starline brass

[oldbear1950]

How do ya'll feel about starline brass.
About 20 years ago now I purchased about 25 rounds of 45 colt (called 5 long colt by some) and it was all loaded with starline brass.
My deceased brother said I made out like a bandit.
He considered starline brass as pretty much match quality brass, on a par with Norma brass, which he also considered pretty much as match quality brass.
I have shot it all up now and am using it for reloading. Not heavy loads, because I have an Uberti EL PATRON revolver, which is pretty much a COLT single action army, only with a larger frame. At least that is what a couple gunsmiths who work a lot on single actions have told me. Not as large as a Ruger blackhawk, but larger that a colt frame,

 

[Marco Califo]

I buy Starline brass as a first choice for the calibers they make. Another big plus is regular availability, and low price for very good quality. Typically, I found Starline ready to load out of the bag. I drop it in a case guage, and it fits. I just chamfer the inside of mouth and prime. Very reliable. Only one gun I have, a 300Win Mag, is not made by Starline. I order direct from Starline.com. I consider it top-shelf. I am not a competitive shooter.
** I use a Redding expander dies, also, but do not size if not needed. **

 

[rclark]

I use Starline for most all my handgun brass. Has performed well for me. A couple of weeks ago I ordered and have in hand 1000 .32 H&R Magnum brass. I do resize before use because I 'want' too -- to make sure all brass is consistent for loading. Some say (as above) you don't need to. Each to their own .

 

[oldbear1950]

I do agree with that, when traveling in the southeastern states including Texas and Oklahoma, have my Uberti, EL PATRON, 45 colt. And since the lockwork is a copy of the COLT SAA lockwork, load one, skip a chamber, load the other 4, and do a full cock, and let the hammer rest on an empty chamber. For safety.
My two granddads were old time town marshalls in Oklahoma during the 1920s and 1930s.
They knew some of the old time lawmen, Hec Thomas, Chris Madsen, and Bill Tilghman, and they always carried COLT SAAs, and Winchester or Marlin lever guns, and said they never felt out gunned. That was during the oil boom in Oklahoma, and it was a wild and wooley time

 

[Shadow9mm]

Starline is top tier very durable brass IMHO on par with other premium brands. I have heard Lapua is better, but I have never been able to justify the Lapua price tag.

 

[GeauxTide]

Best brass I've used in 50 years of loading. Use them in 357, 41, 44, 44Mag, 45 Colt. Also, 300 HAM'R is made by Starline.

 

[jetinteriorguy]

Every time I think about adding a new caliber to my loading bench I check to see if Starline makes brass for it. If they don’t, then I forget about it.

 

[Shadow9mm]

Best brass I've used in 50 years of loading. Use them in 357, 41, 44, 44Mag, 45 Colt. Also, 300 HAM'R is made by Starline.

How do you like the 300 ham'r? Saw it a while back but it seems like i have not heard anything since. Kind of a maxed out 300 blackout, trying to hit 30-30 performance right?

 

[John D]

Really good brass. I started with Starline when I bought a Ruger Blackhawk in .38-40; this was before cowboy action shooting and that cartridge was super expensive. Purchased one box of Winchester and then started reloading, using Starline ever since. This, of course, led to many other calibers, all of which are of fine quality.

 

[RoyceP]

It's generally pretty good. I bought Starline several years ago when I got a 44 WCF revolver. The RP cases were buckling sometimes because they were thin in the neck area, not so the Starline stuff. Only complaint I have is they are always out of certain calibers and seem to concentrate on the most popular ones.

 

[jackstrawIII]

Starline gets two big thumbs up.

 

[Sevens]

I am usually the lone dissenting opinion on this subject. Statistically speaking, my opinion (even backed with hands-on experience) is irrelevant. The fact is that damn near anyone who has ever handloaded puts Starline on a pedestal and I take zero issue with that and newer handloaders that ask me about it get my God's honest opinion: It's perfectly wonderful brass.

However, my real-world experience is that it's nothing special and I've had multiple instances of messed up pieces and examples that missed QC in bags of *NEW* brass. I am sure that I placed these somewhere and didn't dispose of them but it's been years since I've come across them.

For me, Starline is perfectly fine but it has shown me nothing better than the good brass I have used from Federal, Winchester, ATK and plenty of others. Definitely better than the cheap brass (S&B, Magtech, Aguila, Fiocchi) but nothing that I would ever pay a premium to get.

