Starting a new build in a new to me caliber, 6.5 CM.

What's everyone's opinions on brass? I think RMR still has primed Winchester brass for sale, is that decent brass?
I'll be reloading of course, and I've already ordered a set of Redding Type S full length bushing dies and a 6.5 expander mandrel.

Let me know what you guys think is a great place to start on brass. I'd prefer to stick with one brand as much as possible.

-ZA

Only have Hornady brass.

I have used Winchester brass for a 260 Remington, and it has worked out well.  I found a sale on some Winchester 7mm-08 brass that was on close out at 40% of it's usual price, so I bought 300 cases, and all I had to do was neck size it down.  I have also used Lapua cases for the 260 Remington.  Of the two brands of brass, the primer pockets for the Lapua cases have held up better.  I would anneal case necks, so I didn't have trouble with the necks on either brand of brass, but the Lapua primer pockets held up longer.

I have also used Lapua and other brass cases for 6.5 Grendels with the same results.   If I annealed the case necks, it was the primer pockets that would eventually begin to get loose, and again, the Lapua cases lasted the longest.

Lapua, Norma and Peterson brands do not require primer pocket uniforming or flash hole deburring.  This cannot be said of other brands of brass.

You might try ADG brass, its at the minimum a match for lapua brass if not better...Not a fan of hornaday brass, my buddy has it for his 6.5 and it seems really soft compared to the better bass we reload in other cartridges...

Personally I don't have a great opinion of Winchester brass in general.  When they switched plant locations,  their QC had nightmare problems for years.  Maybe it's better now - but I tend to be Leary with Win brass.  Winchester bullets are some of the lowest quality US bullets you can get.  And their primers are multi-colored inconsistent brass, when I open a sleeve.  My opinion of Winchester is not high.

Alpha (alfa?) is the best you can get, IMHO.  

Lapua is a PITA, with weird flash hole dimensions in some of their casings, and unique dimensions requiring it's own special load.  much of it is small primer.  Frankly, I fire/forget Lapua when I get Lapua brass.

For general purpose, personally, I run Hornady; though the primer pockets do open up in very few loadings, if running hot.  Consistency is kind of Meh, but you tend to get a high volume capacity and the brass itself holds up well to abusive usage.  

Also, be very careful with small primer pocket Creedmoor brass.  That's where I perfected my ability to tune and calibrate reliable hang-fire ammo.   Turns out, small primers don't have the same energy as large primers, and if you are running large void of a fast powder, it ain't lighting right.  FWIW, this is also where I learned that CCI 41 is NOT the same as CCI450; and switching to the hotter CCI41 in that case, eliminated my small primer pocket hangfires.   but yea, I could get up to about a .25 second hangfire delays with small primers in Creedmoor and running IMR4064.  Fantastic way to convert a nice chest shot 300 yard deer aim into a "...sorry guys..." gut shot when the gun actually goes off.

NORMA is actually my personal favorite brass in almost all things, when I can find it affordably.  

To be honest, CBC brass seems to be pretty great.  

S&B brass is brittle; but otherwise quite consistent.  Alas, it will crack depending on your chamber.  Like, the whole length of the casing.  Saw that happen with factory ammo that ran fine in one gun, and cracked every shot in another gun.  That'll give you the heeby-Jeebies, seeing maybe 1/30th inch of brass before the head all that's left holding seal; I'll say that much.

Also… this will be an AR10 style gas gun if it makes any difference. Super fancy brass that gets chewed up easily may not be the best plan!

Skip Win. and Hornady.  What you get in less expensive options is poor case life more so with Hornady than Win..  Yeah Winchester brass in the past has been good with decent case life.  But, recent iterations have been suspect.  

It is one thing to buy primed pistol brass, but the hump in the road with pre-primed rifle brass is that you do not necessarily know what primer it is.  And, in rifle rounds primers can and do make a difference when working up a load.  


The 6.5MM Creedmoor in my point of view is a precision round.  And, to max the most you want good brass.  

Get Lapua, or ADG, or Peterson brass.  They are hell for stout!
Use small rifle primer pocket brass.  It is way easier to find small rifle primers than large.

The rule of thumb with small rifle primer brass is that a powder charge of up to 45gr is just fine.

This whole 6.5CM thing is getting expensive...

Bought some of the following:
140 & 147 Hornady match ammo
130, 140 & 144 Berger match ammo
143 Norma match ammo (smoking deal on this stuff)

Annnndddd... a good amount of new Peterson SRP brass.

I figure I'll have a decent amount of large rifle primer Hornday, Lapua, & Norma brass to play with along with the SRP Peterson stuff.

I think I'm set on brass for a while.

I'm assuming IMR 4350 and 6.5 Staball are two powders I should try first, right? I've got plenty of good LRP's and SRP's of varying flavors.
I figure I'll buy bullets after shooting the match ammo I bought, so I can just buy what my gun loves. I've got way too many flavors of .224 & .308 bullets for my other rifles, I don't want to play that game with the 6.5. I'd rather dial in on 2 or 3 good bullets and maybe 2 powers and be done with it.


-ZA

Why mess around, just get Lapua and buy once cry once.

https://precisionrifleblog.com/2019/09/06/6mm-6-5-creedmoor-load-data/

I'll have a decent amount of Lapua after shooting that Berger ammo!

After trying 5 different types of brass, larger and small primer, I load 6.5 CM in Hornady and Winchester LARGE primer brass only.

Lapua or Alpha. My AR10 isn’t that hard on brass. Heavy buffer and adj. gas block helps.

For a bolt gun?

I’d go with Lapua, you treat it right and you will probably only lose the brass not wear it out (unless PRS stuff).

For an AR10 or other semi I’d go with a bit cheaper as it will get harder on the brass it ejects.

I got some the other day from Midway.

I wound up buying some 120 gr SMK blems from Midway (on sale, free shipping), along with a box of Hornady 140 & 147 ELDM bullets. I figure I'll use the SMK blems to do fire forming of the Peterson brass while I'm breaking in the barrel. I've got a couple bottles of IMR 4166 that should work for the fire forming deal since I'm not really planning on using it in my 308 rifle.

I also wound up buying 2 lbs each of H4350 and 6.5 Staball (Midsouth and their free hazmat got me), but I'll save those for real workups later down the road.