I've been running Starlines 243 brass for over a year now with excellent results. It's very good out of the box with only running a mandrel through the neck before the first loading, and it's tough as nails longevity. 10 randomly selection pieces I loaded and fired 20 times each with no split necks despite no annealing, and the primer pockets still had not loosened up.
I picked up a prize table certificate for 250 pieces of free Starline brass and decided to try out their 6.5 Creedmoor Small Rifle primer brass. The brass arrived this weekend and because of the rain I had time to do something I normally wouldn't do and that's weigh and measure each piece.
The 250 count box actually had 253 pieces in it. I first measured them all using a set of certified Brown and Sharp calipers and a Hornady .400 headspace gauge. Below are the counts of measurements.
1.5315" 1 piece.
1.5330"-1.5335" 199 pieces. This was the majority of the brass and was within .0005" OAL.
1.5340" 13 pieces.
1.5345"-1.5360" 40 pieces.
I then weighed all the the pieces on my A&D fx-120i. Even though the scale reads to .02gr I grouped it by the .1gr for the intents of this test. The maximum range for weight was 159.9gr-162.4gr although the majority were within 1gr. Here's a breakdown of weights:
159.9gr 1x
160.0gr 2x
160.1gr 6x
160.2gr 5x
160.3gr 10x
160.4gr 9x
160.5gr 12x
160.6gr 10x
160.7gr 24x
160.8gr 19x
160.9gr 14x
161.0gr 15x
161.1gr 17x
161.2gr 20x
161.3gr 28x
161.4gr 15x
161.5gr 13x
161.6gr 12x
161.7gr 9x
161.8gr 5x
161.9gr 8x
162.0gr 1x
162.1gr 2x
162.4gr 1x
This is very impressive to me. Tossing out the 162.4gr piece 252 pieces are within 2.2gr. In the past when I have weight sorted Lapua 308 brass I usually see 5-7gr difference between a box of 100.
I also didn't see any correlation between the sorta lengths and weights, in fact the 159.9gr piece and the 4 pieces 162gr and above were all from the 199 pieces that were 1.5330-1.5335" to the datum line.
I'm sure some will ask why I measured them the way I did. To me the shoulder jump on the first firing (assuming I don't size them all to one length) is far more important to me that OAL. All of my new brass gets trimmed on a Giraud to set a consistent neck length after being sized or having an expander mandrel ran through the neck if the brass in consistent enough.
I also took 20 pieces of the brass and ran it on my Sinclair case concentricity gauge with a Mitutoyo dial indicator. All 20 pieces had exactly .004" runout. This isn't as tight and sized brass from a good dies and press but is excellent for out of the box brass that has had absolutely no prep done to it. The majority of them only had jump to the extreme side of .004" which is consistent with the case mouths having not been touched and not being perfect. I expect this to reduce by about 50% after then get ran through the neck mandrel.
Starline is some excellent brass and is very affordable as well. I highly suggest you giving it a try if they make it for your rifle.
I may add to this after loading this batch as well.
I picked up a prize table certificate for 250 pieces of free Starline brass and decided to try out their 6.5 Creedmoor Small Rifle primer brass. The brass arrived this weekend and because of the rain I had time to do something I normally wouldn't do and that's weigh and measure each piece.
The 250 count box actually had 253 pieces in it. I first measured them all using a set of certified Brown and Sharp calipers and a Hornady .400 headspace gauge. Below are the counts of measurements.
1.5315" 1 piece.
1.5330"-1.5335" 199 pieces. This was the majority of the brass and was within .0005" OAL.
1.5340" 13 pieces.
1.5345"-1.5360" 40 pieces.
I then weighed all the the pieces on my A&D fx-120i. Even though the scale reads to .02gr I grouped it by the .1gr for the intents of this test. The maximum range for weight was 159.9gr-162.4gr although the majority were within 1gr. Here's a breakdown of weights:
159.9gr 1x
160.0gr 2x
160.1gr 6x
160.2gr 5x
160.3gr 10x
160.4gr 9x
160.5gr 12x
160.6gr 10x
160.7gr 24x
160.8gr 19x
160.9gr 14x
161.0gr 15x
161.1gr 17x
161.2gr 20x
161.3gr 28x
161.4gr 15x
161.5gr 13x
161.6gr 12x
161.7gr 9x
161.8gr 5x
161.9gr 8x
162.0gr 1x
162.1gr 2x
162.4gr 1x
This is very impressive to me. Tossing out the 162.4gr piece 252 pieces are within 2.2gr. In the past when I have weight sorted Lapua 308 brass I usually see 5-7gr difference between a box of 100.
I also didn't see any correlation between the sorta lengths and weights, in fact the 159.9gr piece and the 4 pieces 162gr and above were all from the 199 pieces that were 1.5330-1.5335" to the datum line.
I'm sure some will ask why I measured them the way I did. To me the shoulder jump on the first firing (assuming I don't size them all to one length) is far more important to me that OAL. All of my new brass gets trimmed on a Giraud to set a consistent neck length after being sized or having an expander mandrel ran through the neck if the brass in consistent enough.
I also took 20 pieces of the brass and ran it on my Sinclair case concentricity gauge with a Mitutoyo dial indicator. All 20 pieces had exactly .004" runout. This isn't as tight and sized brass from a good dies and press but is excellent for out of the box brass that has had absolutely no prep done to it. The majority of them only had jump to the extreme side of .004" which is consistent with the case mouths having not been touched and not being perfect. I expect this to reduce by about 50% after then get ran through the neck mandrel.
Starline is some excellent brass and is very affordable as well. I highly suggest you giving it a try if they make it for your rifle.
I may add to this after loading this batch as well.
