Any point in using high end brass?

**BerksCountyDave** · November 9th, 2008, 08:31 PM

I'm going to start toying around with hand loading .223 for precision accuracy at 200 yards. Is there really any advantage to using expensive, high end brass? For example, Norma brass is OVER A DOLLAR PER CASE. That seems insane. Any point to it?

As of now, I have Remington (RP stamp), WCC (Winchester military), Winchester commercial stamp, S&B, and Federal brass on hand. What brands of brass have you guys had good luck with in precision .223 loads?

**Travis Bickle** · November 9th, 2008, 09:29 PM

A dollar per case IS insane. You could probably achieve the same results by using Winchester brass, uniforming the primer-pockets & de-burring the flash hole. You could take the additional step of weighing each piece & batching brass of like weights. Are you loading for a bolt gun, or an AR?

**SteveWag** · November 9th, 2008, 09:48 PM

Travis is right on, deburr, uniform, chamfer and sort by weight.
Steve

**bogey1** · November 9th, 2008, 09:52 PM

a buck a piece is insane for 50bmg let alone .223 its more than the brass that makes your rifle accurate.

**Arch007er** · November 9th, 2008, 10:07 PM

If your just gonna use the brass for an AR, i wouldnt really bother with the brass unless you had the money to spend, as the other posts said about deburring and such, that should do just fine. The reason why the brass is that expensive is just for the tighter tolerances and also you should get more firings per case. But if you were shooting a single shot/bolt action i would pony up the dough because of the rim thickness is also part of the tolerances that norma, lapua, etc. do to their brass and to my knowledge there isnt anything you can do about that (or really measure it for that matter on a centerfire). I personally have 50 cases of norma brass for my .270 wsm and all of their lengths and weights didnt vary really at all, but it didnt matter really cause that gun does not shoot as well as i hoped

. And the only stretching i had was on the 2nd firing, and i trimmed them down and they are good. But to really answer your question is high end brass important, i would say yes, but depends on what your planning to use it for.

Is your .223 an AR/ Semi-auto?

**BerksCountyDave** · November 10th, 2008, 05:50 AM

Thanks for the replies guys. It's going to be an AR

**cosmo05** · November 10th, 2008, 09:27 AM

Originally Posted by BerksCountyDave

I'm going to start toying around with hand loading .223 for precision accuracy at 200 yards. Is there really any advantage to using expensive, high end brass? For example, Norma brass is OVER A DOLLAR PER CASE. That seems insane. Any point to it?

As of now, I have Remington (RP stamp), WCC (Winchester military), Winchester commercial stamp, S&B, and Federal brass on hand. What brands of brass have you guys had good luck with in precision .223 loads?

I use regular Winchester brass and they produce less than 1 MOA at 200 yds., more like .75 MOA consistently, .5 or less at 100 yds. Mine are 50 gr. V-Max over Varget or BLC(2) fired from a Remington Model 700 VSS. I'm not sure what I would gain using Lapua, Norma or another high end brass. If you are shooting competition and have a real high end rifle, then that brass may be for you.