Hornady vs. Nosler brass

[Koda]

I have some new Nosler brass for my 25-06ai project but I have had quality issues with Nosler brass in the past and they never stood behind their product for me.
I have some Hornady factory ammo I can fire to use for my project, the bonus is I wouldn't have to use up my supply of powder, primers etc. so that is worth considering.

If you had to choose between Nosler or Hornady brass, what would you pick? Between those two brands, which is "the best" brass to use?

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[DizzyJ]

Hate to say it, but I'll never buy Nosler brass. Love their bullets, but not a fan of the brass.

 

[Koda]

Hate to say it, but I'll never buy Nosler brass. Love their bullets, but not a fan of the brass.

They lost me as a customer, but before I went thru all that I purchased a good amount of their premium new brass. I would just hate to put the work and time into load dev and have the same issues they wont stand behind.

Im looking at other brands that are available. I have a small amount of Norma brass I could start work with and can find some in stock now.

What do you think of Norma brass vs Hornady?

 

[DizzyJ]

Norma over Hornady.
Lapua over Norma

 

[orygun]

Almost all of my rifle brass has been Remington. It's been easy to come by and pretty consistent. Plus it's pretty inexpensive compared to others.

 

[Koda]

Almost all of my rifle brass has been Remington. It's been easy to come by and pretty consistent. Plus it's pretty inexpensive compared to others.

If only I hadnt purchased a bunch of Nosler brass before I knew how bad it was.

 

[JuglansRegia]

I would get the Hornady, l wasn't impressed with Nosler brass l bought. l was impressed with Sig brass though. Winchester was my favorite domestic brass 30 years ago but l wouldn't buy more.

 

[P7M13]

I'd go out of my way to find PPU brass.

 

[Local Loader]

Hornady, PPU and Starline are who'd I go with, I've had good experience with all 3.
Top pick would be PPU as I've 300WM case that have been sized 5 times and have had no cracks or deformities and have only had to trim them once.

 

[Koda]

and not one recommendation to start with Nosler brass.......

Lost of good suggestions. I decided to start with the one box of new Norma brass I have on hand. Its in stock I can buy more but 50rds will get me going and will last a long time so I wont be totally starting over. I will also shoot some of my Hornady factory ammo so I will have some fireformed ai brass to consider using too.

thanks everyone for the replies.

 

[gmerkt]

I've used a bit of Nosler brass, very pretty cases, but only such as I got as pick-ups. I couldn't see paying the price asked for them. I've used some Hornady, also on the basis of pick-ups and found them to be perfectly fine.

You can never be sure who makes cartridge brass. Typically the major factories make their own, but even with the biggies, not always.

Nosler brass was first made by Federal, then it was contracted out to Norma. Nosler bought Silver State Armory circa 2013 (?), and set up their own line in the SSA facility. So currently offered Nosler brass is thought to be in-house.

I'm not sure where Hornady brass is made, probably different sources over time. You can examine head stamp markings and note differences. Some that I've used looked like the same lettering style as older Winchester. But they are a pretty big compan, I've read that they now make most of their own.

Ammo, Inc. bought the Jagemann Brass Stampings business next door so they would have a source of cartridge brass for their ammo product line.

Olin sold their Winchester brass operation many years ago, so Winchester branded brass is now contracted out. And you can see the difference between what is used now and what was made at the old East Alton, IL plant.

Federal is a big firm, mostly makes their own brass. But under Vista Outdoors, they've used some sister company CCI / Speer made brass.

The above are just examples, it's difficult to generalize about who makes what.

 

[Koda]

I've used a bit of Nosler brass, very pretty cases, but only such as I got as pick-ups. I couldn't see paying the price asked for them. I've used some Hornady, also on the basis of pick-ups and found them to be perfectly fine.

You can never be sure who makes cartridge brass. Typically the major factories make their own, but even with the biggies, not always.

Nosler brass was first made by Federal, then it was contracted out to Norma. Nosler bought Silver State Armory circa 2013 (?), and set up their own line in the SSA facility. So currently offered Nosler brass is thought to be in-house.

I'm not sure where Hornady brass is made, probably different sources over time. You can examine head stamp markings and note differences. Some that I've used looked like the same lettering style as older Winchester. But they are a pretty big compan, I've read that they now make most of their own.

