SSA/Nosler 6.8spc brass

midwestpredator

midwestpredator

Active member
I saw that powder valley got a shipment of 6.8spc brass in the other day and decided I would try the new ssa out. UPS just left.

I'm a bit confused, by all reports the ssa by nosler is supposed to carry the ssa headstamp. The 2 bags I received are the usually ssa package but all the brass I can see is stamped nosler 6.8spc. That's not a huge deal for me but when I talked to a nosler rep a few months ago they told me everything with nosler headstamp would be deburred/chamfered and the ssa would not be prepped at all(hence the higher cost of nosler brand). From what I can see, none of the nosler headstamped brass has been deburred/chamfered.

Has anyone else recently purchased some new ssa brass?
 
No, but thanks for the heads up. 100 pcs for $49.01 is a decent deal...And it is in stock!

When it was SSA, before Nosler bought them, they had the best brass available(IMHO). Then Nosler bought them, and my tests showed the brass took a step down. The cases weren't as consistent, weight wise, and that showed up on the range, in group size. I tried tweaking the loads, for what shouldn't have been a change in case capacity, but still not as consistent groups as the original SSA brass. Just for reference, the original SSA brass was consistently .5 MOA or better in a 6.8 SPC, with an ARP barrel, and a 6mm WOA, with a WOA barrel. The Nosler version of the SSA brass is still consistently below 1 MOA, but but measurably larger groups, by average, in these two rifles. So I use the Nosler brass for deer/coyote hunting rounds, where I may not recover the brass, and for targets and pdog fields, I use the old SSA brass. I still have one unopened bag of original SSA brass, and another bag almost used up. I have to neck turn for the 6mm WOA, so most of the old SSA brass will go for that rifle.

On a side note, I have some suprisingly good results with Remington brass, and disappointing results with Hornady brass. YMMV.

I will let you know if the headstamp is different on my order of SSA brass from Powder Valley.
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Squeeze
 
The SSA brass I've seen here is Nosler head stamped and they want $64 for a hundred in .308. That's just stupid. I researched it a bit and they are saying it's kinda soft brass and they are only getting around 4 loads before the primer pockets give up. I don't know as I won't go $0.64each just for the brass.
 
I also picked up a bag of one hundred SSA 6.8 brass at sportsmans warehouse, SSA packaging but headstamp nosler. A little missleading to say the least, these will become 6mm WOA brass.
 
I called nosler the other day. Tech support had also been under the impression that ssa brand would have ssa headstamp and for nosler factory ammo they would stamp nosler. He also said that regardless of headstamp the brass is the exact same being it comes of the same machines.

My biggest concern was once I measured some from the first bag I found them to be about 0.010 short at the shoulder from my fired cases and almost 15 thou short from my 1x fc brass. Again, for me its not a huge problem as I am necking down to 6mm so during that process I am just making a false should and they should form just fine after the first firing.
 
I have been told that brass with Nosler headstamp is made by Norma. I have used quite a bit of these in different chamberings and they have been excellent quality. At the price suggested above I do not think that this is Norma brass though - to inexpensive.

My SSA 6.8 brass was bought separately in 1000 and 2000 piece lots - 4 500 round bags in the first purchase and 10 100 piece bags about 2-3 years later and if memory serves me right the 500 round boxes were around $180 a box. The packaged was a little more. Both have been excellent quality.
 
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Originally Posted By: midwestpredatorI called nosler the other day. Tech support had also been under the impression that ssa brand would have ssa headstamp and for nosler factory ammo they would stamp nosler. He also said that regardless of headstamp the brass is the exact same being it comes of the same machines.

My biggest concern was once I measured some from the first bag I found them to be about 0.010 short at the shoulder from my fired cases and almost 15 thou short from my 1x fc brass. Again, for me its not a huge problem as I am necking down to 6mm so during that process I am just making a false should and they should form just fine after the first firing.



That's about normal on the shoulder height. Measure some other fired and unfired brass from other calibers and you'll find you are about normal. No false shoulder is needed.

What I find interesting is that your FC and your other fired cases are different. I rarely see 0.005 difference from different ammunition. Me aware also that your fired cases, if in a AUTO, have taller shoulders in many cases then the bolt gun stuff.

Greg

Greg
 
I have 20 pieces that I stepped down to .280 and did 3 at .267 and loaded the 3 up to fire and compare measurements to my other fired cases. To clarify a bit more on the false shoulder, my dies were already set up for this chamber with a 0.003 bump and with that when I sized these cases down it left a false shoulder where it should be so I went with it. My fc brass came from lwrci so I'm assuming they were fired in a semi auto ar15 but perhaps they do some dod work on full auto.

One thing to note is the nosler necks are fairly thick at .015-.0155 so I may find out I need to go up a size or 2 in bushing. The sized brass chamber just fine but I will take measurements after I shoot the 3. Another aspect I noticed was how tight the primer pockets are. I only primed 3 but all nice and snug but not overly tight to cause problems either.
 
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