Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Hornady 6.5 Creedmoor Brass Soft?

Have experienced soft brass with early Hornady Creed Moor brass, saw on the web others had also, newer Horn brass supposedly has improved, any one else seen this?

Looked for other options Alpha looked good but $38 to ship to Alaska no thanks.

Starline brass had bad reviews and primer pockets were punched out not drilled, brass looked unfinished and rough.

Lapua do not want small primers. Norma and Nosler are other options.

Don't know about the Creed,but the 270 brass I have here is nothing to write home about. Seems a little light duty. Haven't weighed any yet. It's here and it's going to get used. Don't think it's going to last as long as my 30 year old Winchester stuff did.

My creed brass seems ok, it’s about a year old

I bought some when available about a year or more ago to form to 250AI. Cases weigh average 154gns. I run the same load in them as I do W-W brass, weight avg.160, formed from the parent 250 Sav. I`ve been finding the Horn, cases grow faster than the WW. and need trimming. Is that caused by softer brass, maybe, but I don`t know for sure. Case heads on both show no sigh of ejector hole marks tho,pressure, as they shouldn`t. I`ve anealed this brass twice now, so they see some use, loaded six times, primed pockets are still tight...so seem to be holding up well. Happy with them.

Found some Alpha 6.5 CM brass with free shipping so going to try 100.

I don't like Hornady brass period primer pockets are weak. Norma brass has been good for me on the 6.5 creedmore

federal is making it now or at least loading it. haven't seen federal selling as components.

hornady is only game in town for 250 and 300 Sav that I have found.

I will probably have to become an annealer before its all over.

Sycamore

Surprised to hear that about the Starline brass. My experience with the 6.5 Creedmoor brass has been quite good.

I’m very happy with Hornady’s Creedmoor brass. It has been durable and extremely consistent. I’ve used exactly 10 pieces of Lapua’s Creedmoor brass, for a fun-test. All I can really tell you is I won’t use it with at least certain powders due to ignition issues. I have a box of Norma Creedmoor brass I’ve used just a little. It also seems fine, but no better than the Hornady; maybe not quite as good (consistent). Haven’t had any Nosler-stamped Creedmoor brass that I can recall.

Since you mention punched flash holes: Is there anyone who makes Creedmoor brass with drilled flash holes? I doubt it

My experience with Hornady Creedmoor brass is limited to 6mm I have converted to .22 Creedmoor. Based on that experience, I would easily label the Hornady brass as junk.

I have been loading and shooting two 6.5 creed. rifles for about 8 months using Hornady brass with no problems at all. Some of the brass has been loaded 8 times and still works fine. I will continues to use Hornady brass until it fails me. I am not a brass snob....

What was wrong with it?

Sorry, I didnt get a chance to finish my reply.

The brass is soft. I have lost a few during the sizing process. On occasion, the shoulder will collapse before the neck sizes using a bushing die. I could likely alleviate this by performing a two step neck down, so I can deal with that issue. The larger issue is the primer pockets. I am losing approximately 10% on the first firing, and another 10% on the second...and this is with loads that are far from a point where pressure should be an issue. Using common sense, and verifying these load with QL, there is not a pressure issue that should cause these failures. Talking to to other folks locally, they are having the same issue. I do have one batch where I haven't lost a single one up to the second firing.

For me, the last batch of 50 I just sized and loaded will be my last Hornady brass purchase. For my next batch of .22 Creedmoor, I will wait for full production of Alpha Munitions .22 Creedmoor brass. I have 20pcs on hand, and it seems to be very well made brass. All accounts indicate this is a very high quality product.

For general shooting/hunting, it will be just a good or better than off the shelf ammo, with the exception of maybe factory Nosler/Norma. If you are wanting a benchrest case, then no. I had to use the brass when the CM first came out as that was all there was. Alot of weight variance, be prepared to cull 1/3 or more based on weight. Sorting neck thickness, concentricity, etc. will drop some more. After sorting the brass, prepping ( weighing, primer pockets, flash hole, and light neck turning), i usually end up with 20-30 "match" cases.

I try to anneal my brass at least every 3-4 firings. Have had only a few split necks or loose primer pockets. I rarely run max loads. If properly annealed when needed I think you can get 8,10,12+ reloads out of the brass.

With that said, I think that Lapua is the way to go. However, since you do not want to deal with the small primers, I vote Nosler or Norma.

Last batch of 50 Hornady 6.5 Creedmoor brass I weighed ranged from 144.5 grains to 151 grains.