Ammo, Inc. bought the Jagemann Brass Stampings business next door so they would have a source of cartridge brass for their ammo product line.

Olin sold their Winchester brass operation many years ago, so Winchester branded brass is now contracted out. And you can see the difference between what is used now and what was made at the old East Alton, IL plant.

Federal is a big firm, mostly makes their own brass. But under Vista Outdoors, they've used some sister company CCI / Speer made brass.

The above are just examples, it's difficult to generalize about who makes what.

Yes, Im aware of this and at some point I can only throw my hands in the air and surrender to luck. I have had issues with other Nosler brass and while I can boycott using them it wouldnt surprise me if the company I chose to replace them is the same one that makes their brass, if they outsource that. I dont know.

I decided to dip into my only box of Norma brass, they seem to be a step up from Hornady but I really dont know. The other thing I look for is availability and currently Norma is available at Midway so if I dont get some weird problems like I did with Nosler I can buy a couple boxes more of Norma and will be set for life since this is a bolt action hunting rifle.
I would chose Peterson but they dont make 25-06 or its not available. Peterson is otherwise my go to for pet handloads.

 

[64MercurysRule]

NRA did a Hornady 75th anniversary article .

In the 1990s, "Much of our brass was still coming from competitors, but with sales going wild because of the political climate—Clinton and Sen. [Daniel] Moynihan's proposed 10,000 percent tax on ammunition—those guys couldn't make enough to satisfy their own needs," Steve said. "As our capacity got choked off, we simply had to make it all. Dad felt that would be impossible, but I decided to tool-up and hire guys who knew how to run the machines. We brought in a bunch of [brass] cups and soon were pounding away. It took time—but that gave us what we needed for the future."

An Official Journal Of The NRA | Hornady: 75 Years Of “Accurate, Deadly, Dependable” Ammunition

Seventy-five years after Joyce Hornady started his ammunition company with a single bullet offering, the enterprise is still family-owned—and still leading the march toward optimal ballistic performance.

www.americanrifleman.org

 

[thorborg]

I've reloaded Norma and Nosler from buying there ammo ( from decades ago) but personally I wouldn't spend the money on new brass. I get more reloads out of PPU, RP, and FC in that order than I did Norma and Nosler. Since I don't buy factory loaded ammo I haven't really processed much of Hornady but they have some nice projectiles even though I still stick with Nosler on those items for hunting.
That said, in regards to Nosler or Norma, I'm not as concerned for repeatability or consistency for hunting as I might be for long rang target so There may or may not be a "consistent" quality I cant speak of which might offset the lessor amount reloads I get from them.

 

[Koda]

Quick post, today I fired the Hornady factory ammo to fireform that brass and found pressure signs and split cases.
With factory ammo.

pic.

 

[Local Loader]

Weird, can't say I've had that happen with their brass before. Was it just the 1 case or multiple?

 

[Koda]

Weird, can't say I've had that happen with their brass before. Was it just the 1 case or multiple?

Multiple. Flat primers and the other cracks were all typical where case head separation would be.

I had two boxes, different lots. The other box was fine, though 2 flat primers was otherwise fine. The second box is where the cracking occured. There was a very notable difference in velocity. The bad lot had an extreme spread of 174fps thru the 20rds in the box. 174ES over 20rds is horrible.
Factory ammo, not handloads.

 

[TTSX]

I'd go out of my way to find PPU brass.

Definitely. I'm on my 7th firing of 7mag at near Max loading with no primer loosening, no cracking, no bulging... Excellent brass that people seem to miss out on

 

[Local Loader]

Multiple. Flat primers and the other cracks were all typical where case head separation would be.

I had two boxes, different lots. The other box was fine, though 2 flat primers was otherwise fine. The second box is where the cracking occured. There was a very notable difference in velocity. The bad lot had an extreme spread of 174fps thru the 20rds in the box. 174ES over 20rds is horrible.
Factory ammo, not handloads.

Could have possibly been a bad batch that got past QA if the other is ok.

 

[Koda]

Could have possibly been a bad batch that got past QA if the other is ok.

Thats my take right now.
Doesnt leave me with a warm impression of Hornady ammo though. Or the idea of using their brass for my handloads.