Hornady Brass quality? What is your favorite brass for safari calibers?

I'm just wondering what you guys think of Hornady brass, first choice, last choice , mediocre , good bad or ugly?

I use whatever is available, have reloaded for 150+ rifles for many years from .222 up to most of the big boys, never really had any issues with any of them, prob gonna hear otherwise, but i use them all, Winch, Rem, Hornady, Bertram, Nosler………

I think it's safe to say that the best off the shelf brass in Norma. But Nosler and ADG are really good, and I'm sure there are others, Nosler and ADG just don't make brass for very many calibers. I've had no bad experiences with Hornady and use a lot of it,...just don't think the tolerances and finish is as good as the aforementioned brands. I have had nothing but good experiences through a full range of calibers with those brands. With Bertram, I think it depends on the caliber,....I've had some that was great and really held up, I've had others (404 J) for example that was absolute garbage, good for exactly 3 firings then you have problems with case head separation.....and no it's not my die settings, there are at least 2 other guys on here that have had the same experience.

I made the decision that for my higher end rifles brass is only going to go to 4-5 max and then tossed,....just not worth the risk...have a 338 that I gas checked the chamber ruining the barrel,....goes without saying would have been a lot cheaper to buy 1000 pieces of brass than have to have a Goudy/Waldron custom rifle re-barreled.

I’ve been using Hornady a lot recently for my 450/400 with good results. It’s not a very demanding cartridge with regards to brass though. I’ve often used Bertram as they were the only one I could find for an odd round (425 WR, 333 Jeff etc), but have a little less confidence in it.

M70375! said:

I'm just wondering what you guys think of Hornady brass, first choice, last choice , mediocre , good bad or ugly?

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Never had a problem with Hornady brass but my preference is Nosler

ive used hornday for reloading across several calibers from .223 to 450NE and will continue to do so. no problems whatsoever. i also load norma. no problems there either.

Right now it is still availability. Hornady is one that is always on the shelf. I've seen some Whinchester online, and Starline is becoming more common.

I found a great deal on Starline a few weeks ago when I was up in Chyanene Wyoming for 44 mag brass.

I like RWS brass if you can find it!!! It's my favorite in 375 H&H. Otherwise Peterson and Norma. JM

I have a lot of stockpiled Remington brass (.375 H&H) and have had good luck with the old stuff. For the .416 Ruger and .458 Lott I use Hornady and have never had an issue.
For the 9.3x62, I’ve used both PPU and Lapua and definitely prefer the Lapua.
For 9.3x74R I use PPU and Norma. Prefer the Norma, although primer pockets are very tight.
.375 Wby: Norma. Once again, primer pockets are very tight.

Norma or Lapua if you can get your hands on it....

Hornady is not sa good quality as it was 10-15 years ago. I think they outsource it now and the quality control has slacked up, along with the brass a bit thinner. It's still good, but just doesn't seem to last as long as their older stuff, say 10-12 firings vs 20+ in 9.3x62, 9.3x74R and 405 Win.

The best for me has been Lapua followed by RWS, and Norma a close third.

Lapua followed by Norma. Plan on uniforming the primer pockets on the Norma - they run very tight.
Remington over other US made, IMO, based solely on various once fired that has been given to me.

well if you shoot a 458 win mag you can forget Hornaday they stopped offering it to hand loaders only factory loaded ammo

Winchester and Remington only when it's all I can get. Norma has been my brand of choice for African calibers.

Hornandy and Nosler have been good, but overpriced and availability is spotty.

It would be nice if we had a brass manufacturer that was able to make a long term go of making cases for hand loaders.

Rare Breed said:

Never had a problem with Hornady brass but my preference is Nosler

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I meant Norma

I only use Hornady if it is the only option. Ex: 375 Ruger

I like Federal nickel plated brass.

My cartridges are typically too rare, so i take what i can get.

Here is what im currently using:

Hornady 416 RM
Star Line 45-70 Gov
RMC 8-bore 3.25"

My reloading package for 404 Jeffery came with 39 RWS brass. Junk. Cases are two short and rim thickness inconsistent. Short case length caused me to set the dies up wrong which is a real problem for headspace on a non-belted cartridge with sloping shoulder. Inconsistent rim thickness = problems with extractor snap over. A DGR that won't snap over on a cartridge dropped in the chamber is not a DGR.

Hornady 404 brass is excellent. All the same proper length, all weigh very close to the same ( = same volume), and rims are proper thickness and consistent. Every case snaps over. Good stuff.

Starline is hands down the best for the calibers they make, there's no safari calibers though.

I'm just now getting started loading for 300/375 H&H and 416 Rem and I have Hornady in all three calibers that looks pretty good. Not as nicely finished as Starline but serviceable. For the safari cartridge handloader in North America, Hornady is probably the best bet.

At almost twice the price of Hornady, Nosler has not made a good first impression. They have nice boxes, but then the brass is loose inside an open plastic bag; I expected dividers in that box. I bought two boxes of 375 and had to send one back for being short three cases and the remainder with excessive sidewall dents and pits. The other box (same lot) thankfully had 25 cases but almost half of these had sidewall defects. It's as if something in their process is dinging up the cases. These cases did not look much different than the Hornady I have except that the necks are chamfered.

The 300 Nosler I have didn't suffer those problems and I have to say it's slightly better quality than the Hornady 300. The heads appear to be solid as there's no primer pocket swaged into the case body. The base is flat inside; I've not seen that before. It causes the Nosler cases to weigh 7-9 grains more per case than Hornady. Still, it's not twice the price as good but I'm glad I have it for comparison.

I have Win and Rem brass in various calibers that is fine except for a certain lot of 44-40 Rem where the rims were out of spec thick and jammed cylinders.

If we're just talking safari cartridges, I'll go with Hornady for the bolt guns and Starline or R-P nickel for the lever guns.