Which .44 mag brass for hot loads

[WHITEBULL]

I just purchased a Super Blackhawk Bisley Hunter, and am going to start working up some loads. I have read some reviews that Hornady has the best brass for this round. That has never been the case with other guns I reload for, so I would appreciate your opinions.
Thanks.

 

[SweetWilliam]

I've used Winchester, Remington, Federal, & Stareline for full power 44's 45's 357's with no problems. I've never used Hornady Pistol brass but have with some of my rifles and it is good brass.
I don't know how much brass your planning on buying but if you want at least 500, IMO Starline is the best deal.
https://www.starlinebrass.com

 

[keyston44]

All brands of brass will work for what you want. I use Starline whenever possible. If you do get Hornady, make sure you don't get the short brass that they use for the gummy tipped bullets.

Key

 

[Jimbo357mag]

I will second Winchester, Remington, Federal and Starline 44mag brass. I have not used Hornady 44mag revolver brass but their rifle brass is very very good.

 

[Chuck 100 yd]

I use them all but prefer Star-Line .

 

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

I dunno how some folks define "best" but my limited experience with the .44 Mag is with Win and Federal brass and I haven't noticed a nickel's worth of difference for my purposes. I load mild with Unique most of the time. When it's time to blow the spiders out of the RH barrel, healthy doses of 296 do the work. Either way involves 240gr gas checked cast bullets. There's a box of Starline in the other room I haven't even opened a couple of years after ordering it. But judging by much more past experience with all three of those brands in .357 Mag, plus some R-P, I'd say close your eyes, pick a brand, and you should do ok.

Rick C

 

[powder smoke]

Starline brass is very good, that said, most major manufactures make very good brass.
I would stay away from Winchester Brass not because I have had problems it's
because I don't want any problems. Seems Winchester has been worried more about
the bottom line lately more than any thing else.ps

 

[rob-c]

I have loaded about half of my 500 case order from starline and zero problems. bought two box's of Winchester white box to shoot and reload the brass and was shocked to see 90% of the case mouths on the Winchester brass was cut at a angle, enough to see with your eye. hence why I ordered the starline brass.

 

[pruger45]

I use several different brands without any problems! Just keep it separated by brand and lot number.

 

[Tom W]

Hornady seems "softer" to me. I prefer starline.

 

[WHITEBULL]

Thanks for all the reply's. I pretty much anticipated a mixed bag of opinions. I use Starline for most of my other handguns as well. I saw that the Hornady brass for .44 mag was almost double the price, so I was just curious. Hornady has never produced the quality of Norma or Lapua in rifle brass, and I couldn't see them producing pistol brass that was worth twice the price of their competitors.

 

[mikld]

I started reloading the .44 Magnum in '87 and have/still used all available brass. When I buy new cases, I usually go with Starline, but once fired, fired and saved from factory ammo and range pick ups are all used. For about the first 2 or 3 years I reloaded my .44s I had "Magnumitis" and fired a lot of max. loads, but cannot/do not remember any one make of brass remarkedly better than any other. I do have a box of Remington nickel plated cases that I have reserved for my T-Rex killers (near max charges of 2400 or WC820 under a 265 gr LRNGC) and I have going on 10 reloads with them. No cracks/splits, primer pockets still tight, case head expansion nil.

 

[Rick Courtright]

I have loaded about half of my 500 case order from starline and zero problems. bought two box's of Winchester white box to shoot and reload the brass and was shocked to see 90% of the case mouths on the Winchester brass was cut at a angle, enough to see with your eye. hence why I ordered the starline brass.

Hi,

Not to be contrary, but I trim all my new or "new to me" revolver brass. The latter may be scrounged from the range, or factory ammo I've shot and am loading for the first time. Many people think that's a silly waste of time. A box of Starline .357s taught me the wisdom of spending a little of MY time that way...

To each his own!

Rick C

 

[rob-c]

I have loaded about half of my 500 case order from starline and zero problems. bought two box's of Winchester white box to shoot and reload the brass and was shocked to see 90% of the case mouths on the Winchester brass was cut at a angle, enough to see with your eye. hence why I ordered the starline brass.

Hi,

Not to be contrary, but I trim all my new or "new to me" revolver brass. The latter may be scrounged from the range, or factory ammo I've shot and am loading for the first time. Many people think that's a silly waste of time. A box of Starline .357s taught me the wisdom of spending a little of MY time that way...

To each his own!

Rick C[/quote
its all good, let me tell you the rest I left out. after shooting both boxes of the Winchesters I went to de-priming them and this is when I noticed how bad the case mouths were, so out came the case length gauge and trimmer. not one single case was long enough to make contact with the cutters, so I wanted to use them but no dice. and did I check the O.A.L of starline brass with my calipers, you betcha ya...

 

[jn 41]

STARLINE

 

[B.Roberts]

I reload every brand. I only buy starline brass for handguns.

 

[lolbell]

If I have to pay for it, it's Starline, but I'll use anything I can pick up for free. I've got Remington, Federal, Magtec, Winchester, Hornady, ( you have to watch for the shorter ones that were loaded with the FTX bullets at factory loading) and some others that are escaping my memory right now. I load any of it to magnum loads until it shows fatigue. Some of it has been loaded 15-18 times with no signs of wearing out yet.

 

[isaactc]

The way I see it, you pay a LOT of money for your handgun, spend a lot of time building your handloads. Starline is the only way to go IMHO. I quit picking up other peoples used brass when I noticed too many split cases. Not worth it.

 

[SlickRS23]

I try and stay away from Winchester brass as I have a hard time getting the primers seated without flattening them.
All other brands the primers seat very well, it's the Winchesters that seem to have very tight primer pockets.
I found this problem not only with the 44 Mag., but also 44 Spec., 44-40, 38 Spec., 357 Magnum and 45 Colt.
I will not buy Winchester brass or their loaded ammo that I intend to reload.
I have tried different primers and even bent the tip of my Lee ram prime.
Just threw about 300-400 various calibers of Winchester brass in the garbage because of this problem.