Rating Brass manufacturers

[tplace]

I've tried searching through the forum but really did not see a list rating the different manufacturers of Grendel Brass. I am particularly curious how Nosler and Lapua compare but would also like to know where PPU and Hornady rate.

Thanks!
Terry

[bwaites]

I'm not sure anyone has enough experience with Nosler to make a fair comparison.

Historically it's been:

Lapua
Hornady
PPU

PPU has been somewhat handicapped because of the large primer. My most recent experience show that Hornady has closed the gap and is much closer to Lapua in quality than most recognize, and LRRPF52 notes that the PPU brass that Precision Firearms is using is worlds better than the old PPU brass used in the 123 loadings.

[tplace]

...My most recent experience show that Hornady has closed the gap and is much closer to Lapua in quality than most recognize,...

The Nosler and Lapua are very close in price, I was just wondering if one had an edge on the other. I read quite a few posts that indicated the Hornady brass was fairly soft and the primer pockets tended to enlarge after just a few loadings. It sounds like Hornady may have stepped up it's game some, this is good to know, thanks!

[NugginFutz]

I'm on my 8th loading on Hornady brass purchased 1.5 years ago, and no sloppy pockets, shiny belts or split necks, yet. I'm loading them toward the high end of pressures, with 28.0gr of 8208xbr + 123gr Amax. My particular chamber is good to 28.5gr before pressure indications begin to appear.

[tplace]

NugginFutz, do you anneal too? I'm guessing you do, I was wondering how often. Thanks!

[Jakal]

I would put Nosler between Lapua and Hornady.

[bwaites]

I used to give my Hornady brass away, because I just didn't want to deal with the primer pocket issue. Not anymore. I really like it. Because I have such a high volume of brass, I haven't got as many reloads on it as Nugginfutz, but it seems to be holding up well to 28 grains of XBR under 123's and 28.5 under 107's. I'm starting to play with it using CFE, too, and don't expect any issues.

I don't anneal, and I have Lapua brass that is 8 years old and has 20+ reloads on it. That's brass from my original Grendel purchase!

[NoOne]

This is my experience:

Lapua
Lake City (match first, but properly prepared cases from the same lot work just as well, they just take more prep)
Norma
Winchester
Federal
Remington
Hornady

Much of my Grendel Lapua brass is reaching the end of it's life. Cases were annealed about every 2-3 loadings, and now, after 8-12 loadings, I get about 5 split case necks, and 1 or 2 loose primer pockets per 100 rounds fired. Not too bad for brass loaded that many times.

[bwaites]

This is my experience:

Lapua
Lake City (match first, but properly prepared cases from the same lot work just as well, they just take more prep)
Norma
Winchester
Federal
Remington
Hornady

Much of my Grendel Lapua brass is reaching the end of it's life. Cases were annealed about every 2-3 loadings, and now, after 8-12 loadings, I get about 5 split case necks, and 1 or 2 loose primer pockets per 100 rounds fired. Not too bad for brass loaded that many times.

I think he was referring only to Grendel brass, but thats good overall information.

AND that's very interesting that it pulled that end piece in, because its not in the post! Did you post and then remove that NoOne?

[tplace]

Well, I just ordered a batch of Hornady, Midway is selling for $34.99/50 right now so I jumped on it. Thanks to everyone for the warm fuzzy on Hornady.

[NugginFutz]

NugginFutz, do you anneal too? I'm guessing you do, I was wondering how often. Thanks!

Nope - tumble, size, seat. That's it.

[PigOPs]

Man I'm up to 10 loadings on some of my Hornady brass... I like working with it better than the Lapua (although I can't argue that the Lapua isn't higher quality, it's just not my preference)

[Bwild97]

Man I'm up to 10 loadings on some of my Hornady brass... I like working with it better than the Lapua (although I can't argue that the Lapua isn't higher quality, it's just not my preference)

+1

[Savage Shooter]

I have not reloaded my Hornady 6.5 Grendel much, but I have had an "interesting" experience with Hornady Brass in 6.5 Creedmoor. Despite a relatively large weight variation (which NORMALLY means a large volume variation), I got very good consistency with many loads (SDs in the 5-10 fps range, which is generally considered very good. ) I usually sort my "long range shooting" brass in batches of +/- 0.5% around the mean weight, but I took 10 rounds with 5 on the high side (151.6 gr) and 5 on the low side (around 144.2 grains) and shot them alternating and got an SD that was less than 15 if I recall and a tight sub 0.75 MOA group (shooting 140 gr. Berger VLD Hybrids). I had to speak to Hornady about a high pressure problem with a batch of their 140 gr. AMax loads and asked them about the "large" variation in case weight, yet very acceptable results. I am not certain if he was just making up some junk, but he told me they optimized on case volume, not case weight. How they do that, I don't know, and I am still dubious about the case weight non-uniformity, but I can't argue the result. Bottom line, I am happy enough with the results I get with Hornady brass in 6.5 Grendel and Creedmoor, that I am not inclined to spend 2-3 times as much for Nosler and Lapua.

Also, I think the difference between Nosler and Lapua is that Nosler QCs and culls their brass and packages it so that within a box it's in a tight spec range, but box to box depending on which end of the spectrum you get, there could be large differences. And Lapua just has tighter manufacturing specs, so that if their line is running in spec, all the brass from box to box and lot to lot probably has less variation than other brands.

[tplace]

I'm really glad I asked the question because, up until this point, I was looking down my nose at the Hornady brass. Out of curiosity, has anyone ever done a group buy of brass?