nosler 260 remington brass review

[LongRange]

Ive been going back and forth on buying nosler brass for my 260 like a woman shopping for shoes as ive read several bad reviews about the nosler brass not holding up well in the 260....I shoot nosler in my 300wm and really like it. I finally man'd up and bought a box from powder valley, now normally I buy at least 100 cases from the same lot but wanted to see if the brass was consistent before buying more. Out of the box the 50pcs of brass weighed with in 1.1g 180.4 to 181.5, neck wall thickness measured with calipers at 4 points measured .014 with only 2 cases measureing .014.5 at 1 point. Neck tension and OAL were all over the map but not a big deal as I fully prep all my brass anyway. Needless to say I was impressed so I went to buy another box from PV but noticed sportsman had some in stock so I ran into town and bought a box thinking there wont be a huge difference...WRONG!!...I got home and started weighing the box from sportsman and the difference from one lot to the next was 13 grains...but the box from sportsman was very consistent as well with the same 1.1g difference from 166.3 to 167.4g. Well I cant shoot brass with a 13g difference in weight so I went back to sportsman and got another box from the same lot and it weighed 166.2 to 167.4g for a difference of 1.2 grains out of 100 cases which is perfectly acceptable for me...the lapua brass ive been shooting isnt that close, out of the box the lapua brass had a 2g difference in weight.
Once again the neck tenison is all over the map on the cases from sportsman and the OAL is short 2.014 but the neck walls are all .014.
I havent shot any of this brass yet but will report back after i do and again after i have a few loads on it but so far im very impressed by the consistency.

[foxx]

Have you considered comparing water capacity instead of weight?

[LongRange]

Yes and will this week but im thinking if they are that close in weight that they will have similar case capacities as well. I already loaded the heavier cases from PV and can say the capacity compared the the lapua is a huge plus, in the lapua brass 45g of H4831sc was about mid neck full and H1000 the case was full at about 47g with the nosler brass 47g(1g over book max for effect)H4831sc is just at the bottom of the neck and a max charge of H1000 is about mid neck at 50g. I will check the heavier cases against the lighter cases with water this weekend after I shoot them and report back.
Im just hoping they hold up as well as the nosler i shoot in my 300.

[LoneWolf]

Been runnung Nosler brasa in my 308 with great succes. Aldo using their 25-06 necked up to to 6.5-06 and its ran well so far.

[LongRange]

Thats good to hear thanks LoneWolf.

[jonbearman]

I started out with a box of 50 just to try the stuff in .260. These were trial loads and not hot either. I went home after shooting to start reloading and lost 13 cases to loose primer pockets. So out I went again and shot most of the box I reloaded and this time lost 3 more. They are on there 5 th reloading and I have less than 25 cases that comfortably hold primers without leakage. I switched to plain old Remington and so far after several reloadings have not lost any. I am now going to try lapua to see how they last.

[LongRange]

I started out with a box of 50 just to try the stuff in .260. These were trial loads and not hot either. I went home after shooting to start reloading and lost 13 cases to loose primer pockets. So out I went again and shot most of the box I reloaded and this time lost 3 more. They are on there 5 th reloading and I have less than 25 cases that comfortably hold primers without leakage. I switched to plain old Remington and so far after several reloadings have not lost any. I am now going to try lapua to see how they last.

this is what makes me leary about them as ive read a lot of reviews like yours...do you remember how long ago you bought the nosler brass?
as far as longevity the lapua brass wins hands down...i have at least 12 loads on the lapua brass im shooting and primer pockets are still tight the only down side is the case capacity of the lapua with slower burning powders.

[BoilerUP]

I previously ran two different lots of Nosler 260 brass, and did not have any of the oft-reported issues of super weak primer pockets. In fact, I lost as many primer pockets using Lapua 260 brass as I did Nosler 260 brass...so hot-rodding is gonna cost you regardless.

Run a 140 with 43ish grains of H4350 (or less) and either will last pretty well.

[jonbearman]

First off I wasn't hot rodding and I bought the stuff about 2 years ago it seems. Just like older norma used to be soft but they changed their mixture and solved the problem in the last year or so. Norma is tougher now and a lot of the 6ppc users like it when they wouldn't use it years ago.

[LongRange]

[QUOT=jonbearman;290816]First off I wasn't hot rodding and I bought the stuff about 2 years ago it seems. Just like older norma used to be soft but they changed their mixture and solved the problem in the last year or so. Norma is tougher now and a lot of the 6ppc users like it when they wouldn't use it years ago.[/QUOTE]


That is about the time frame of the reviews ive read about the nosler brass being soft but then again ive read the same thing about just about ever brass at some point being soft or not up to par for some reason or another. Ive had great luck with nosler brass in my 300wm and have hot rodded it at times lol. I have 150 260 nosler cases and im going to keep 100 of them with mild charges for matches next year the other 50 I think I will work up some hot loads and shoot them for plinking and pratice to see how they hold up.