So it's most definitely not that Starline is bad stuff, it's wonderful stuff, but I have never seen evidence that it's worth a premium over any good brass that I've used.

It's worth nothing that all of my Starline experience is with handgun brass, none with rifle brass. But I'll tell ya.. when you spend top dollar to get some oddball stuff like .460 Rowland and at least two pieces are UNUSABLE, from a company that almost everything believes is the second coming of the Savior.... well ya don't forget it.

I think Starline gets a lot of confirmation bias. Now I'm sure that's likely to peeve someone off, but it isn't my intention. It is my experience, with multiple decades at the load bench and at gun forums.

 

[Shadow9mm]

I am usually the lone dissenting opinion on this subject. Statistically speaking, my opinion (even backed with hands-on experience) is irrelevant. The fact is that damn near anyone who has ever handloaded puts Starline on a pedestal and I take zero issue with that and newer handloaders that ask me about it get my God's honest opinion: It's perfectly wonderful brass.

However, my real-world experience is that it's nothing special and I've had multiple instances of messed up pieces and examples that missed QC in bags of *NEW* brass. I am sure that I placed these somewhere and didn't dispose of them but it's been years since I've come across them.

For me, Starline is perfectly fine but it has shown me nothing better than the good brass I have used from Federal, Winchester, ATK and plenty of others. Definitely better than the cheap brass (S&B, Magtech, Aguila, Fiocchi) but nothing that I would ever pay a premium to get.

So it's most definitely not that Starline is bad stuff, it's wonderful stuff, but I have never seen evidence that it's worth a premium over any good brass that I've used.

It's worth nothing that all of my Starline experience is with handgun brass, none with rifle brass. But I'll tell ya.. when you spend top dollar to get some oddball stuff like .460 Rowland and at least two pieces are UNUSABLE, from a company that almost everything believes is the second coming of the Savior.... well ya don't forget it.

I think Starline gets a lot of confirmation bias. Now I'm sure that's likely to peeve someone off, but it isn't my intention. It is my experience, with multiple decades at the load bench and at gun forums.

Your opinion is not irrelevant. We can only tell what we have experienced. For myself i have only bought once fired, winchester, and starline. The winchester 30-06 had way out of round case mouthes and lengths, all had to be resized and trimmed before use. Never had an issue with starline. But i have only been able to get it a few times when i could find it i would consider it to be high quality brass. But not premium high end. All manufacturers can have qc issues. How they handle it is the make or break for me. Thank you though for letting us know your experience.

 

[MarkCO]

IMHO, having bought it in .414 SuperMag, 10mm and picked it up off of prize tables in half a dozen calibers, it is good. Not great. That said, it is usually available, and cheaper than most of the "premium" brands, and for pistol, definitely good enough. I think folks that are buying once fired pistol and comparing it to new Starline are rating Apples against Cumquats.

I rifle, yes, I do think Lapua and Peterson are some of the best, and much better than Starline. Nosler is good too, but I assume someone makes it for them. I'd take Starline over R-P, Win and Hornady (in rifle calibers) every time. Federal, at least to me and Starline about equal rifle brass.

I am a fan of Starline, and Hornady as both support the sport and I have picked up a lot of their components off prize tables over the years. So when I spend money, I try to use them as much as I can.

 

[GeauxTide]

How do you like the 300 ham'r? Saw it a while back but it seems like i have not heard anything since. Kind of a maxed out 300 blackout, trying to hit 30-30 performance right?

Shadow9, I absolutely love it. A 7# AR, with optics, that shoot 135FTX into 1/2" at 2400fps from a 16" barrel. Where I hunt, no shots > 100yds, so it's superior to my Grendel.

 

[Mike / Tx]

Most all of my revolver and pistol brass is Starline, I've been a customer for about as long as they have been in business.

Since they started offering rifle cases I have added to the list. I can't say that it is equal to say Norma or Lapua but for my uses its just fine. Loads good and gives groups plenty good enough for hunting purposes.

As mentioned eventually you'll get something that is outta whack like a misformed rim or flash hole not punched correctly or at all. That said though I have some batches of handgun that I'm not even sure how many times it's been loaded anymore just do to them getting blended in with another batch through the years.

It's not from a lack of records just I use it for hunting loads and chased a LOT of hogs through river bottoms and other fun terrain and usually ended up with some missing empties when we were done. Over time a batch of 50 new cases dwindles into 35 or less empties in a baggie and then those get blended with another similar baggie.

