Lapua vs starline

[Iveexcaped3]

Is the additional $50 worth it to buy the Lapua brass. Mostly reloading for hunting but want to give myself the best opportunity to use the same brass. If I get an extra 2-3 reloads out of lapua the value makes sense. What say you?

[jrebel]

What caliber?  What ranges you looking at shooting? 

Starline makes great brass.  If you not shooting 1000 yards and pushing your brass to the max, starline would be my choice.

[Iveexcaped3]

What caliber?  What ranges you looking at shooting? 

Starline makes great brass.  If you not shooting 1000 yards and pushing your brass to the max, starline would be my choice.

6.5CM, unethical shots at 1000 imo. 500yds max.

[bobcat]

Lapua makes the best brass, but it's up to you if you want to spend the money on it. I do feel quality brass is a good investment. Although I have never bought Lapua brass myself. But I think it would be a good idea to start out with the best.

[jrebel]

Starline will be just fine to 500 yards.  I load starling large primer 6.5 and easily get 6-7 (or more) loads per piece of brass.  I shoot 124 grain hammer hunters at 2850 fps.  I anneal every loading and the brass does great. 

Again, starline is great brass.   

I shoot my 6.5 to 800....an it is far from unethical.  It bangs steel just like any other caliber and the steel never takes a step.   

[Iveexcaped3]

Lapua makes the best brass, but it's up to you if you want to spend the money on it. I do feel quality brass is a good investment. Although I have never bought Lapua brass myself. But I think it would be a good idea to start out with the best.

And that’s just it. I don’t mind spending the money on quality as long as the additional cost equals in value. The other aspect is the primer situation. Availability of small rifle vs large can make a difference on the brass select as well. There’s no point in buying starline large rifle if I can’t find primers for it. It’s $70 dead weight.


Is there another mid to top tear brass company that I should look out for?

[h20hunter]

I like nosler and starline.

[jrebel]

Peterson and ADG make comparable brass to Lapua in my opinion. 

next step down would be

Nosler, Starline, Hornady.

Next step down would be

remington, winchester, federal



Most hunters won't see or laod for a significant difference between the top to steps in my humble opinion. 

[bobcat]

I really like the Nosler 270 Win. brass I've been using. But other than that I use Winchester and Remington, just because I'm cheap and it's what I've always used. But again, if I were just starting out, I think Lapua brass would be a great investment.

[Karl Blanchard]

Lapua and Peterson are in a league of their own. If neither of those manufacturers don't make a caliber I pick a different caliber 

[hogslayer]

Agree with Karl,  But I will throw ADG, and Alpha.  Lapua has always been the bench mark for brass.  It depends on what kind of accuracy you are after.  The amount of reloads depend on how hot you run them.  If you can't shoot small groups, or don't have the reloading experience/time to dial the rifle in, you won't know the difference. 

My brother in law is a brass rat.  Picks up anything on the ground to reload at the range.  Me, I won't even mix lots of Lapua for the same caliber.  It really depends on what you are expecting the rifle to shoot accuracy wise. 

[dmoua]

Been very happy with Alpha OCD brass in my 6.5CM. Couldn’t find LRP 6.5 Lapua brass anywhere so I bought Alpha to try out and it’s been great.

[hunter399]

Agree with Karl,  But I will throw ADG, and Alpha.  Lapua has always been the bench mark for brass.  It depends on what kind of accuracy you are after.  The amount of reloads depend on how hot you run them.  If you can't shoot small groups, or don't have the reloading experience/time to dial the rifle in, you won't know the difference. 

My brother in law is a brass rat.  Picks up anything on the ground to reload at the range.  Me, I won't even mix lots of Lapua for the same caliber.  It really depends on what you are expecting the rifle to shoot accuracy wise.

Thats me ,I'll pick up any useable brass off the ground.
With that said ,if I'm looking for a little better accurate load,
Sometimes I'll separate by headstamp.
Totally agree the amount of reloads has everything to due with how HOT your loads are.
I've burned brass with two reloads,primer pocket won't even hold the primer. Pressure and the amount of powder your putting in those cases will tell ya how many reloads.
That's the number one reason I throw away brass is blown out primer pocket.
Some of my brass is pretty old,I'll get 5-10 reloads ,no problem. When I need more brass ,normally I would just buy some factory ammo and blast it up on steel target.
Most brass now is the cost as factory ammo or more.

[hunter399]

I have used starline brass.
Never used lapua.

I got maybe 8-10 reloads on some of it.
With primer pockets just now starting to go.
With a max charge right out the reloading book.
In 308 caliber.

[jasnt]

Lapua, adg or Peterson. I don’t care how long it lasts. I care about Consistency peace to peace

[Karl Blanchard]

Lapua, adg or Peterson. I don’t care how long it lasts. I care about Consistency peace to peace

  coincidentally however you also get more firings with quality brass.  My last batch of 200 lapua 6.5x284 brass had an overall weight spread of 1.1 grains. Recent bag of 450pc peterson 28 nosler had an overall spread of 2.7 grains. I did load workup for a guys 300 rum last year and 100 pieces of remington brass had an overall spread of 21 grains. Not 2.1 but 21!  Nosler brass is always around that 10 mark. You wanna shrink ES and improve accuracy, buy good brass. Consistency and quality components will solve a lot of guys issues with accuracy

[grundy53]

Does anyone have any experience with Gunwerks brass? I loaded up a batch of .300 WM using their brass. Haven't got to shoot them much yet. So I don't have an opinion yet.

