Upset with Winchester

[wpcexpert]

I purchased 100 cases of .223 Win Brass from Midway a couple weeks ago. I'm not impressed. Nearly 85% of the cases have dents in them and 4 out of the 100 were unusable, (the case necks were dented in almost 50% and the case was dented in big time). Has anyone else had this sort of problem or did I get a bad bag. Most of the small dents squared them selves away when fired. I got 200 Win cases for my 7mm WSM and the were all great.

Question
- The cases with the crushed necks, can I straighten them with a dowl of some sorts and attempt to use them, or just scrap'em?

[Unclenick]

Not at all uncommon for bulk brass. The necks are annealed extra soft, so they dent easily. Case bodies are a little more rugged, but can still dent. This is all a matter of rattling around in transport. They don't leave the factory machines that way.

The neck can be opened back up with a bullet nose. Once it is almost the original shape, lube the inside of the neck and the outside and size the case. It is good practice to size and check trim on all new cases anyway. The brass makers don't use as precise a method as a reloader's trimmer.

The case with the dent in the side will fireform back to shape the first time you use it. If you can't get a normal charge in it, fire a 3/4 of normal charge.

[taylorce1]

The neck can be opened back up with a bullet nose. Once it is almost the original shape, lube the inside of the neck and the outside and size the case. It is good practice to size and check trim on all new cases anyway. The brass makers don't use as precise a method as a reloader's trimmer.

The case with the dent in the side will fireform back to shape the first time you use it. If you can't get a normal charge in it, fire a 3/4 of normal charge

Good advice here, I've never had a problem with Winchester brass. I full length size all new brass and trim if needed.

[wpcexpert]

Thanks guys. I hadn't bought any .223 rounds before. I just started loading for it. Like I said, i hadn't had any problems out of the 7mm wim brass. I bought Remington for my pistols. But anyway, thanks for the fix. See you later.

[amamnn]

It would not be at all surprising if you bought a 50 case box of Nosler brass and got better use, not to mention accuracy from it than 100 pieces of..........brass.......... from Winchester or any of the other bulk brass makers.

I have been told Nosler is made by Olin/Winchester/USRAC/FN/Browning or whatever the company name is these days. If so, the specs and alloy Nosler requires give much better life from the cases than the standard run of bulk.

Lapua and Norma are also worth considering for longer lived brass. If you learn to anneal the correct way, you can get an an believable number of loadings from all three brasses. Lapua and Norma tend to be a bit more expensive than the Nosler, but Bruno had .223/5.56 Lapua brass for $0.39 ea. last time I looked.

[DIXIEDOG]

I don't mind the dents but the last 2 bags of Win .223 brass I bought had split necks, it's like they were drawn to much or something and they went from normal thickness on one side to ultra thin with the ends curled on the other around the split. I haven't bought any more Win .223 brass since, I figured I would wait until all the old inventory has been bought up and try again. In the meantime I just settle for LC once fired, if you ever get that you will know your fare share about dents

[MontanaRifleman]

Go with Norma. you wont be sorry.

[thallub]

Buy some once fired US military brass.

[TEDDY]

winchester ammo has nothing to do with AMAC or FN it is seperate

[somerled]

The last few times I have bought bulk rifle brass from MidwayUSA, I go with Remington. The cases aren't dented. Before then, I had been using Winchester exclusively. I noticed the .223 was dented. The flash holes were often off-center and rough. Then I ordered 200 .25-20 cases that were in the same state.

LC headstamped 5.56 brass is fine in my AR15. I don't go into a frenzy when they are lost in the grass at my outdoor range. I've also had great results with IMI brass from Widener's. For bolt rifles, I go with the commercial brass as it has a slightly larger capacity.

I probably don't need to spend the extra money. If the military cases are trimmed to the same length and sorted by make, the freefloated DPMS 1-9" barrel puts about any 52-to-63 grain Sierra, Speer or Hornady bullet into .75 inch groups or less. No doubt they would do a bit better in many bolt rifles.

There is an interesting article about .223 brass by Charles Petty in the April issue of Handloader.

[Kato_Guy]

I had the same problem with some winchester brass. I had called and sent them back to the company they gave me a $10 gift cert for new brass, kindof a kick in the pants... But it will go toward a half bag of new brass. If I don't get the exact number of usable pieces of brasss that I pay for I will call the company and say something.


kyle