Starline new products

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Re: Starline new products

Post by mr surveyor »

I've only been reloading for about 8 years, but Starline brass was what my late mentor recommended when buying new brass, so that what I've stuck with for the .357 and .44 mag brass for the hotter rounds (which for me are still below recommended max loads). I've never experienced a case failure of any kind with SL brass, although I've recently had a few case neck splits on some well used (lighter loads) Rem brass.

I suppose, for the time being, I'll stick with the Starline for my purposes with the "revolver" rounds. For the semi-auto bottom feeders, I'm satisfied with picking up range brass that appears to be once fired. I figure I'll lose it before I wear it out anyway.

Since 30-30 is the only bottle neck I load for, the new SL offering is tempting. I just can't justify the expense at the moment.


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Re: Starline new products

Post by Ranch Dog »

With the 32-20 Win, 38-55 Win, 44 Mag, 45 Colt, 454 Casull I have run Winchester brass and all the cartridges have run ten cycles without issue. I pushed the issue on the 45 Colt because I was out of brass and in the eleventh cycle got separation, but that was an experiment. With the 45-70 Govt, I've used Remington brass through 10 cycles without issue; I replaced it with Winchester brass as well.

The only cartridge that remains an issue with me is the 375 Win as I'm using Starline's 38-55 Win Long brass, they are the only one that makes it. The Long brass solves the huge amount of freebore cut Marlin cut in the chamber of their 375 offering. The brass has thin necks, and Starline states this, so I run it three times and toss it as I've experience splits on the fourth cycle. I don't shoot the Marlin 375 that much as the Rossi Rio Grande that I had JES rebore/rechamber is a much better rifle and uses standard length 38-55 Win brass.

The only other case separation I've had is with the 303 British in an SMLE using PPU brass. I own this separation as I was pushing the cartridge limits hard. The SMLE has a generous chamber, and I was full-length sizing between each cycle. I believe it was the third cycle with PPU brass. Separations are common on the SMLE, and that is evidenced by the fact you can buy stuck case extractors for the cartridge, cheap, anywhere on the web. Not so with other others.

I think a separation is a big event. I've not had one that I haven't ended up with the need to polish the chamber. At the separation line, you end up not only with a stuck case but a carbon ring. The best course of action is to keep the carbon wet even if it means pouring water from a bottle through the chamber. The wetter you keep it all, the easier it is to remove. Almost immediately, the deposits in the ring start to etch or "ring" the chamber. I've never had one that has cleaned up without the etched ring, so that means downtime to polish it. That's also why I've ended up with a bunch of Flex-Hone brushes. I wish I didn't have any.

PPU has become my primary choice for brass, I like how you can see that it has been annealed and the price point is a good balance against other offerings. I run now run it in everything that I can out of the 29 cartridges I load. Winchester is next followed by Hornady.
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Re: Starline new products

Post by Ranch Dog »

My 38 Spl cases at 357 Mag pressures use Remington once fired brass. No problems.
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Re: Starline new products

Post by Mad Trapper »

Thank you RD.
I rely a great deal on your experience, Beagle and Mike Venturino over on cast bullets, Paco, Elmer Keith, Skeeter, Taffin and a few others.

I got out my PPU brass, 30-30 and 30 carbine.
it is tough brass, 30-30 cases show where the necks have been annealed/tempered.
when the starline 30-30 arrives, i will do some comparing,
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Re: Starline new products

Post by Mad Trapper »

Wish i had a small hydraulic press with a gauge.
I would take different cases and see what pressures the necks collapse.
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Re: Starline new products

Post by Ranch Dog »

Mad Trapper wrote:Wish i had a small hydraulic press with a gauge.
I would take different cases and see what pressures the necks collapse.
I just bought a K&M Arbor press. They offer a low and/or high force pack that could measure this maybe. Need to ponder the purchase. For sure that low is on my buy list as I need it for seating the slug stack in shotgun shells.
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Re: Starline new products

Post by Mad Trapper »

up the road and across the street from Buds there is a harbor freight store.
Next time im at buds i will stop over their and look around, they usually have things like that, not the best quality, foreign made, but dont need much for working with small things from time to time.

Brass just arrived.
I got out my frankford arsenal electronic powder scale and weighed the brass.

The starline was 139.0 gr.
The PPU brass was 135.0
The winchester was 132.8
The PPU and starline have a heavier/thicker rim then the winchester.

I will take more readings later, ive got farm chores waiting for me right now.

About 8 starline cases i just pulled out and weighed, 138.5 to 139.4
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Re: Starline new products

Post by ethang »

As they say, your results may vary. I have had great results with SL brass going all the way back to the mid 90's and my IPSC days shooting 45 ACP, I am still loading and shooting from that batch of 2K. Years ago I found a box of 45 Colt brass at my range labeled "do not use loaded 20 times scrap only"... of course I took it home and have loaded that box of brass numerous times and used it in my Rossi and two Ruger Blackhawks without issue. My latest has been 1K of 32 magnum brass, I have loaded my first 100 of those 15 or 20 times over the last few years. I have 1k of 357 magnum for my favorite Rossi, as well as 1K of 10mm for my soon to be CSP sitting on my loading bench as we speak. If I was not sitting on almost 1K of once fired 30/30 I bought cheap I would be all over this new offering. Mike's results have been different and I am in no way discounting them. It would be interesting to have some results on the new cases.
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Re: Starline new products

Post by Mad Trapper »

when i get some free time i will make up some hot loads for testing.
then use the same cases over and over and see how well they hold up.

I found a box of hunter supply .311 193 gr.
And i have been pulling bullets from some 7.62x54r mosin ammo with the mild steel core, 147 gr.
I will have to keep them separate, probably use a MTM red ammo box to store them when loaded in 30-30 cases.
And will have to do single loads.
Curious to see what they can do with a 30-30 loading.
I made a dummy rd with the mosin bullet and 30 carbine brass, wanted to try them in the ruger blackhawk 30 carbine, toooo long for the cylinder.
Seating them deeper left little room for powder.
If i could load those spitzer steel cores in that ruger blackhawk, and get around 1200 fps, i would have some decent firepower.
wouldnt be able to hunt with it though, not with steel core ammo.
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Re: Starline new products

Post by Ranch Dog »

ethang wrote:As they say, your results may vary. I have had great results with SL brass going all the way back to the mid 90's and my IPSC days shooting 45 ACP, I am still loading and shooting from that batch of 2K.
There you go. I would not have taken such a hard tack with the brass had not they take such a hard tack with me when I approached them for help with the issue I was experiencing.
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