Lots of brands have differences, one being the thickness of the case walls. In the case of .45-70, I've read that Winchester has the thinnest walls, and Remington the thickest. I'm not going to say one is the best, because I've seen too many reports on people shooting very good scores with particular brands; it depends on the rifle and powder/bullet/primer/wad combination. Just like some .22 rifles*(for instance) can be remarkably picky, so can black powder rifles.* *
Which makes finding the magic combination for one particular rifle a first-class PITA.
*Example, I used to have a BSA Martini .22 match rifle that was a pleasure to shoot, and after trying various brands(including two very good match brands) I found it shot the best with either Eley Sport or Federal Champion. Yes, some of their least-expensive general shooting load. That rifle would, with light winds and me doing my part right, shoot 1" groups at 100 yards.
**yes, some will shoot damn near anything well.
4 comments:
I'm betting that thinner vs thicker will depend on the pressure of the load. The casing has to deform enough to conform to the breech walls. I would bet that you get better results with the thinner cases for lower pressure loads, but thicker cases for higher pressure loads. Too much deformation, and you have a bulging case. Not enough deformation, you have a shitty seal.
I had a 25.06 that I hand loaded for a lot. With exact same bullet, primer and powder it shot amazing well with Remington brass and scattered bullets with Winchester, I never could figure out how that could make a difference.
The case can make a big difference. I was at a long range shoot at Whittington Center and one of the competitors only had one piece of brass for the match. He'd fire, find out where the round hit, make sight adjustments with a micrometer, measure out his powder, insert the bullet and seat it using a caliper to get the perfect bullet length, and wait for his turn. He was firing at the 1000 yard (or maybe meter, it's been a while) target and hit it every time. Each shot was a bit closer to center. Perfectly fireformed brass, and precision loading pays off.
Experiment once with a 8x57 Mauser:
With Federal cases, tight groups at 100, right on the bull.
With Remington cases, same size groups about 1.5" higher.
With Winchester, several inches high, off to the right and bad groups. That rifle did not like that brass.
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