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Old December 14, 2009, 07:07 PM   #1
SEHunter
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Hornady brass...Good?

Im about to start loading my 22-250 and i wanted norma brass but with a baby on the way and all, im cutting back and cant justify the cost for the norma brass at this time, so i decided to maybe use once fired Hornady brass from the last couple boxes of factory ammo i shot through the gun.

BTW, any input on powder type/charge is welcome also

I have H380, Varget, IMR4895, and IMR4064 to use to try to get a 50 Gr. C/T Ballistic Silver Tip up to speed. I really like the sound of 3800fps although my Rem. 700 has a 24" barrel. Thanks Guys.
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Old December 14, 2009, 07:18 PM   #2
James R. Burke
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I started my 220-250 using Hornady, and saving the brass. That was the first I used for that rifle. It worked great. I was loading more towards the max, but not all the way there. It held up real nice. I still have some, never counted how many loads I got but must have been at least eight. I know thats not a super amount but I never annealed them and was pushing them pretty hard.
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Old December 14, 2009, 07:28 PM   #3
Christchild
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The only experience I've had with Hornady brass has been recently. I have approx. 16-18 pieces of Hornady from 2 lots of Mixed Headstamp, Once Fired brass in .270 Winchester. Out of the small lot of Hornady's I have, I STILL have 6 pieces to prep. So far, I've had 2 pieces that were JUNK.

The case neck wall thickness was so UNuniform that after FL sizing, trimming and chamfer/deburring, I could VISUALLY see a MAJOR variation in the wall thickness at the case mouth. Putting the calipers on it, it varied from 0.012" on one side to 0.016" on the other side. That's disgusting, in my book. From my ONE experience, I'd never buy Hornady brass unless it was a Dead-Last resort. Just keep an eye on the case neck wall thicknesses as You prep.
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Old December 15, 2009, 12:27 AM   #4
SEHunter
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Wow, thats pretty bad. I will still go ahead and clean and resize 15 or 20 pieces then inspect them before i do all 100. I may atleast have to buy some Rem or Win if i find the Hornady is that bad.

I have always wondered about their quality because when loaded, if you look at the head side, you can easily see a color/tone difference in the primers which struck me as odd because i have never noticed that with all the loose primers i have used over the years in handloading. Just a little curious about the consistantsy. Does anyone know if Hornady manufactures their own brass or if one of the other makers does it for them?
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Old December 15, 2009, 01:33 AM   #5
Tex S
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I have 20 pieces of Hornady .270 brass and it seems to be ok. I weight sorted, measured case neck thickness, and case neck concentricity and the Hornady seemed to be right on par with Rem or Win. The flasholes looked even better than some of the Winchester brass I have; sometimes Winchester punches their flasholes way off center.
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Old December 15, 2009, 12:14 PM   #6
Christchild
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Wow, thats pretty bad. I will still go ahead and clean and resize 15 or 20 pieces then inspect them before i do all 100.
Definitely. I may have just got a few pieces out of a bad batch. If I had 100 pieces of Hornady to prep, as You do, I'd prep all 100, just inspect each piece the same as You do with any other brass, just "weed out" any bad pieces. If/when You find a bad piece, just pinch the case mouth shut and toss it, You know? Finding those bad pieces of Hornady actually surprised me. Hornady is decent quality.

And SEHunter, if Your wanting to buy Norma brass but don't want to put out $1 per case, Nosler brass is Top Notch and doesn't cost as much, if You're looking for Better-than-Remington/Winchester brass. I have more Nosler brass than any one other headstamp brass in .270 Win., and I hold a very high regard for Nosler brass.

Last edited by Christchild; December 15, 2009 at 12:23 PM.
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Old December 15, 2009, 12:40 PM   #7
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Last batch of Winchester .308's I got, 500 new bulk cases, varied in weight from 153 grains to 159 grains and I had one case that had 0.008" total indicated neck thickness runout (8 thousandths thicker on one side that the other). It was the worst one, and I set it aside as an outright defect. There were a number that had 0.004" runout. That seemed to be the top end of their extreme spread. Average was around 0.0025". About 20% met my match criteria of 0.001" or better. I wanted Winchester's extra case capacity in .308 for 1000 yard loads, or I would have saved money buying Lapua and not having to cull 80% for that particular purpose.

The last batch of .223 Remington I got in the Winchester brand (can't recall if it was 500 or 1000) included two cases with no flash hole at all. So, you have to watch out for defects. That's just the way it is. I haven't tried the Nosler Custom, but haven't heard any complaints. Lapua and Norma always seem to be great, but pricey enough to be reserved special purposes. I inspect them, anyway.
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Old December 15, 2009, 01:04 PM   #8
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Lapua and Norma always seem to be great, but pricey enough to be reserved special purposes.
At's a Roger, UncleNick! I have 40 pieces of new Norma .270 Win. brass, but I'll leave them alone for a rainy day...

And UncleNick, may I suggest Your trying of Nosler brass? I highly recommend them, and Nosler will likely save You money, judging from Your "20% experience"... 20% would be hard for me to swallow, and I'm not shooting 1000 yards. I do, however, strive for quality... The only "negative" I can say about Nosler Custom is that some of the cases come trimmed a little shorter than the minimum Trim-To length...shorter by a few thousandth's...
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Old December 15, 2009, 02:22 PM   #9
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The Winchester's semi-balloon head design, which they originally came up with for their '92 Palma match cases, has about three grains more water capacity than a typical military case, and about 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 grains more than most other commercial cases. That lets you squeeze another 70 fps or so out of them as compared to the military cases, and about 40 fps more than other commercial cases with the Sierra 175 grain MatchKing. That's what makes them attractive for 1000 yards, where that extra speed gives you just that extra bit of headroom for keeping out of the high drag lower part of the transonic range. I don't know what water capacity the Nosler Custom cases have in .308? I will, indeed, have to try some.
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Old December 15, 2009, 03:56 PM   #10
SEHunter
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Thanks for the great posts, guys. They are good info for me. I have read in the forum before about the extra capacity of the Winchester brass as mentioned above. Do you guys know where the Hornady fits in?

I also noticed that most of the load manuals i have used Win brass in their 22-250 test loads. Most of the primers are the Win WLR as well. It crossed my mind to use them both for that reason but if i dont, i think i will need to keep my charge a half grain or so lower, in case the Hornady doesent have the same volume.

The 09 Hodgdon manual lists the same powder with almost 2 grains more than one of the other manuals (nosler 5th i think) using the same powder which i thought was strange since a grain makes a big difference in that small of a case. I have realized that different components make a big difference and i hate to start so low with the charge because of the added expense but i know it is the safe way to do it.
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