So, the idea of handloading that Jim floated a few videos back has taken root in my mind as a viable option for me. I have a couple hundred rounds federal brass that will soon be on its third firing and I’ll need to replace it.
Which brass would be a good call to use? Starline is readily available to my local Cabelas and its price point isn’t a bank breaker. Is that good enough? What brass would be a good bet to use if only reloading once or at most just several times?
Starline had been the gold standard in magnum handgun reloading for decades. If it’s available, I’d start there.
I have used starline for 6.5 creedmore. It works fine for hunting. If you anneal your Federal brass you can probably hang on to it for another 6 or more firings. I anneal after every case fire and have some 300WSM on 12, its usually the primer pocket that gives out. Another consideration is you will need to work up your load again if you switch brass as dimensions will change from your current powder and case capacity. Good luck!
Id anneal it youd get at least another 4 times using it. Little crow gunworks makes a shell holder you can attach to a drill that and a propane torch and your money. I built my own annealer for 150 bucks so if your handy you could do that.
Starline, nosler, hornady are good cheaper options if your going for 1 time use. Especially hornady
I went from Lapua and Peterson brass to Starline to try and save some money and absolutely hated it. The quality was just not there. Neck tension was not consistent. Was having major issues with the cartridge getting stuck in the seating die when I was using Starline. I know a lot of guys like it, but I’ll never touch it again.
Did it perform poorly with the first loading?
No, performed well. I had about 150 cartridges, but I was curious if anyone followed what Jim suggested about “handloading” as opposed to “reloading”, i.e., just buying cheap brass and using it once or twice. And what brass they used.
That was actually aimed at Michael and his bad experience with starline. Don’t know why The Forum didn’t show it as such. Was curious as to whether or not his problems with Starline was with brand new brass since that is the topic at hand
My Starline brass was new. I don’t have any empty brass to grab the pics myself, but found these pictures online which are similar to what I experienced. A lot of dented case mouths, very unfinished/ uneven rims. It was all fixable, but I was just annoyed by it. It did shoot fine once loaded. I’m still new enough to reloading that people shouldn’t take any reloading advice from me, but I just don’t want to deal with it, probably still a great value for somebody ok with the extra time sink to prep the brass. #First world problems
I have settled on Peterson Brass and order it. More expensive than Starline/Hornady but more consistent weight and quality. I shoot it twice and then anneal. I haven’t found where the max number of reloads is yet. For reference this is for 6.5CM & 25CM.
