Best factory .308 ammo for brass

[DougK]

I don't have a bench setup yet but I'm saving brass. When buying factory ammo whic has the best brass?

[Geo_Erudite]

This

or

That

[darkker]

Just stay away from Federal, they have VERY soft brass. Case head expansion and seperations happen at very low pressure. Single firing factory ammo is fine, reloading not so much.

[rjtfroggy]

^^^ I don't know about this. I use Federal Gold Match exclusively for my reloaded 308 and have never had a case failure, can't speak to the other Federal stuff. Some of mine has 11-12 reloads on it but I also shoot a mid range charge 2575-2625 fps at 100-200 yard ranges. The only case failure I ever had was with Win. brass.

[big honkin jeep]

I like to shoot Winchester when generating fire formed brass. Just seems to work well for me.

[darkker]

Froggy,

Depending on the bullet, 25-2600 is stout.
But I agree, I typically don't run heavy loads either. But have Long known about and ran afoul with soft Federal brass. That's one of the ways they get "accuracy", from soft cases. They will conform much quicker when soft. Which in and of itself, is fine. The trouble is the heads are also soft. This is typically seen in primers falling out, or extractor grooves growing excessively.
This last issue is what caught me recently. I thought I had rid myself of all of that brass, but it turns out no. I was sitting everything over a known good chrono, with Pressure Trace verified loads. 50,000 psi made the weasel go pop! The case head separation was severe enough to grow the extractor Groove by 0.15" and blow the extractor apart.

[Front Royalty]

I had good luck using the Lake City brass left over from M80 Ball.

[Robinhood]

There are some articles around the web on this. Much more info than most will type. Lapua, Lake city and Winchester are standards. Federal can be good. Norma is top notch but $$$$$. If you are not a match shooter sort by manufacturer then by weight and shoot.

[DougK]

Thank you for all the feedback. I can see there quite a learning curve to reloading. I'm really looking forward to getting my bench set up. I'm forcing myself to take it slow and hopefully make good equipment choices. In the meantime I can hopefully stockpile some good brass. I've heard that the Lappua and Norma were top shelf.

[darkker]

Unless you have nothing but time on your hands, don't sort brass. It's a selling tool to distract the buyer from noticing the $70 price tag. Focus on learning theory of operations, and being consistent. Then understanding who is who in the shooting world will keep you from chasing ghosts.
Examples:
Winchester hasn't owned the ability to make cases for over a decade, it's least cost bid, has been coming from IMI recently. Hodgdon doesn't make powder. Dillon uses Lee's patents.

[FW Conch]

I'm sure the vote for the absolute best brass would go to Lapua, for those who can shoot well enough to know the difference.

In testing some years back, Remington brass lasted the longest - 20 reloads. But as of late their quality control has slipped badly, at least on bare cases. Remington seems to be focusing on loaded ammo, at the expense of their reloading market, so maybe the loaded ammo market has better quality control? The 308 cases, for what ever reason, seems to have had the least problems?

But the answer is still the same: get some cases, load and shoot, and decide what works best for "You" :-)

[FWest]

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/131...l-metal-jacket

I bought this ammo when I started reloading for .308. It has 6-7 reloads on it with no issues yet.

[Front Royalty]

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/131...l-metal-jacket

I bought this ammo when I started reloading for .308. It has 6-7 reloads on it with no issues yet.

And considering Norma reloading brass is $0.96/ea on that same site, THIS IS A STEAL!!!