mnh2obuff

I just started loading for .308 Win and since it was the cheapest (not always the best idea) I bought some unfired Winchester brass. About 5 out of 50 won't go into, without a lot of force, the shell holder for my Lee Auto Primer. I then bought a box of Hornady unfired brass and all fit nicely in the shell holder. I'm wondering if the apparently out of spec rims could have be the cause of the extractor being broke on my Mossber 4 x 4. What's everyones experience with Win Brass?

shootist

Using Winchester Primers? I've had that problem with Starline brass tight primer holes.

bwinters

I have used Winchester handgun brass for years with good results but not so on rifle reloading.

41 Magnum

I actually prefer W.W. brass for handgun loads, but have been loading for 50 odd years, & have found Hornady & Rem. rifle brass to be far superior to WW.
Rem. & Horn. cases normally outlast WW by 2 or 3 to 1.

Probably 90% of my rifle brass is Rem. & the remainder is Hornady.

stargeezer

If this was all from one bag, before it had been fired, I'd contact Winchester support about it. I've used W brass for a long time 30+ years) and have not had a problem. I use a Lee primer too and primed six new bags of .308 a few weeks back with no problems.

I can't see how brass would cause a extractor to fail, brass is a lot softer than any of the steel used for bolts and parts. I'd had a extractor rip the base off or tear through a base with some import ammo. Just how did the extractor fail?

mnh2obuff

The extractor was just gone. The bolt had been occasionally jamming requiring a lot of force to move it. During one of these episodes the extrator was just gone. I did not realize the problem until I got home and was talking to the Mossberg rep. As quick as he identified the problem I'm assuming it is not uncommon with this gun. He wanted to put the blame on my reloads. The extractor in this case consist of a spring, ball bearing and a tab with a detent for the bb. The tab slides into a slot on the bolt. I'm wondering if the rim of a cartridge was oversized if it wouldn't force the tab too high causing the bolt to jam. Of course, that is hard to tale with the bolt closed. Possibly, it could have just been a defective extractor in the first place.

moondog911

Greetings,

I have used Winchester brass in handguns and rifles with no more trouble than other brands. That is just my 35 years of experience with reloading.

moondog911

TMan51

I use Winchester brass in several pistol/rifle rounds. Like Remington, Federal, Starline, etc. they often don't fit so well in Lee shell holders.

shootist

Been reloading Winchester brass for over 30 years have never had a single problem with it, I perfer it over all other brands,I would suspect maybe a problem with the Lee hand primer, it's not real good quaility.

Trad Archer

I've had good luck with WW brass.

bhefley59

Me too

Tacky

I haven't been loading all that long but I have loaded probably 3 or 4k 308's( you have to when you own a beltfed). I bought the military winchester white box 147's new and then reloaded them. Military brass in my experience is thicker and lasts longer because of the +p load. Only problem I have had was I own 3 sets of 308 dies, lee, rcbs and hornady. I also have several shell holders from each maker. My problem was that when I set up my dies with a particular shell holder, by mistake the next time I might have picked up a different one by a different maker which are different thickness. This caused a lot I loaded to not be full sized since the shell holder wasn't as thick as the shell holder I set the dies with. So now I painted my shell holder red so I know that thats the one I use with my 308 cases. I also check before I turn out a run to make sure they are being fully sized. Reason for me having several is that the hornady trimmer only uses hornady shell holders. But after that I have had no issues with rifle winchester brass in 308 or atleast 10k .223 rounds. I have had a issue with 45 acp not holding my bullets tight after bullet seating and other makers cases that were preped the exact same way and time work great. I usually just give my 45 acp win brass to one of my reloading friends for his 45acp. Only the win cases do that for me, not RP, CCI, Hornady or Speer.

Temmi

Measure the rim with your calipers

If they are out of spec call Win.

I have used Win brass in 223 Rem, 30-06 Spring, 338Win Mag and .45 auto and other than 3-4 off center flash holes, ith has all been very good.


Snake

TMan51

While you have your vernier out, measure the dimensions on your Lee shell holder.

My Lee shell holders for .30-30, and .38/.357 are both at the minimum, and will not accept some cases from any maker.

It's not likely the brass.

kz1000

I like the Winchester brass. Always thought it was one of the best. Maybe your bag got damaged somehow?