Is there a preferred brass manufacturer? Any strength differences?

Winchester 45-70 Brass has been checked by George Weber of Hodgdons powder at 70.000 with out failure.They just fell out of the SAAMI test barrel.Way past what we will ever load.

Jayco

Can't say about Star Line, but I have stretched heads of Remington brass with loads that were just fine in Winchester cases.

I'm really fond of the Star line brass. Great accuracy and better velosity with less powder than the winchester brass.

Star Line.

Winchester for 28 years.

Does the typr of brass affect performance? I understand that one brand may be more durable and last for more rounds...but will you actually get different ballistics out of different brass?

Winchester for normal loads, lead or jacketed. Star Line for anything hotter than normal w/jacketed bullets.
Never had good luck w/Remington either brass or nickel plated.

It really doesn't matter. The operating pressure of the 45-70 is far too low to offend any brass. The biggest cause of case failures is case mouth splits due to belling and crimping. For that reason alone, nickle-plated brass can fail a little faster.

Buy on price alone, as your not getting anything useful by paying more.

sahibdla,

I tend to disagree with you.

I load the Nosler 300 gr. PAR bullet w/IMR-4198 that chronos 2180 fps out of my Ruger #1 22" bbl.

This is way above "normal" operating pressures for the .45-70 but is in every way safe in the #1 or similar guns. A Nosler tech has confirmed this for me. You wouldn't want to fire these in a Trapdoor Springfield or an older Winchester lever gun. :eek:

I use only Star Line brass for this load because it's has proven to be stronger brass that holds up better to these pressures than the other choices. R-P nickel plated is the worst.

To me, "normal" operating pressure is the 405 gr. Remington or Winchester load at 1320 fps that can be shot in any .45-70 rifle or carbine.

Just got my first 45/70 and looking at loading some rounds Guess I will buy some Winchester brass