Had my first 6.5 Creedmoor rifle built very soon after the cartridge came into being. I've loaded some of my Hornady brass twelve times before primer pockets gave out. Mostly, I find that those who say the Hornady brass is junk are pushing it too hard. No brass can withstand over pressure loads for long. I load two loads; one is 42.5 RL17 with 140 Hybrid or 142 SMK and the other is 44 grains H4350 with 130 VLD. They provide 2850 and 3005 respectively and no problems with brass life.
Do I think Hornady is as good as Lapua? Hell no! But the Lapua I've bought lately ain't as good as it used to be. I've heard good stuff about Alpha brass and also Peterson brass. The Peterson is available with either large or small primer pockets.
Just for grins, I'll add that I shoot Hornady 6 Creedmoor brass too. 42 grains of either H4350 or RL16 with 105 Hybrids and it still going strong.

My 6.5 CM Hornady brass is first class, comparable to my Swede Lapua brass.

I guess they all have bad lots.

CS should be OK, let us know.

DF

True. I have run into a batch of Lapua 308 cases where the necks weren't very uniform.

I'd be interested on how Horn handles it, how good their CS may or may not be.

DF

Mine is not consistent have developed loads some were hotter but once fired, then after resizing will not fit chamber ? Have culled any with any marks on case heads, have went to Lee Collet die and Hornady body die .

Have 4 6.5 Creedmoor rifles in the house, all Rugers and chamber size is very close, so just size it to smallest chamber. Load development is pretty much over and loads are all reasonable pressure. Ordered 200 Alpha
brass and going to use my Hornady for lower pressure loads. Have not seen any issues with my other Hornady brass in 338 RCM, or 243 Win.

Same here.

As I stated earlier, the loss of primer pockets on initial firing has been just as likely at moderate loads as at full tilt loads.


Even if the issue was that the brass was being overworked...... The fact that other makers seem to handle the same loads without issue make Hornady a non starter for me.

None of what you report has been my experience with Hornady 6.5 Creedmoor brass. Have been using it since 2010 and haven't had any of those issues.

I've had good luck with Hornady CM plus .270Win and .308Win.. Couldn't give me Federal stuff. I'd sooner load that eastern European stuff. But as pointed out and have experienced, once in awhile, CQ goes haywire.

That's great.. And has zero bearing on my experiences....nor does it agree with a whole bunch of other folks having similar issues with Creedmoor brass, as well as the SAUM/G4S runs with eerily similar issues in certain batches.

Which batches of 6.5 Gap 4S brass had loss of primer pockets on initial firings?

That's great.

Have only used half a dozen manufacturing lots of Hornady 6.5 Creedmoor brass in half a dozen rifles, the lots produced from 2010 to 2017. Obviously that's a limited sample--but still fairly broad.

Maybe I've been lucky, but I spend considerable time on the Internet looking at various sites of interest, and haven't seen anything like that from people who weren't trying to turn the Creedmoor into a 6.5-06 or 6.5-284. Have also used plenty of Hornady brass for other cartridges in the past 2-3 years, including the .27o Winchester, .300 Weatherby and various other "high pressure" rounds with no problems. The 6.5 Creedmoor isn't a high-pressure round, since the SAAMI max average pressure is only 62,000 PSI, less than the .270 Winchester and .300 Weatherby. Also know a number of other people who've been loading the 6.5 Creedmoor for at least as long as I have, and they have yet to encounter what you describe.

I am NOT saying it can't happen, but am saying "soft" Hornady 6.5 Creedmoor brass seems to be pretty unusual, rather than an epidemic.

Yall are likely right.

I'll still wait for the Alpha.

I'm gonna try some Alpha soon, along with some other new brands of brass. The market seems to be flooded with companies trying to fill the voids left by more traditional brass manufacturers.

I’ve had issues with the Hornady brass primer pockets on my 6.5 creed. I generally get between 4-6 reloads before the primer pocket gets too loose.

Marty as far as I know it was just the first batch!

No issues here with Hornady CM brass...

My primer pockets remained tight with the Hornady 6.5 Creedmoor brass, but one rifle kept leaving case head marks under top book loads. Did some brass measurements off of shoulder and my rifle FF brass is .01" larger than factory Hornady CM cases plus my FL die was setting was off setting shoulder back to far.

Still seeing the need to trim cases every 2 firings with Hornady brass in my other 6.5 CM rifles who,s fire formed brass are very close to factory Hornady new brass.