Newbie-Reloading Brass- question

[KiwiKev]

I am sure this question has been discussed at length. Now there is Winchester Brass, Remington Brass and Starline Brass. Are they much the same? I want to reload either .357 or .38 special with a LSWC 158gr to be used with my Rossi 24inch octagonal lever action.

Cheers all.

Kev

[Lefty Dude]

I would class the brass, of which you desire as follows;

Most easy to work with; Winchester
Second; Starline
hard & thick brass of the three; Remington

Your choice,

[alnitak]

Short answer...yes. They all will work, last for 10-20+ reloads, and shoot just fine. I would sort them by headstamp, load them up and fire them off. I have seen no difference in my range plinking between any of the brass I use -- either factory bought or range pickup. Now, I only reload pistol calibers and am not going for maximum benchrest accuracy, so the experts here may see small differences. But for me, they all are the same at the range.

Generally for pistol calibers, there's no need to trim, but I would check every 2-4 reloads. There may be some brass that stretch more than others, but I don't track that closely. I just trim when necessary...and it seldom is.

[gundownunder]

For years I have used my Win nickel cases for all my 357 reloads, then I got some Win brass cases and found that there were some minor differences. I got some Rem brass and found that after going through my Lee dies my lead bullets would easily get shoved too deep into the cases just from me pushing them in with my finger, I ditched them real fast. I've just picked up my first 100 Starline cases so am looking forward to seeing how they go. As some of my cowboy silhouette loads are being pushed flat out they will need to be redeveloped for the new brass to prevent excess pressure.
For mild loads like Trailboss etc, there would probably be no problem with mixing brass but if you push the pressure envelope you would want to batch your brass for safety reasons.

[Chuck 100 yd]

I have and do use all three brands you speak of. Most of my pistol brass is Star line by choice.
They will all work just fine for most applications.

[mikld]

To a new reloader, there isn't much difference. I've always sorted my brass by headstamp, and can see no difference in loads between case mfgs., and I've lost count on several boxes of brass for number of reloadings, so in my mind and my reloading there isn't enough difference to be concerned with.

As for your choice of a 158 gr. LSWC, check before you reload a bunch to make sure a SWC will feed in your gun (make a few dummie rounds). Many leverguns will not feed SWCs (my Puma is one) and another nose shape (round,flat nose) is needed.