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[Karl Blanchard]

Does anyone have any experience with Gunwerks brass? I loaded up a batch of .300 WM using their brass. Haven't got to shoot them much yet. So I don't have an opinion yet.

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I seem to remember reading somewhere that ADG puts up gunwerks stamped brass.

[jrebel]

It is also important to know or say.....the average hunter reloading for sub 500 yards shots will likely not benefit to much from brass that is 2x as expensive.  If a guy can save money reloading and shoot MOA, there is no need to spend the extra money.  Now, if you strive to push the limits of accuracy and reload for more than saving money......yes, go with the premium brass. 

Budweiser may not taste as good as most micro brews....but I'm not throwing it out with the bathwater either.   

[Karl Blanchard]

All things being equal, you're gonna get more firings out of premium brass so its usually more cost effective in the long run. Ive proven this to myself in many calibers.

[grundy53]

Does anyone have any experience with Gunwerks brass? I loaded up a batch of .300 WM using their brass. Haven't got to shoot them much yet. So I don't have an opinion yet.

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I seem to remember reading somewhere that ADG puts up gunwerks stamped brass.

That makes sense that it's just branded by an actual brass company.

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[Karl Blanchard]

Does anyone have any experience with Gunwerks brass? I loaded up a batch of .300 WM using their brass. Haven't got to shoot them much yet. So I don't have an opinion yet.

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I seem to remember reading somewhere that ADG puts up gunwerks stamped brass.

That makes sense that it's just branded by an actual brass company.

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no clue if its fact or not so take it for what you paid for it which is zero dollars 

[grundy53]

Will do. Lol

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[b23]

When possible, I'll opt for the better quality of Lapua, ADG, or Alpha every time.  IMO, top quality brass not only saves you time and money but it lends itself to more and better consistent ammo.  For me, the longevity of top quality brass is icing, the consistency and uniformity from piece to piece is what I like about it most.

[jasnt]

Fwiw I remember gunworks being adg as well

[jasnt]

Lapua, adg or Peterson. I don’t care how long it lasts. I care about Consistency peace to peace

  coincidentally however you also get more firings with quality brass.  My last batch of 200 lapua 6.5x284 brass had an overall weight spread of 1.1 grains. Recent bag of 450pc peterson 28 nosler had an overall spread of 2.7 grains. I did load workup for a guys 300 rum last year and 100 pieces of remington brass had an overall spread of 21 grains. Not 2.1 but 21!  Nosler brass is always around that 10 mark. You wanna shrink ES and improve accuracy, buy good brass. Consistency and quality components will solve a lot of guys issues with accuracy

couldn’t agree more.  10 years ago I scoffed at this higher priced brass.  Now it dictates what cartridge I choose to shoot.  You don’t know what ya don’t know till ya figure it out the hard way

Take my 300 wm for example.  It’s got 630 rounds through it now. That’s on 50 peace’s of lapua brass with loads on the high end of the spectrum.  Primer pockets are holding great with 12 reloads each and some have fired 13    With nosler I typically got 7-8. Winchester was worse.  In the end lapua will be cheaper per loading than the nosler was

[Tenkara]

Not trying to thread jack, but what's everyone's thoughts on Norma brass.

[b23]

Not trying to thread jack, but what's everyone's thoughts on Norma brass.

Norma makes good brass.  Typically, most brass gets compared to Lapua particularly with regard to its toughness and when I say toughness I refer to Lapua's ability to hold primer pockets longer especially when run hard but that doesn't mean Norma isn't good brass.  Because Lapua can take a lot of punishment and still hold tight primer pockets it sometimes causes us to forget Lapua and a few others like it are the exception not the norm.  I use Norma in my 7mm Blaser mag, they're the only one that makes it, and I'm pushing 180 Berger's 3100 from a 26in barrel which is no cream puff load but it's also not full tilt redline and I've yet to throw away a piece of brass because the primer pockets weren't tight.

[Tenkara]

 I was going to go with adg but I can't find any and they told me they were not planning on making any for the smaller calibers this year, so I ended up getting norma.. was Iittle surprised no one had mentioned them.

[Karl Blanchard]

Not trying to thread jack, but what's everyone's thoughts on Norma brass.

I've used a ton of 300wsm norma brass (3 barrels worth). Its gets kind of a bad wrap for being soft but ive had very good luck with it in wsm and creedmoor. I got a smoking deal on 250 pieces of prime stamped norma CM and its been great. Just loaded all of them last night for the 11th time and  still showing no loss of life. For the quality it is way over priced (not as bad as nosler) but if found on sale or your only brass option I say snag it up.

[Tenkara]

Thanks for the info guys.

[Iveexcaped3]

Obviously my main objective is to make sure the cost value is there. IF the brass alone shrinks my grouping from 1-1/2” to 3/4” that’s cost value to me. Also if I get 2-3 extra reloads that’s cost value to me. Yes, I may only be hunting but that shouldn’t be a reason to make sure my equipment isn’t 100% as accurate as possible.