Peterson, Lapua, Alpha, Starline

[sndmn11]

Considering buying brass versus the Hornady and Remington pick ups I have been using. Cartridges in question are 6.5 creedmoor (lrp), 30-06, 7-08.

Is longevity the biggest gain by buying a premium brand?

I have enough of each to not need, but if there's a gain to be had, which brand provides the best way to capitalize on that?

 

[Saintsfan1977]

All of those are good

 

[Pickettpuncher]

Consistency I think is the biggest draw to premium brass. You can make the cheap stuff just as good if you’re tedious and straighten up all the flaws. You can probably run a bit more pressure in premium brass than you can the cheap stuff and it’ll hold up much better as well.

 

[HighUintas]

Yes, consistency out of the box and toughness of the head is the biggest thing with premium brass. Internal case volume and neck thickness consistency make a decent difference in shooting precision, I think. Form might get on here and say BS, but he does use quality brass.

Peterson case heads are a touch softer than Lapua and Alpha. I use Peterson and really like it but also don't care to run loads as hot as I can on a regular basis.

Alpha claims to do something with their case head material to harden it in the right areas providing longer case life... I think it might be in reference to primer pocket but not sure.

If you're using range pickups now .... Switching to Lapua, Peterson or Alpha would probably blow your socks off. Mine were when I switched from Winchester brass to starline

For the price, starline is pretty good and I'd rather use that than any other non premium brand. I used it in an '06 a couple years ago and it seemed to be very consistent brass and seemed to hold up just fine.

 

[Lawnboi]

Consistency is the biggest gain. Longevity would be a second but you can fry premium brass quick too.

Bullets are way too expensive to be burning them on junk brass is the conclusion Iv come up with.

Iv used mainly Lapua but wouldn’t hesitate to give alpha or Petersen a try if I couldn’t get Lapua

 

[Johnc427]

All the above replies are consistent with what I’ve found. I also really like ADG and RWS

 

[Rob5589]

Consistency for sure; rim thickness, primer pockets, flash holes, length, etc. I've used Rem, Win, Hornady, and all worked but took some time to get them more consistent.
I currently use Norma which has been very good and recently picked up some Alpha which visually looks very nice.

 

[id_jon]

I haven't had an opportunity to buy large rifle primers in years, but I'm well stocked on small rifle, so that's my main consideration.

Edit: though that is only an option for 308/cm based cases I think

 

[7wssm]

I’ve gotten 15+ reloads with Hornady brass in 6.5 creed and 7 rem mag without having to trim or neck turn. Consistently single digit es/sd and .25 inch 5 shot groups out of the creed.

On the other hand my first time using Peterson I’ve found the necks to be extremely thick, had to neck turn them cause the first loads I shot without neck turning I was getting flattened primers on relatively light loads.

 

[HighUintas]

I’ve gotten 15+ reloads with Hornady brass in 6.5 creed and 7 rem mag without having to trim or neck turn. Consistently single digit es/sd and .25 inch 5 shot groups out of the creed.

On the other hand my first time using Peterson I’ve found the necks to be extremely thick, had to neck turn them cause the first loads I shot without neck turning I was getting flattened primers on relatively light loads.

Did trimming the necks alleviate your flattened primers with the same charge? Their brass is much thicker than some so the reduced internal volume will usually cause higher pressures in the same charge weights

 

[7wssm]

Did trimming the necks alleviate your flattened primers with the same charge? Their brass is much thicker than some so the reduced internal volume will usually cause higher pressures in the same charge weights

Yes they did, I am now at max or near max without any primers flattening

3200 fps out of a 7 rem mag with 155 grn bullet

 

[Vern400]

The most important factor will be your resizing practices. I bump the shoulder back 0.002 inch at each reloading. If you bottom that die out the cases don't last long. IMO Lapua big primer 308 is best. But I still use Old Remington brass and it shoots very well. I agree if you're willing to sort by weight, flash hole debur, neck turn, maybe neck ream as needed everything better than junk will shoot well. With Lapua, measure a few, and start loading. I've gotten a few batches that were so good that I didn't bother to resize before loading them. They're that good. I've run federal, winchester, lake city, Remington and I always found things that needed to be corrected before I loaded. I still check Lapua, but I have had batches that needed nothing.

 

[rickjames80]

What I noticed going from "range" brass to premium (Peterson, Prime or Lapua) in my case. My speeds became considerably more consistent. I always had speed variances like +- 30-35 fps then after switching brass, I'm under half that

 

[thinhorn_AK]

ADG, lapua, Peterson are all great, Norma is a big step up from Winchester, RP, and federal. Star line is a bit better than used factory brass from hornady or federal.

 

[shtrbc]

Something else I haven't seen mentioned is how much tighter the primer pockets stay with premium brass. Lapua, Norma, and ADG are the ones I've used. Multiple firings in a variety of cartridges and still no loose primers. And no, I don't load max loads. Seemed to be more of a problem with range brass. I believe the Lapua for one is a machined primer pocket vs. punched/formed primer pockets of bulk brass.

 

[Newtosavage]

Considering buying brass versus the Hornady and Remington pick ups I have been using. Cartridges in question are 6.5 creedmoor (lrp), 30-06, 7-08.

Is longevity the biggest gain by buying a premium brand?

I have enough of each to not need, but if there's a gain to be had, which brand provides the best way to capitalize on that?

So far my favorite brass has been Peterson followed closely by Star-Line. I would actually take either of those over Lapua based on my personal experience.

 

[Northpark]

I like ADG and starline. Basically I buy ADG when I can and starline when I can’t. The starline comes out of the box a bit rougher but after a little squaring up and trip work they are very consistent. Here’s a couple groups I shot yesterday using starline brass.

 

[sndmn11]

So far my favorite brass has been Peterson followed closely by Star-Line. I would actually take either of those over Lapua based on my personal experience.

I tried to buy some off of here, but the guy never replied to my PM...

 

[Newtosavage]

I tried to buy some off of here, but the guy never replied to my PM...

I'm holding on to my Star-Line 7mm-08 bruh.