[LongRange]

Have you considered comparing water capacity instead of weight?


Good call here foxx...I doubt I would of checked water capacity with a 15+g difference in case weight if you hadnt brought it up and peaked my interest to see if they were close in capacity so I have to say thanks foxx.

I pulled a bullet on 1 case that weighed 181g and dumped the powder I then primed a case that weighed 166.3g tonight and weighed with water to the top of the neck...the case that weighed 181g has a case capacity of 53.1g the case that weighed 166.3g has a case capacity of 52.9-53g...my scale wouldnt settle it kept going back and forth between the 2 numbers so needless to say I am that much more impressed with this brass. Like I said I will abuse 50 of these cases just to see how well they hold up and report back as I go.

[foxx]

Cool.
I bought some Nosler 25-06 when no one else had any.
The cost irked me, to say the least. They performed very well, though.
I have only fired them 2x, so I can't comment yet on longevity.

[Steelhead]

The first brass I bought for my 260 was Nosler, I wasn't very happy with it, primer pockets gave way on some cases after first loading(well within book data) and none went past 5.
I'm using win 243 brass now with a stiff charge of H4350 and I've got cases with 10+ shots and they're primer pockets are still GTG.
I may try lapua if I can't find any more Win 243 or 7-08 cases before my current stock goes away.

[LongRange]

The first brass I bought for my 260 was Nosler, I wasn't very happy with it, primer pockets gave way on some cases after first loading(well within book data) and none went past 5.
I'm using win 243 brass now with a stiff charge of H4350 and I've got cases with 10+ shots and they're primer pockets are still GTG.
I may try lapua if I can't find any more Win 243 or 7-08 cases before my current stock goes away.

just keep in mind that the lapua brass is probable the best made but you give up a lot of case capacity with it...id have to look back in my load data but i think at 41g of IMR4350 and a 142g SMK i was getting slightly compressed loads but then again the free bore in my barrel is pretty short.

[LongRange]

went out yesterday and fire formed 100 of the 150 cases. I ran 50 of them pretty hot and the primer pockets are just as tight as the first time, I will keep loading those 50 cases hot and see how many loads I get out of them. I have some IMR7828 and some 140g nosler CCs and have never had much luck with either but have never combined the two until yeserday. I used these to rezero my scope and just to fire form the new brass. I weighed out 10 rounds to get the lee perfect powder measurer to where it was dropping pretty close to 43.5g then loaded the other 40 right out of the LPPM. I shot 4 10 shot groups that were all about this size...keep in mine these were shot off a bipod and a welding glove as rear support and loaded straight out of the LPPM..the yellow is 2".

http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff515/LTT-/Mobile%20Uploads/photo1-17.jpg (http://s1239.photobucket.com/user/LTT-/media/Mobile%20Uploads/photo1-17.jpg.html)

[LongRange]

I just got back from fire forming the last 50pcs of brass and may have stumbled upon a good load with primers powder and bullets I havent had much luck with until putting the three together. I almost didnt go out as we have weather coming in so its pretty windy here...was blowing 5mph and gusting to about 20mph when I shot. I bumped the charge up to 44g IMR7828sc and weighed out all 50 charges and shot off the bipod and my home made rear bag(a sock full of rice lol)to see how they would shoot and must say im pretty happy considering the wind and im thinking will shoot some tight groups with a little fine tuning.

[LongRange]

Also the 50pcs I got from powder valley the loaded neck is .293 and the loaded neck size on the 100pcs I got from sportsman are .288 so I had to order neck bushings for the 100 that are .288. Im also assuming the weight difference is because the 100pcs from sportsman are thinner. Also at this point im thinking the primer pockets will out live the necks on these 100pcs as the fired neck size is .296 so it looks like these will be annealed minimum of every 3xs fired maybe 2xs.

[LoneWolf]

Ran the 6.5-96 again today. Just under half MOA at 100 and shot a Mil'd group at 890 that was estimated to be about 5" vertical and only 2-3" left to right. But I can't wait for my new 243 barrel still

[LongRange]

Good shooting lonewolf...im still trying to deside if im going to re barrel with a CBI match or another shilen select match...this shilen flat out shoots so im leaning more toward shilen. Is the new 243 going to be AI?

[LoneWolf]

Keeping it standard. Running a 27" barrel throated long for 115 VLDs and DTACs but will give the 105 match hybrids a run too. Should get the 115s to 3100 pretty easily.