Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 243 Win brass

I agree:

mathman,

Have also noticed that some of the same handloaders "uniform" the primer pockets in every new batch of brass, which is even less relevant than case-weight when searching for accuracy.

I wind up uniforming primer pockets more than I'd like to, but it's not for the sake of precision. Pockets are often on the shallow end. Combine this with an overly large radius between the side wall and bottom of the pocket and there will be primer seating problems.

My .243 Ruger MkII won't hold onto Hornady brass either. I bought two boxes - 50 each - of new unprimed. All the rims are bad that way.

Rifle feeds and ejects fine with other brands.

I sort my brass by neck wall thickness. I purchase Lapua whenever possible, then Norma, for most of my bolt guns.

For my high volume rigs (such as my M700 .223 Varmint) I buy bulk lots of Winchester and then sort through them for the most consistent case neck pieces. All of the culls get tossed into the AR / practice pile where I am not as discerning about MOA accuracy.

Teal (and ClearAirTurbulence),

That's interesting. Have you measured the rims?

I just did on my batch of of Hornady .243s, and the rims are just slightly thinner than the SAAMI maximum of .054 inch, averaging .051. (You don't want rim thickness OVER the SAAMI max, as it might not slide under some extractors.) Have you measured yours?

My batch has worked fine in three .243s, including a Barrett Fieldcraft, Husqvarna (based on the small-ring 98 Mauser action), and a custom on a Mexican Mauser military action.

I've always liked Winchester brass first, Remington second and never much cared for Federal brass, at least in rifle cartridges. A while back I was gifted 1,100 rounds on once fired Federal Gold medal Match .308 brass and the primer pockets are loose enough that the brass is worthless.

A few years before the big scare I was at a gun show and found a vender who had a lot of Winchester and Remington 7x57 brass. As you probably know that stuff is "seasonal" so after a bit of haggling I took every last bit he had. Both brands have been quite good holding up quite well with my rather hot loadings. About the only Norma brass I have is some .257 Robt. ammo which I haven't shot much of and 100 rounds of original Herter's 7x57 which I understand was made for them by Norma. I haven't loaded any of those yet.
Paul B.

You didn't say what you want to do with the brass. For hunting yardages, just about any brass will work. If you're trying to tighten groups, the field is reduced to a few. Those few for me when I'm shooting 600+ yards are Lapua and Alpha for calibers I shoot.

For hunting brass that I may lose, I've always deferred to Winchester and Remington brass in .243.

Thanks for all the feedback. Looks like Winchester has the most positive comments. Use is for hunting and coyote control at up to 250 yards most times. I have two 243 rifles and use Lapua in one and Winchester in the other. When I bought Lapua, it was all I could find but I prefer cheaper brass.

I will probably go with Winchester but am interested in Starline and Privi Partisan.

JB you seemed to like Starline and Privi. How do they compare to Winchester? I'd like to be able to use the same loads in both rifles without having to adjust powder because of one brand having a smaller capacity.

Unfortunately, haven't tried Starline and Prvi .243 cases.

Unfortunately no. I pitched it. Was my son's rifle. He's using Win brass now. Was noticeably different to the naked eye though.

MD: I just ran my calipers over my Hornady brass. I can't quite get a square reading on the rim thickness because my caliper jaws are a tad too wide at the end. I was getting .049 on the average but that was on a tiny angle.

I measured some Barnes cases (which I haven't loaded up yet) and some Federal and Barnes factory. The headstamp on the Barnes is Winchester. They all ran a hair over .050.

I don't know what it is. I've shot 50 rounds of (mild) reloads in the Hornady cases and if I don't whip the bolt back hard the empty case will come back an inch maybe and then slip off the extractor. It doesn't clear the chamber.

I tried to make that happen with the Federal and Barnes factory loads by varying the speed of the bolt but it doesn't happen.

I know there has to be a reason but for now it's a mystery to me.

You enjoy the hell out of that Win brass! Go harvest some coyotes.

Exactly my experience. I'm not crying and didn't call Hornady as this was about 3 or 4 years ago. No ill will towards Hornady either. Love their stuff.

Teal: I love Hornady bullets. I'll still use them.

As far as precision - minute of prairie dog works for me, in the 243.

I have tried most all available .243 brass. Most are OK, except Federal, I don't care for Federal. I like Sig & Starline the best.

I completely agree with you on the old 222 Rem brass, when I bought my first 222 Rem it was a constant battle to find consistent brass. the weight and neck thickness varied greatly in the Win and Rem brass (worse than any other chambering I have ever owned). I can't remember what year Lapua started making brass for this round but I bought all of it I could find and have been a happy camper ever since.

As for the 243 Win I still like Lapua brass, I had a few issues with Win brass and moved on from it quickly.

Hi boatanchor. I don't shoot much 243 these days, but I remember the consistency problems I had with Rem and Win brass. I bought 200 Lapua cases and that solved everything.

It's unfortunate, but incidents with several cartridges soured me of Rem and Win. That was a while back though, and I am certain that they solved their QC problems.

I have not done this but if you factor in heavy culling or sorting where up to 20% can end up in the second string batch and then limited number of reloads say 12 or less, sometimes a lot less especially with over sized belted chambers compared to Alpha brass with less than 1% culls (usually none) and then 20+ reloads with annealing and case trimming every 4th or 5th reload then the price starts to not seem too bad. The softer brass needs more frequent trimming and gets worked more in the course of reloading. When I buy brass I get the best I can afford at the time, if I am also buying some budget brass it needs to be 30-40% less than Lapua or it is not worth it to me. Somewhere at 50% or less than the cost for Lapua it becomes a wash and even lower if you factor in your time.