Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Do Brass Brands Matter ?

I was wondering this as I measured the necks of a small bin of 270 range brass. Lots of time to think. I'm using a 1/10 tubing mic. If it's over a thou ,it gets tossed . I'm getting > 12 and < 15 . I finished my coffee, I better get back to work.

Forgive me for being slow on the uptake, but please help me decipher your comments.

The "over a thou" part: Does this mean if a particular neck varies in thickness by more than a thou when you check several places, than it's tossed?

Second part: Does this mean among the various types of brass you have to measure you're seeing wall thicknesses between .012" and .015"?

Yes and Yes. I have noticed different brands vary by about a thou, but they are all in that range.Being that .012 and .015 are the thinnest and thickest, but most are closer. The brass is going to be 6.5-06 .

What's the neck section diameter of the reamer you'll be using?

Your question triggered some mic work. I see using 270 is going to be a bit more work than expected. I thought something might be involved and picked up a .2-1.2 inside mic as well as a Forster .2665 reamer . I got the power attachment ( by accident) so I guess I can adapt it for use on the mill. This is getting down right fun.

I'd size the brass, expand the necks on a mandrel and turn excess material off the outside.

^ VERY GOD ANSWER ^ > so your answer about brass brands yes there is a difference .

No it doesn't. Depends on the platform you shoot it from. I knew a guy who said no matter what he feeds his Sako's it's crazy accurate. I get better accuracy with OAL changes and powder that's suited for a particular cartridge and bullet combinations. Some may disagree, but that's what I experience. I tried to take advice with different loading techniques and the one that stood out the most is neck tension and powder/cartridge/bullet combinations. Brass isn't as critical as some may think.

Oops, good answer but you may upset the masses. 👍

My understanding from the OP is that he is necking down .270 brass to form 6.5-06. There could easily be neck clearance issues depending on the neck thickness of the .270 case and the neck diameter of the 6.5-06 reamer. Mathman' suggestion is a good one.

I'd have to confirm, but from memory I turn down my 6.5-06 brass to a .291 neck OD. The chamber neck is about .295.

Neck down from a larger caliber to a smaller one reaming is in order. Neck turning is for chamber clearance with custom barrels.

Wrong

Brass brands matter greatly.

Considerations:
Brass soft/hard - i.e, Norma is some of the softest brass out there. Winchester on the other hand is usually very hard out of the box. Remington hits the middle just right and my preferred entry level brass.
Internal volume is noticeably different between brands.

didn't use Federal brass for years because a "gunsmith" said guys didn't like it because it's too soft. I started to use it and had no problems. Sometimes people draw thier own conclusion with very little practical experience, just like Sierra bullets are too soft, even though they take big game with a good track record.

Heard that a LOT--and experienced some of it myself--years ago.

Neither has been my experience in recent years. Norma brass (including the cases they still make for Weatherby) has been very tough--and that includes the Norma 6mm PPC brass for my benchrest rifle--which as with a lot of BR rifles is loaded a grain or two over maximum.

From what I understand, Winchester no longer makes it own brass, but contracts it out to various companies. Some is pretty hard, and some is not. Which along with varying dimensions is why I quit using Winchester cases a few years ago.

That was something I hadn't thought about, chamber dimensions .Thank You. That's a damm good idea.Why didn't I think of that !?! I'll see if I can find some fired cases. I have finished the neck measurements, all 600+ of them . I just sold a couple of unopened bags of Winchester red bag 25-06 brass, today so I'm committed to 270 brass.

Mathman is pretty good but he is not a God

Chamber dimensions....I take it's Sammi dimensions ?

It's not just neck size, but internal volume. I can and have used a variety of brass. I have Winchester, Lapua, Remington, S&B, Nosler, and Hornady brass for my 308 and have used military and Federal brass in the past. But when I load a batch of ammo I don't mix brands. I may load up a bunch of 155 gr Scenar's with Nosler brass, 150 gr SST's with the Remington and so on.

The same powder charge will give slightly different velocity in different brass. In my experience all of the brass I've tried except Federal and Military brass is close enough to be safe with the same powder charges. But when I use Federal or Military 308 brass I have to work up a different load. The same powder charges in that brass gives more velocity and could be an overload.

There is nothing wrong with using either Federal or Military brass. I just stopped using it because I had to use a different load when I did. It just makes my life simpler to be able to keep the same load data with the other brass.

Even with the same load data and same bullets I may find those loaded with Remington brass will have a slightly different POI than when I used Hornady brass. It isn't a dramatic difference. But enough that using mixed brass will result in larger groups on paper.

I don't hand load for handguns. But for most people there isn't enough of an advantage in accuracy anyway so mixed brass is less of an issue.

slightly different velocity in different brass.
And how much is slightly ?