STARLINE .308 WIN BRASS?

[GCF]

Noticed that Starline is now producing .308 Win brass. Anyone try it yet?

If so, how is the neck thickness, primer pocket, flash hole, & weight uniformity?

They say that the brass is thicker near the base - resulting in slightly lower internal capacity. Milspec 7.62mm comes to mind. How has this affected your standard accuracy loads?

I normally load .308 for my R700 LTR, w/ Lapua brass, but have been a fan of Starline for revolvers - for a long time. Hope to give their new offering a try, in the near future.

 

[muddocktor]

Last I looked, they were saying a shipping date some time in mid-August for the 308 brass. So unless they have an inside connection I doubt that anyone has gotten to try it yet.

 

[GCF]

As Starline has had this brass out for a while now, thought I'd bump this one up.

Anyone have a chance to try it out?

 

[Rule3]

Midway has some for sale in smaller 50 count amounts you can purchase if you do not want a large quantity direct from Starline.

Heck it's Starline, they actual make brass for many of the big name companies.

 

[DWalt]

I have thousands of Lake City 7.62 brass cases, doubt I will be buying any of the Starline.

 

[Rule3]

I have thousands of Lake City 7.62 brass cases, doubt I will be buying any of the Starline.

I wouldn't either, I have boxes of the things.

 

[gfunk]

I recently bought 500 pieces of new Starline .308 brass direct from Starline for $199 ($0.40/ea) and split them with a friend.


Case Weight:

• I weighed my 250 pieces individually on a Dillon D-Terminator scale.
• Also weighed 158 pieces of once fired Lake City “LC 13” head stamped XM80 brass for comparison.
• Starline has an average case weight of 178.3 gr, with a standard deviation of 0.97 grains.
• LC has a slightly heavier average case weight of 179gr with a larger standard deviation of 1.23 grains.

Flash holes:

• Starline brass flash holes look remarkably consistent and burr free, definitely no big nasty burrs protruding into the case as I have discovered while swaging primer pockets on some 5.56 brass.

Primer pockets:

• Feel nice and tight, but I’ve only loaded them 1X so far. I’ve definitely had LC brass pockets start to feel loose after a couple loadings.

Case length:

• Of only 17 pieces measured for case length, none were close to max case length. Average was 2.004”, max 2.007”.

Case sizing and Case neck uniformity:

• Don’t expect that these are ready to load as delivered, some case mouths are out of round. I full length resized everything.
• Case mouth deburring and brushing is a good idea too. While deburring I found one case mouth with a “wrinkle” that I certainly would not fire in my rifle. I culled this case and dissected it for inspection/photos. I didn’t complain to Starline because it was only one 40 cent case, not sure if this is common or not.
• I haven’t yet done a serious investigation neck thickness uniformity.

Load data:

• I’ve been using load data previously established in LC brass with good success.
• ~42.8gr of TAC with a 168gr HPBT works well in my 20” AR, YMMV. I’ve observed some ejector marks on the cases but nothing that alarmed me.

Conclusion:

• With this brass I routinely achieve <0.5 MOA 5 shot groups, which is as good as I’ve ever had with LC brass.
• I did sort my brass into +/-.5 gr bins since I had already bothered weighing it.
• At half the price of Lapua brass, so far I’m happy with Starline rifle brass.
• While statistically better than LC by weight I haven’t noticed any real world differences, though I’m glad to not have to swage primer pocket crimps.

Pictures:

• Attached are histograms for both Starline and LC brass case weight. Starline certainly has a tighter and more normal distribution.
• Attached are some pictures of the neck wrinkle, primer pockets, and flash hole.
• Note that the flash hole is NOT actually eccentric, this was just camera perspective.

How's that for a first post on this forum?

 

[gfunk]

Starline and LC case weight histograms.

 

[GCF]

How's that for a first post on this forum?

Thanks for the informative write up. That is exactly the type of evaluation, I was hoping for.

If you get a chance, I would be very interested in a case neck wall thickness average comparison, as well.

The Lapua that I am currently using, is running 0.015" - 0.016", & needs to be turned to at least 0.014" for my (tight neck) rifle.

Not the end of the world, but neck turning is one small step, I'd prefer to do w/ out - if possible. ;=)

Oh yeah, BTW, welcome to the forum!

 

[rockquarry]

If you already have a .308 that shoots well with a particular load, make up some test loads with Starline brass, using a slightly reduced powder charge and work upwards if necessary until you get the desired accuracy and chronographed velocity you want. That will tell you all you need to know about internal case capacity.

If you get a batch brass that shoots well and needs neck-turning, that's a small price to pay for good accuracy. I think I've turned case necks for .308 cast bullet loads for use with .311" bullets. Generally, however, .308 brass for jacketed bullet use seldom requires neck turning, regardless of the gun.

 

[gfunk]

Starline .308 Case Neck Uniformity

• 48 pieces of brass from my 178-179gr case weight bin were measured for case neck uniformity using a home brew neck gauge with a .0005” dial indicator
• My neck gauge is based on Chris Long’s design further described here:
  
  Tools for Measuring Case Necks within AccurateShooter.com​
• The 178-179gr weight bin was selected as it contained the average case weight from my earlier case weight study.

Results:

• Average neck thickness is .0146”.
• Average neck thickness variation (max - min) = .001”
• Standard deviation of neck thickness variation = .000 6”

Conclusion:

• I might continue to measure neck thickness and discard any pieces greater than .002”, which would have been just one piece in this 48 piece group. I will not pursue neck turning as my rifle’s chamber doesn’t require it.

 

[GCF]

Nice - Thanks for posting!