Best thing with Starline is you can generally order in bulk and then just move on with your task at hand. A decade or more later we'll order some more. Spring of last year, I opened up a box of 10mm that I'd had stashed away since around 95. Still works great and I somehow managed to get another order of 1K before it all dried up.

I have some in 5 calibers of rifle with between 2 and 8 loads on them so far. Most loaded has been my 260 and haven't had an issue yet running top end 140gr book loads with 4350. In 6yrs they have put numerous deer and hogs in the freezer.

 

[reynolds357]

How do ya'll feel about starline brass.
About 20 years ago now I purchased about 25 rounds of 45 colt (called 5 long colt by some) and it was all loaded with starline brass.
My deceased brother said I made out like a bandit.
He considered starline brass as pretty much match quality brass, on a par with Norma brass, which he also considered pretty much as match quality brass.
I have shot it all up now and am using it for reloading. Not heavy loads, because I have an Uberti EL PATRON revolver, which is pretty much a COLT single action army, only with a larger frame. At least that is what a couple gunsmiths who work a lot on single actions have told me. Not as large as a Ruger blackhawk, but larger that a colt frame,

Starline handgun, top of the line.
Starline rifle, good stuff, but it's not Norma or Lapua. I prefer it to Win, Rem, or Federal.

 

[FrankenMauser]

I have an opinion even more negative than the dissenter that has already spoken -- Sevens.

So it's most definitely not that Starline is bad stuff, it's wonderful stuff, but I have never seen evidence that it's worth a premium over any good brass that I've used.

At this point, I consider Magtech brass to be higher quality.

My biggest, most common complaints are that nearly every lot of Starline brass that I have bought since 2015 has had either no neck tension (properly sized bullet falls right into the case), or insane neck tension (necks so tight that jacketed bullets get deformed and reduced in diameter during seating); and the mouths and necks are insanely hard. There are some cartridges that I must buy Starline brass for, because no one else makes it (except lathe-turned), but I cannot use it without annealing brand new brass, in order to size the necks/mouths properly.

I have seen bad Starline brass.
I have seen Starline forget to form shoulders and necks on rifle cartridges.
I have seen Starline forget to install flash holes.
I have seen, more often than Starline fans are willing to believe, shoulders formed in the wrong place or rims too thick or too thin - not just a little bit, but way out of SAAMi spec.

Over the years, they seem to have lost tight tolerances on case length, as well. It used to be that a lot of Starline cases would have a length within two or three thou of the target dimension. Every case would be in that window. Almost as good as Lapua, but not quite.
Now, particularly with handgun cases, there might be twelve thou between min and max, with no real bell curve - just random distribution.

My last lot of .32 S&W was 0.013" short of min length; meaning the cases were averaging .572", while SAAMI min is 0.585" and max is 0.605".

The more Starline brass that I use, the more deficiencies I run into, and the closer they get to being ranked the same as Winchester.
And that's saying something. I stopped paying for Winchester brass about 10 years ago, except for special applications where Win brass was the only option available.
About all that Starline needs to do, to fall as far as Winchester on my preference list, is to start shipping everything with crooked case mouths.

I don't know how many of you have contacted Starline about bad lots of brass, but it has never left me with a positive attitude.
One lot of .44 Mag, in particular, had oblong primer pockets and rims thicker than SAAMI spec. It was obvious in photos.
They asked me to send samples. I did - 5 pieces.
After evaluation, they verified that the lot was bad and told me to return it to the retailer that sold it (MidwayUSA). Midway, of course, did not want a return that was missing 5 pieces; and Starline's only offer of reimbursing me for shipping the sample and the return was a discount code for my next order through their own site.

 

[Marco Califo]

Starline.com ships free and that makes total shipped cost cheaper than buying from some place that will charge you shipping. Starline nickle plated brass is only sold by Midway, Grafs, etc., who buy in bulk from Starline. I have acquired nickle Statline that way in 308, 45 ACP, 9MM, 40SW. I have never had ANY issues with ANY Starline brass.
Starline makes 5.66x45 brass, in addition to 223. The former has a metallurgy difference to make the head harder.

 

[std7mag]

When i started shooting some short range Benchrest matches with the wife's Savage 110 in 223 Rem, i was looking for good, consistent brass.
After seeing some average weight comparisons between brass manufacturers, Starline had the least weight deviance.

I full length size, check trim, uniform/deburr the flash hole, camfer & deburr all new brass, no matter the manufacturer.