rate brass for reloading

[papahoss]

can anyone rate the following brass for reloading for me these three have the best price and are instock currently
Starline-Top brass-Remington From Midway USA

Pardon my clumsy post as this is my first attempt on the Cas board.

Papa Hoss

[Camille Eonich]

I use Starline and get it directly from Starline.  The prices are higher but you save on shipping.

[Four-Eyed Buck]

Starline is good stuff, I use a lot of it in .38 Spec. and 38-40. I'm not so thrilled with it in .45Colt, it's so stout that at CAS pressures it has more blowback than the Winchester brand does. I don't have any experience with Top Brass, and don't particularly care for the Rem. brand in .45Colt. the Rem. rims seem to be soft and pull through the shellplate at times....................Buck

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[papahoss]

Thank you both for your quick response. I had to go feed the horses and it takes me longer when the water buckets are frozen.

I definately will be shooting 45 caliber so maybe I need to keeplooking.

[Camille Eonich]

You're going to get blow back with the .45 anyway.  It is my understanding that Winchester is a thinner brass and therefore does expand and fill the gap better than Starline though.  You're probably still going to need to clean your rifle after every two matches or after every one multiday match though so the difference is not going to be that much of a difference.  If you use a stout enough load that becomes even less of an issue.

[Whiskey Hayes]

I've used a lot of Starline, Winchester and Remington .45 Colt brass.  Right now I've got a pretty good mix of all 3 with the Rem being the newest, only a year old.  I load on a Dillon 650 and can't tell which brand is running through the machine unless I look.  Life expectancy is pretty much when they get lost.

Guns don't seem to care either.  I shoot a mild smokless load and blow back is the same for all 3 brands of brass.  I'm not one to be concerned about blow back.  I spray the guns down with Kroil when I'm done shooting.  I'll shoot 3 to 4 hundred rounds a week most of the time.  Once a year I'll take them apart for a thorough cleaning and greasing.

To sum it up, buy the cheapest available when you need to buy brass if your shooting smokless loads.  I don't have any experience shooting black powder.

[Montana Slim]

As usual, results will vary depending on the particular firearm and the particular "lot" of brass from each manufacturer, as well as the particular cartirdge case.

Most every brand/batch I use has worked well for me in a number of guns including .38-.357, .45, .38-40, .44-40, .44 Russian and .45-70....However, I've had very negative experience with starline 38-40 used in an nice/tight original Win 73 and Uberti 1873 revolvers (splitting after 1-2 loads), combined with poor customer service on said items. So, I don't use their 38-40 anymore.....I recomend Winchester. Example here is that particular batch of brass had a problem...the problem may not be there anymore (??). I've had excellent customer service from Remington (45-70 splitting / separation issues) when needed. Those were my only issues/dealings.

This is definitely one of those YMMV situations.

Slim

[USCG Flyer]

Not sure about the top brass stuff, but the other two are fine, I like Starline in 45, use it for all my heavy hunting and Alaska loads. Holds up really well with 300+ grainers. But for any other stuff, take your pick with regards to price. For solving the blowback problem with BP I've started using MagTech cases, really thin and expand well for me with a 250gr and a good crimp.

[Ransom Gaer]

I have heard good things about Starline, but have no personal experience with it or Remington.  Basically I use nothing but Winchester .45 Colt brass.  Load nothing but true BP and a 250 grain bullet in it.  I developed a load for use in my '58 Remingtons with R&D Conversion Cylinders and my 1866 Winchester.  I kept the load relatively light for the revolvers.  I have had some problems with blowback in the '66.  Just recently I bought an 1860 Henry in .45 Colt.  I went to the range with it and 100 rounds of .45 Colt load I had developed for long range side matches.  It just has a bit more BP in it, but would still make a good main match load.  In the Henry it was very accurate and very little blowback.  Two things I noticed. The first is that the chamber in my Henry is a hair tighter than the chamber in the '66.  The second is that the heavier charge and a good crimp does help with the blowback.

Ransom Gaer

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

I usually like to buy Winchester brass, not so much because of price, just because there is usually a guy at the gunshows who carries it. I'm not too smart about the way I buy brass, I usually just buy a few bags at a time, rather than ordering a whole lot at a reduced price.

For 44-40 in a rifle, I definitely prefer Winchester, I have measured it and it is thinner than the other brands, which makes for better sealing the chamber in a rifle. Unfortunately, Winchester 44-40 brass seems to be in short supply at all the mail order houses right now. Winchester doesn't make this stuff all year long, they run batches several times a year. For 44-40 Winchester brass, everybody seems to be out right now. Dunno if the situation is the same with Winchester 45 Colt brass too, but I would not be a bit surprised.

For 45 Colt in my pistols, I don't really care what brand I use. I have a huge pile of 45 Colt brass I've accumulated over the years, some I bought as loaded ammo, some I bought as empty brass. I have everything in my pile, Winchester, Starline, Remington, PMC, and a bunch of other stuff I can't remember right now. Not familiar with Top Brass. Neither my pistols nor my loading press seems to care what brand of 45 Brass I put into them. It all loads and shoots pretty much the same, at least as far as I can tell. I'm not a precision shooter, so minute of angle accuracy from a pistol is kind of out of my league.

I don't own any rifles chambered in 45 Colt. If I did, I would probably be looking for the thinnest brass I could find for them, because the thinner brass will obturate to seal the chamber better like the pards have said. But for my revolvers, I really don't have any preference as to brand.

[Will Blastem]

I load both Starline and Top Brass and consider both to be so similar I can't tell the difference...I think they BOTH are excellent quality. I have some  Remingtons but I usually cull them out cause I have experienced case splitting on occasion. I load 45LC 200gr RNFP's with Trail Boss on he lighter side of IMR's published data.

I would offer this comment (comparing NEW Starline with NEW Top Brass): Last year I bought 1000 from each in 45LC but the Top Brass was pre-primed. I paid about $30 more for the pre-primed. I am still loading on a single stage press. I figured $10 of that $30 was "labor", the value of which was the time saved from NOT having to prime and size the cases ( I had to size the Starline cases before using them)...Well I didn't  take much more than  Economics 101 to figure the Top Brass was the better value...FOR ME.

[papahoss]

Hey pards I want to send a big thanks to all of you for the information about the types of brass you prefer I did order and load the first 1000 45LC from starline and the Dillon xl 650 made short work of them, I'm also glad I spent the extra $$$ for that type of press because it seems those rounds get unloaded about as fast as I can fill them up. On the days it isn't freezing I've been poking 45 caliber holes in all the paper plates I can tack to a stick in the ground. (looks like there will be a shortage of picnics at our house this year) Right now I'm waiting on the next shipment from starline. I'm enjoying the reloading almost as much as the shooting

[Four-Eyed Buck]

Name of the game........................Buck