Eagle Eye ammo brass? Alpha Brass problems?

[Sled]

I noticed eagle eye moved to Alpha brass in the last couple years, which by all accounts is good quality. Does anyone here know who made their original "eagle eye" stamped brass when they started loading?

I've had some serious ES issues with my last 2 or 300 rounds that were stamped Alpha and I'm chalking it up to powder charge inconsistencies without pulling and weighing. That's why I'm not planning to buy any more of their loads, even though they shot precisely out to 400. I just want to know if I should put any time into the old eagle eye stamped brass, which I have a few hundred on hand.

Thanks in advance

 

[Sled]

Anybody know the story here? I contacted the company and got a very brief response stating they have nothing to do with alpha brass. Using their products is a "hard no" these days.

Am I missing something here? Did alpha brass screw some people over?

 

[Bater]

Most people on this forum load their own, I try a different forum

 

[Sled]

Most people on this forum load their own, I try a different forum

Yeah, probably so. I was thinking folks that reload would have a pretty good idea brass quality. I've been reloading for about 20 years now but I would classify myself as an intermediate reloader. Not expert by any means.

Hopefully the company gets back with me again and lets me know what the issues are with the brass. I plan to reload what I have but don't want to put a lot of work into trash brass.

Also, if a mod sees this, feel free to move it to the appropriate forum.

 

[Bater]

Yeah, probably so. I was thinking folks that reload would have a pretty good idea brass quality. I've been reloading for about 20 years now but I would classify myself as an intermediate reloader. Not expert by any means.

Hopefully the company gets back with me again and lets me know what the issues are with the brass. I plan to reload what I have but don't want to put a lot of work into trash brass.

Also, if a mod sees this, feel free to move it to the appropriate forum.

Alpha is absolute top-tier if that is your question. I highly doubt that is your issue…

 

[Dmoua]

Alpha brass is great. Some batches I have around 21 firings. I have seen high SD’s with virgin Alpha brass on more than one occasion.

 

[Sled]

Alpha is absolute top-tier if that is your question. I highly doubt that is your issue…

That's what I always thought but the company reply led me to believe there might be some issues. If it's just bad blood, that's no big deal to me. I just thought it was odd they told me they haven't used alpha brass since 2022 and I have a lot number of theirs from 2024.

I'm getting back to a point, hopefully, in my life that I can afford the time to load my own again. That'll fix any of the consistency issues I had. I'll likely grab the LRP brass I sized recently and save the alpha brass for another time.

Here's what they said if you're curious:

We do not work with Alpha in any capacity. Using any of their products is a hard no for us today. Its been over two years since we have used any of their products.

 

[Bater]

I would look at which company is more successful… Just saying

 

[BBob]

I've had some serious ES issues with my last 2 or 300 rounds that were stamped Alpha and I'm chalking it up to powder charge inconsistencies without pulling and weighing. That's why I'm not planning to buy any more of their loads, even though they shot precisely out to 400.

So if the load shot precisely out to 400 for you then why would you care about ES?

Serious question.

 

[Sled]

So if the load shot precisely out to 400 for you then why would you care about ES?

Serious question.

Because it's off my previous dope and when I shoot long distance I'm off by inches to feet. My previous load was less precise but more accurate. It's impossible to have a good drop chart when you're getting hot and cold loads in the same lot.

 

[TradLife406]

Because it's off my previous dope and when I shoot long distance I'm off by inches to feet. My previous load was less precise but more accurate. It's impossible to have a good drop chart when you're getting hot and cold loads in the same lot.

Like how many shots in your sample size? So many questions.

 

[BBob]

Because it's off my previous dope and when I shoot long distance I'm off by inches to feet. My previous load was less precise but more accurate. It's impossible to have a good drop chart when you're getting hot and cold loads in the same lot.

So what sort of ES spreads are you seeing and at what distance where shots are off by feet?

Like the other guy said “So many questions” and I’ll add “too little information”.

 

[Sled]

I don't shoot as much as I used to. When I opened the last 100 with SRP brass I had to immediately rezero and change my drop chart. I can post my dope changes later when I get back to it. It's enough to say that I've only seen this type of change in factory ammo when people started siezing their bolts with Hornady factory 7prc.

And for reference I don't shoot this setup past 1200 yards typically.

 

[Sled]

So what sort of ES spreads are you seeing and at what distance where shots are off by feet?

Like the other guy said “So many questions” and I’ll add “too little information”.

Again, most of my work with this system is under 1200 yards and using MOA.

Eagle Eye Berger 135 classic hunter
2023 MV avg 2675
2025 MV avg 2478

Fwiw, my barnes ammo is still shooting same dope as it was.

With the new lot is shown an MV as low as 2435 and as high as 2670. It is possible that one of my old rounds made it in to that session but even pulling that one out it still had MVs of 2580. In my opinion the powder seems more temp sensitive than what I saw out of the old lots and they likely had some powder drops that were off when filling. My most recent batch of 100 has seen an ES closer to 75 FPS but I'm only 30 rounds into it. With the overall MV still being so much lower than previous lots I am assuming that they lowered the pressures for a reason. When weighing the loaded cartridges of my current lot, I've only come up with a variation of around one grain, which can be attributed to projectile, brass and powder variations.

I don't generally hunt past four or five hundred yards so zeroing and changing my dope works fine for that. When target shooting, it's pretty frustrating to go from 16.6 MOA drop to an 18.3 at 700 yards. I've had to increase the size of the plates that I'm using and shoot shorter distances.

If I get the time to start reloading again then that will solve a lot of issues. I just wanted to know if I was setting myself up for failure by using either of their brass. My backup plan is to find some factory loaded berger ammo and keep going for now.

 

[BBob]

Everything you’ve stated says your “problem” lies with the manufacturer of the ammunition and not Alpha brass itself. The “problem” isn’t a problem it’s just a product of how your manufacturer has chosen to change things in the ammunition you’ve purchased over time. These are things as you already know and have stated that you have to deal with when not reloading. You get what you get with factory ammunition especially with a non major brand manufacturer. That said when reloading you still have to deal with changes over time. Different bullet lots can shoot differently, changes in powder lots can produce different velocities, etc…

Basically your complaint should be: Eagle Eye hasn’t provided consistent ammunition over time.