Starline Brass, the good, the bad, the ugly

[Needcoffee]

Starline has a good product. Great handgun brass. As for rifle. As some have said. Not quite Lapua or Alpha but better than Winchester and Hornady.

 

[couchnapper]

also have a bunch of 44 mag starline that has 6-7 loads on it.

 

[Live_weighT34]

I’ve only used Starline in my Winchester 45-70 and trapdoor loads at that so very mild but every piece has been great to work and zero sizing or crimping issues.
I have a bag of 243 win as well I just haven’t bothered to load it yet and am probably going to get some 44 mag & 357 to load up for my dad.

 

[Chipz]

Starline makes some of the best brass for the price. Its been my go to brass for .243 and 45-70. Running hot loads in my .243 the pockets are snug, doesn't seem to stretch as much, so I can go more firings without having to trim. I also don't anneal my cases either.

Never had the dough to shoot for Lapua. Hornady brass seems like it's made of butter, super soft compared to everything else I've used. I will say SL is a bit harder than others, takes a little bit more force in the press, but I'll take it if it extends the brass life.

 

[northernlandgar]

Been using Starline since I started handloading with really good results. Currently got a batch of 6.5CM Starline brass on its 22nd firing with no issues. I've also used it in .30-06, .243, .223, .357 Magnum, and .38 Special.

It's cost effective and works well.

 

[Qholum37]

22x fired! Damn!

 

[Calcoyote]

I have drank the kool-aide on Starline brass. Very consistent groups. I currently use them for: 243, 260 Rem, 270 Win, and 308. They are not as good as Peterson or Lapua, but TONS better than Nosler Honady, or Winchester.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

For the price it’s great, much better than hornaday brass. I used to load lots of it but now I mostly use lapua and Peterson.

 

[Dan in Alaska]

I don't have any complaints with the Starline brass I have, and I have quite a bit of it. So far, I've used their rifle brass for .223 Rem, 6.5 CM, 7mm-08, .300 Blackout, .300 Ham'r, .308 Win, 350 Legend, and .450 Bushmaster. I've also used Starline brass for some of the less popular pistol cartridges like .357 Sig, 10mm, .400 Cor-bon, .45 Colt, and .454 Casull, where finding range brass has been more difficult than with 9mm and .45 ACP.

 

[Jimmy_Fallon]

Thanks for all the info, I am looking at trying this or lake city brass. Any preference on the two?

 

[FrontRange]

Thanks for all the info, I am looking at trying this or lake city brass. Any preference on the two?

I use Starline in 6.5 Grendel, 357, and 38 special and like it enough that I’m considering trying it for 6.5 Creedmoor once my current supply of Alpha wears out. It requires a little more case prep but the 6.5 Grendel brass has been phenomenally consistent given the price. For 556, I think Starline is great but I now almost exclusively use once fired/processed Lake City military brass. However, the 556 is for a “plinking” AR with a red dot that I don’t expect a lot of accuracy from—so cheap is the priority there. I would probably consider a switch to Starline if I was shooting a bolt gun or working on real precision.

 

[Igloo]

For the folks who say "its not Laupa"...how/why is the Lapua better than Starline?

I've never really used it and to be honest probably don't shoot well enough or in applications where I'd see the difference.

 

[mwoolsey5]

This may just be me being newer to reloading, but I’m having an issue with the Starline brass I bought to try. Starline worked fine for about the first 40 or so handloads, but now every single time I try seating a bullet, it’s getting stuck in the press and pulled back up within the die. I can jiggle it free, but just didn’t see this issue when using Lapua.

 

[WDR]

I have been using their handgun brass for some time. I have some .223 to try, but not a lot of experience with it yet. I'm sure it will be fine.

 

[Tanner]

Not a whole lot of complaints so far. I’ve got 200 pieces with 4 firings and have only lost one or two to loose pockets (loads that were over pressure). For the price it’s good stuff, and I don’t get so sad losing a piece or two when shooting in the field.

 

[Igloo]

This may just be me being newer to reloading, but I’m having an issue with the Starline brass I bought to try. Starline worked fine for about the first 40 or so handloads, but now every single time I try seating a bullet, it’s getting stuck in the press and pulled back up within the die. I can jiggle it free, but just didn’t see this issue when using Lapua.

As in you have 40 firings on those pieces of brass?

If not, are you passing the brass through a sizing die before reloading?

 

[onlybrowning]

This may just be me being newer to reloading, but I’m having an issue with the Starline brass I bought to try. Starline worked fine for about the first 40 or so handloads, but now every single time I try seating a bullet, it’s getting stuck in the press and pulled back up within the die. I can jiggle it free, but just didn’t see this issue when using Lapua.

What is getting stuck in the die? The bullet or the case? If it is the bullet, I am betting it is your seating stem that is the problem, assuming your brass is actually being resized in your sizing die. Often times the seating stem is not the optimum shape for the bullet and it can become stuck in the stem. I can't imagine any scenario where brass would be getting stuck in a seating die. A sizing die...that can be a different story, and is not likely brass dependent.

I'm using Starline brass in 6.5CM (srp), .30-06, .338 Federal, .358 Win, and maybe a few others. I haven't loaded any of them a ton of times, but I have no complaints at all about the brass. No culls in the Starline brass I've purchased so far. I do run all new brass through a sizing die, check lengths, uniform primer pockets, and chamfer them with a VLD tool. I wish they'd make brass for .257 Roberts, or at least 7X57 so I could neck it down to .257.

 

[String Bean]

Have used Starline in multiple rifle and pistol calibers. Very happy with it. One of the few that makes 460 Rowland pistol beass

My favorite is their nickel plated rifle brass if you can find it