Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Better options for 6mm Remington brass?

I've steered clear of Remington and Winchester brass for a long time now. I think I may still have some new Remington Pete for my .222 stashed away, but it was made long before the great component shortages that began about a decade ago. I do not plan to buy R-P or W-W brass ever again.

I have tried Hornady's 6mm brass and I'm just not at all impressed.

It seems Lapua doesn't make it, nor does Lapua. About the only other maker of 6mm Remington I can find is PRVI Partizan. I can also find PRVI Partizan 6.5x57 and 7x57 brass, the 7x57 being the cheapest. I don't mind necking brass down and 500 pieces would probably last me as long as I live. So, if there's any accuracy advantage to going that route (and I'd like to know WHY, if so) I'm perfectly willing. For the same reason I don't mind spending a bit more for something formed to 6mm Rem right out of the gate.

I'm not in any rush to do anything at all soon, but I've been thinking about it every time I look at all the brass I have on my "needs prep" shelf where I see my empty Hornady brass. I'll probably load it one more time and then trash it. Maybe twice.

What alternatives am I missing?

I never had trouble with necking it down.

That includes Rem.W-W and Fed.brass.

Never had many of the PPU brass but it did just as good as the others.

It's a breeze going from 7x57 to 6mm.

Just glad my friend sold that rifle.

I bought Hornady for my 6mm.. Haven't had it long but it seems fine...

My latest Hdy 6mm brass sucks. Interested to see what you find with the PP.

What sucks about it?

The PPU will certainly work and I think it is pretty fair brass and it holds up well. If I were going that route I think I would bite the bullet and get Lapua, Norma or RWS with RWS as my first though expensive choice.

If you go larger than 6.5x57 you will almost surely need to turn the necks, in fact I would turn first and then neck down in two steps. The advantage is the better more uniform brass and the turned uniformed necks. These two things can improve accuracy and consistency.

The PPU brass is fairly thick and I have to turn the necks on my 6AI with the 6mm PPU brass. I blow primers if I don't. I just bought about 250 WW 6mm brass for 20% off from Natchez and it looks good so far for the first 50. At that price I can cull it down and not feel too much of a loss. Prep and cull enough and they will all be fairly equal for accuracy. The RWS, Lapua and PPU will last longer in roughly that order.

I bought 243 and 270 Hornady brass about a year or so ago and I'm really liking it. I also bought 243 and 270 WW brass and it's fine. All of it is making concentric ammo.

I bought Nosler brass about 5 years ago in 243, 7-08, and 30-06. All of it was so soft it left ejector marks with starting loads. I threw it away. In hindsight I should've called Noz and chewed them out enough and maybe replace it. Regardless I'm a bit gunshy (pun intended) of Nosler brass. But recently there has been a number of posts praising Noz brass.

I beginning to think all brass but Lapua, or Alpha, or other high end (expensive) brass is a bit of a crapshoot these days. Probably dependent on what production run we buy.

Andrew,

ever consider just making it out or some other brass you like?

I've been using Winchester 6mm Brass for years....about 300 cases I bought 15 years ago or more...

But I made some 6mm brass as I wanted to have some Nickle brass, for easy load Identification

just resized some 25/06 nickle brass, and trimmed it...that was Federal head stamp I think...

used it quite a bit... but like half of everything I ever owned, I haven't seen it since we moved the summer of 2018, and had to go down in space size
of the house, garage and shed storage....I had expanded a lot having plenty of room in the place we lived in for 17 years before having to move...

John, I'm considering just necking down some 7x57 since there are several different makers out there and it's pretty easily found. I'm leaning toward the prvi partizan since it seems to be well regarded.

I'm shopping for a 6mm Rem FL sizer right now. I bought one off ebay last week, but when it arrived it turned out to be a neck-only die. I ordinarily use a Lee collet die, but I figure I may as well give the RCBS neck die a try since I have it in hand.

I shot the 6mm Sunday morning and it did okay with the loads put up in Hornady brass, but I'm still not impressed with the brass for its longevity which I find lacking. Overpriced, IMO.

Prvi Partisan 7x57 brass from Graf & Sons necked down has been answer for us in our .257s of late.

How's the neck thickness? Have you had to turn?

No issues with neck thickness so no turning; I do anneal them after first firing tho.

Grafs has 6mm Rem. brass in stock. Hornaday, PPU and Winchester. No reason to neck down as the PPU brass is thick enough to stand some neck turning if you want to go that route.

I would only neck down to get Alpha brass but I stocked up on PPU and Winchester to have less different components on hand and to avoid the Alpha temptation.

RE: Neck turning PPU brass is because I have a SAAMI minimum neck diameter on my 6AI.

Andrew,

I have necked down brass for the 6mm several times...

from 7 x 57 brass, which was PPU I picked up for dirt cheap in Montana once at the Big R in Billings...
I ran it thru a Lee 257 Roberts FL die, with the spindle removed and then sized it F/L in a Lee 6mm Rem die...

I don't shoot a Roberts, but picked up the set of Lee's I have for about the cost of a box of 20 rounds of ammo...

Reload dies are cheap investments that last a life time...actually the best bargain in reloading...

I like Lee's a lot....and the 6mm Rem is one of my favorite two cartridges... the other is the same case... 6.5 x 57...
on a long action of course.. I have both rounds on long actions... kinda like the same thing everyone thought I was nuts
when I did it... but then the Creedmoor came out with the same concept and everyone thought that was the greatest idea
since sliced bread then....

my 6mm Rem has a one in 7 twist in a Stainless Pac Nor barrel on it.... formerly a Rem 700 in 06....

Thanks John, and Tejano.

Actually, I kinda lost track of the fact that Graf's has the PPU 6mm in stock. It's a few bucks more than 7x57, though, and that is what got me started down the "what-can-I-neck-down" rabbithole. All things considered, I'd be best off buying 200 pieces of PPU 6mm and calling it good.

If Lapua offered 6.5x57 or 7x57 I'd stay down in that hole, but they don't so I won't. Lapua DOES offer 6.5x55, but I'd imagine that doesn't work out well or else everyone would be onto it.

It just so happens that Graf's has some discounts running on PPU brass right now. Grabbed a couple hundred 6mm Rem already.

I have loads of Remington brass. I think they are as good as most. I also have some Federal, Nosler, a lot of W-W, Military, & Hornady.

I do not see why people whine about Remington brass. It is as good as any of the other brass I own. I think it's better than military.

I run a mixture of federal, Remington wan Winchester in my 6 ai, load all together and shoot all together.. lost a primer in Alberta last year with a federal, tossed it and rocked on

I use Rem and Win 6mm brass. Never any issues.

Can always find 6mm brass on GB, sometimes decent buys.

I was browsing on midway or Cabelas and they had 6mm brass.