Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Starline 223 brass vs. Winchester brass volume

Anyone ever noticed if Starline brass is thicker than say Winchester brass in .223 ? I've have some Winchester brass and loaded it with 25.0 grains of IMR 3031 with a 50 grain Nosler BT andits super accurate in my CZ 527. The powder charge comes nearly to the top of the case, but I still have room to get the bullet started before seating. Not so with the Starline brass. The 25.0 charge comes right to the top of the case and it can't get the bullet started in the mouth of the case. I've measured the charge about 6 times and it always come up to the top.

I don't think I have any Starline 223 brass, but have noticed Winchester brass holding a little more capacity in both 223 and in 308. If you know the velocity of your load in Win brass, you could back off the charge a bit for Starline brass and work back up to the same velocity. It may not shoot exactly the same accuracy, but should be about as close as you can get with different components.

If you're open to powder suggestions that might work better in that Starline brass, try Benchmark if you want a temp stable stick powder, or X-Terminator for a ball powder. My best accuracy and velocity with 50gr bullets always comes from max loads of XTerminator, but it's a bit more temp sensitive than Benchmark so work up your loads when it's hot out.

Thanks for the input. I'll have to try Benchmark after I run out of IMR 3031. I've got a mess of H335 as well. I've got the velocity recorded somewhere in my load data, I'll just have to go back and look it up. I hate to start over on load development when I've got one that shoots less than .25 MOA.

If you're open to powder suggestions, TAC works nicely in .223 with 50s. You can get plenty of it in Starline cases too. It meters as well as you can expect from any spherical, always a plus. I use Benchmark as well, and it's as good as TAC if not better and it meters like a spherical. Either way, you should get outstanding results.

Starline is great brass. Consistent weight and dimensions.

Benchmark meters well for a stick powder, but it does not meter like a spherical powder. Let's not mislead people reading this stuff. It meters just like other short cut stick powders - reasonably consistent, but may not work in some powder measures.

Also, Xterminator gives better velocity and accuracy than TAC with 50 gr bullets and anything lighter in all the rifles I've tried it in. I do use both powders.


That's why I made the comment above. If you adjust velocity in your Starline brass to match what you got in Winchester brass, you shouldn't need to start over on load development. Obviously if you change powders you will need to.

Maybe that's true about powder measures. I've owned several, but the one I've used the most by far is a UniFlow with the small-cavity drum installed and a baffle. In my own experience, Benchmark meters just as well as anything else---including AA4100, H335, TAC, or X-Terminator. I can detect very, very little inconsistency with ANY of them (aand I do not mean "on target," I mean weighing consecutive charges on my 5-10).

One did not mention whether the initial capacity measures were with fired or virgin brass. With my BPCR cartridges I gain several grains of capacity after firing and expanding thing to chamber dimensions.

Starline should be heavier than Winchester, but one can still get to the same pressures to obtain the desired velocities.

Are both the WW and Starline brass fired or new or a mix? Because in a couple cartridges I shoot, max loads won't physically fit in new cases but once fired and sized, they fit pretty easily. If you are comparing fired/sized WW cases to new Starline, you are not doing an apples to apples comparison. One thing you can do, easily, is just weigh a few cases of each brand. The density of cartridge brass is essentially the same so any difference in weight would point to a difference in case thickness, thus the difference in "real" case volume.

Tom

The Winchester cases are fired and the Starline are new, unfired. I'll get out the scale tonight and weigh a few to see what the difference is, if any.

The same thing happened with Starline 45-70 cases versus Winchester 45-70 cases.

Hmmm, good to know. I'm guessing the Starline cases are thicker in the web area. I'll post results tomorrow.

I use Lake City, son has friend in the army. He brings several 5 gallon buckets when he comes home.