WW is better than FC. So, I flipped a coin and went with Winchester. If anyone is interested tjconevera.com has more of the .270 brass.

[Kimber84]

I won't purchase Win brass anymore, too many cracked necks and flash hole issues from brand new brass.

[Rifletom]

Now this is interesting stuff. In my .270 Win, I favor the OLDER win brass and newer Fed brass. My rifle is an Sako Finnbear[1968] if that makes any difference. BUT; in my Ruger MkII, 30-06, that damn thing won't shoot anything but Win cases. I guess thats why handloaders pull their hair out at times!

[jamaica]

I don't have any new 270 brass. I have had good luck with either Winchester or Federal. I do find that Remington brass tends to be lighter and softer.

I seldom have to buy brass, and have been lucky enough to pick up stuff others regard as junk. So I load all brands. If you are looking for some really tight groups, it would be best to have all the brass the same, but for my needs a mixed lot works fine.

[Sure Shot Mc Gee]

My preference Federal. Gives me the best accuracy in my 270. I'll accept First fired Winchester 25-06 when offered also. Remington's on the other hand I freely give away to others who can use them.

[oneoldsap]

I'll take Win. over Federal anytime . The Fed primer pockets seem to stretch more than any others . I prefer not to use Federal at all !

[RC20]

We got some Winchester brass for 30-06. Not max loads we are just target shooting. It started breaking up after 5 rounds and was pitched.

I have some FC once fires I picked up at the range, its been though 10 rounds so far and no problems showing of any sort.

I have done some case weighing and the FC is the heaviest of any brass I have found. It meshes with the report on Winchester being thin.

RP is also good, next down in weight from FC.

So, re-reading the post I have edited this.

Take the FC hands down.

[William T. Watts]

I just finished necking up 25 once fired rounds of 270Win cases to 30/06 with Federal H/stamp, after trimming and uniforming the primer pockets I loaded and fired five of the cases four times. None of the cases exhibited any of the usual expected loose primer pockets necks cracking nor powder residue on the shoulder etc. The cases weighed 201gr without the primer and after trimming (very uniform), I used 150gr Nosler SP with 49grs of IMR4064 and CCI LR primer. I did not attempt to check for grouping only if the cases would be durable enough to be comparable with my Winchester and R-P once fired cases to handle the necking up to 30 caliber, I concluded they were. I agree they are a bit softer but not to the point I wouldn't want to load them. F-C has gotten a bad rap for being too soft, I do not support that thought because I've used them for a lot of years and never had a F-C case to leak around the primer as long as the case wasn't fired more than five times. These test cases had a total of five firings and there wasn't a single case that failed, I wouldn't hesitate to use F-C cases in the standard non belted calibers!! I might add I usually do not fire my cases but four times before recycling them, I have done this for more than 45 years without a case separation nor a leaking primer pocket, the worst I've had is a cracked neck on a few cases! William