Purchasing new brass advice and expectations

[dirtbag]

Hi there and happy new year.

I have been handloading for all my guns for a small while now. Before handloading I used to use prvi and saved a lot of the brass, of which I now reload with. Others I have either had uses cases thrown in with a gun purchase , or I have purchased once fired. Most of the brass has been reloaded multiple times, and have been dropping slowly.
So I have been looking going for new brass because i need some, and to see if I can get some more consistency (better results), so I would appreciate some advice please.

I shoot mainly milsurps, with a small collection of "modern" rifles in 308, x54R, and .223. Ranges from plinking / target at 100 yards, then target to 200 - 1000 yards. From longer distances I am happy to stay in the black basically with my equipment.
Seeing the prices of new brass (such as Lapua vs say S&B) and conscious of the term " you get what you pay for" , should I be investing more in the brass, if so what warrants the differences in prices ?

Rest assured I am not asking for load data or recipe's, just advice on brass cases.
Thanks in advance

[20series]

I just buy Lapua as a rule, always consistent and lasts for ages.

Alan

[mag41uk]

Lapua is deemed top end. Peterson brass is also very good.
But you cant go far wrong with once fired GGG in 223 and 308. It cheap to buy and is easy to work.

[Alpha1]

Lapua or once fired GGG. Just bear in mind GGG has crimped in primers so you need to remove the crimp before re loading. Invest in a annealing set up. I use others but these are my go to brass cases.

[dirtbag]

Thanks everyone. Coincidently I use lapua in my .308 and GGG in my .223.
The other guns is mainly prvi cases, with some RP too.

[capper]

I’ve had much better life from my cases since I started annealing them, I only use them in batches of 50 or 100

[rox]

GGG has crimped in primers

Not necessarily. It depends who previously loaded it (if anyone). Generally, if the case originated from GGG-loaded ammunition then it is likely to have been crimped (whether military, commercial or special applications like NRA GGG 'Imperial'). GGG also supply cases which you might obtain either as new brass, or from ammunition loaded by commercial loaders like HPS, and these are unlikely to have been crimped.

I've used a great deal of both types with great success. However, do watch out for GGG brass from the 2019 batch of NRA 'Imperial', and any others that were susceptible to the same issues. Some of these exhibited dramatic stretch after one firing - I measured 7.62 cases as long as 2.040", some with visible stretch marks at the web, some even starting to separate, and some without marks but showing significant thinning at the web when sectioned. Inspect, measure and be sure of the provenance.

Left: Uncrimped GGG case. Right: Ring crimped GGG case.

[Alpha1]

All of the GGG cases I have purchased and used have been once fired 308 cases they were all crimped. Just some thing to watch out for.

[stottycake]

I just buy Lapua as a rule, always consistent and lasts for ages.

Alan

[dirtbag]

Thanks all for the advice. Much appreciated