FrankenMauser
New member
I'm getting tired of seeing new brass that looks like a kid made it out of Pla-Doh.
These crappy cellphone photos don't do justice to just how bad this brass was. Nearly 25% of the cases had been creased to the point of cracking. More than 40% of the cases needed me to manually iron-out the case mouths, just to get them safely over the expander in my sizing die (even with a tapered expander!). -Most of the case mouths that just look out-of-round actually have dents/creases that are folding into the case mouth. Running them over the expander would have ruined the brass. Not a single case actually had a round case mouth, or properly formed neck (though that's difficult to see in the photos).
There was a 0.015" thick lip/bur at the case mouth. It looked they Remington decided to forgo automated trimming on these cases; but gave them and a blunt screw driver to a 5 year-old kid, instead.
Aside from my standard case prep (including flash hole deburring and case mouth chamfer/deburring), I had to trim these cases to 2.465" .... just to be usable. Even trimming 0.020-0.025" off this brass, more than 10% of the cases still have small mouth cracks from the creases. ...Case life with be short - just as my patience is getting with Remington.
This is the fourth lot of R-P brass I have had to do substantial trimming to, just to make it usable, in the last 2 months. The only difference here.... I bought this .35 Whelen brass 3 years ago, but am only now getting to it (it's been stored, untouched, since purchased).
I get better case life from R-P brass, in general, and absolutely hate the prep required on Winchester brass (similar to the issues described above, but add horribly crooked case mouths). ...But these bad lots of brass are really getting to me. Nosler, Hornady, Lapua, and Norma will probably be seeing more of my money entering their pockets.
Are my standards and expectations too high?
Or am I justified in thinking this quality level is unacceptable?
R-P .35 Whelen; 2008 local purchase; 2 bags of 50 each (only one lot pictured)
I understand this entire post essentially boils down to a rant, but was hoping the modified standards and rules of the reloading forum would allow this to continue as a proper discussion.
On a side note... I received an order of Hornady .44 Rem Mag brass today. The flash holes so far off center, I would consider A-Merc and PMC an upgrade! What's the deal?
These crappy cellphone photos don't do justice to just how bad this brass was. Nearly 25% of the cases had been creased to the point of cracking. More than 40% of the cases needed me to manually iron-out the case mouths, just to get them safely over the expander in my sizing die (even with a tapered expander!). -Most of the case mouths that just look out-of-round actually have dents/creases that are folding into the case mouth. Running them over the expander would have ruined the brass. Not a single case actually had a round case mouth, or properly formed neck (though that's difficult to see in the photos).
There was a 0.015" thick lip/bur at the case mouth. It looked they Remington decided to forgo automated trimming on these cases; but gave them and a blunt screw driver to a 5 year-old kid, instead.
Aside from my standard case prep (including flash hole deburring and case mouth chamfer/deburring), I had to trim these cases to 2.465" .... just to be usable. Even trimming 0.020-0.025" off this brass, more than 10% of the cases still have small mouth cracks from the creases. ...Case life with be short - just as my patience is getting with Remington.
This is the fourth lot of R-P brass I have had to do substantial trimming to, just to make it usable, in the last 2 months. The only difference here.... I bought this .35 Whelen brass 3 years ago, but am only now getting to it (it's been stored, untouched, since purchased).
I get better case life from R-P brass, in general, and absolutely hate the prep required on Winchester brass (similar to the issues described above, but add horribly crooked case mouths). ...But these bad lots of brass are really getting to me. Nosler, Hornady, Lapua, and Norma will probably be seeing more of my money entering their pockets.
Are my standards and expectations too high?
Or am I justified in thinking this quality level is unacceptable?
R-P .35 Whelen; 2008 local purchase; 2 bags of 50 each (only one lot pictured)
I understand this entire post essentially boils down to a rant, but was hoping the modified standards and rules of the reloading forum would allow this to continue as a proper discussion.
On a side note... I received an order of Hornady .44 Rem Mag brass today. The flash holes so far off center, I would consider A-Merc and PMC an upgrade!
What's the deal?
