Reloading Brass

[NealS02]

So I am going to start off by saying that I know very little about reloading, but am going to read Lyman or Richard Lee (open to other suggestions) to get me started in reloading and not going to buy supplies until I get through it or at least feel more confident I will be making good equipment purchases. I do want to shoot sooner rather than later and need to pick up some ammo in the near future.

In general, if I buy cheaper target ammo would the brass still be okay if I want to eventually reload with higher end bullets like ELD-X? Also, does the lower grain ammo limit the grains that can be used when reloading a particular round?

For example, I can pick up cheap Hornady ammo at 129 grain for my 6.5 CM and would like to use that brass for higher end cartridge development with potentially 143 grain and ELD-X. This example applies more broadly as I do want to reload multiple different calibers and don’t want to limit the potential of what rounds I can create by going cheap on ammo now. Thanks in advance!

 

[Pickettpuncher]

You can do as you’re wanting, just don’t mix different brands of brass. I’d also stick with some of the better known brands of ammo. Federal, Hornady would be fine. There’s a bough 6.5 brass out there in the world you could probably buy a couple hundred for dirt cheap, and skip the whole loaded ammo if you wanted. You can put whatever bullet you choose in whichever brass you want. Won’t hurt a thing

 

[TaperPin]

I think of brass as being three different levels, el cheapo off name stuff, middle of the road like Hornady, Winchester, Federal, Remington, and premium like Lapua or Peterson.

El cheapo brass is better to stay away from for the best reloads, although for plinking ammo it’s fine. Starting out I’d suggest keeping it all the same brand. All the same lot would be ideal, but most middle of the road and premium brass is pretty close from lot to lot. It’s not a bad practice to simply toss out the brass from any fliers, in case it had anything to do with the flier.

My first good rifle had a Shilen barrel and shot 3/8 to 1/2 MOA with Federal brass of mixed lots. That was plenty good enough for any kind of hunting I’ll ever do. Today money isn’t as tight and I’ll buy some premium brass, but mostly I focus on middle of the road stuff for big game rifles.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

One thing to be aware of if buying ammo and intending to reload the brass is some manufacturers have soft brass and full pressure loads which can at times stretch out the primer pockets too far on the very first firing. Don't know if that is really an issue with 6.5CM stuff but my buddy had a pile of useless 300WSM once fired brass that couldn't hold a primer anymore.