So American reloading has "ZSR" 308 primed brass. It is obviously from pulldown ammo.
Price is ok. However I hesitate as most of the reviews I see about zsr ammo are pretty bad. Seen stuff about guns blowing up. However, this is all with their loaded ammo, not the brass.

Now the catch, is AR description says this:

"Some necks may be too soft which allows the case to stretch when fired.  This only occurs when the max loads are used.  Keep loads below average or trim the case to min length to avoid these issues."


It is a little confusing. Soft "necks" causing the whole case to stretch?
But it also says it is only a problem at max loads, which I do not load at. I keep all my loads reasonable. But also says to trim to avoid this issue?

I do not mind having to neck size and trim if I have to, that is not that big of a deal. I just do not want brass that is going to break apart in my gun.
Also wonder about reloadability and if I would be better off paying a little more for better brass, or once fired and fully prepped then seating my own primers.
I would be looking at buying 1000.

I would be using this to load plinking/blasting ammo for 308 to be shot from both a bolt action and a AR.

https://americanreloading.com/product/308-win-zsr-primed-brass-250ct/

Sounds like you might want just take a pass, rather than invite lots of potential issues!

I would not say run, I would say run fast

No thanks I would get some nice starline srp brass

Well sounds like this stuff is a no-go.
Sucks the closest I can find is pulldown LC for $350. Not sure how good of a deal that is.

Was really hoping for primed, but I would take unprimed fully prepped.
I really prefer matching headstamps and not mixed. There is just too much variation between different headstamps in 308. I have seen as high as 2-2.5 grains of internal capacity between different brands.

I have never heard of ZSR brass before. Is once fired Lake City available anywhere? That's what I use in semi-auto rifles, that and IMI.

If you are willing to try it, I wouldn't buy 1000 cases. 250 max. Do a little testing before jumping in too deep.

Brass metallurgy is important. There is a reason Lapua brass can withstand higher pressures and be reloaded so many times. Lake City is tough stuff, built thicker in every way than commercial .308. If you buy some of this brass, weigh a half-dozen cases to get a running average for load development. Even if they are lighter than LC (179 grains average, empty and unprimed) I would still use Lake City load data.

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Yes, I can find primed LC brass but it is $350 per 1000.
While the LC 308 brass is good and tough, I usually tend to shy away from it because of the small internal capacity.
With larger internal capacity cases like win or RP, I can get more velocity at a lower chamber pressure.

I was thinking based on the description of the ZSR stuff, to just load/shoot it once and toss it. But it seems a little wasteful. So I guess I am going to be better off getting some better quality stuff.
It does not have to be primed, just prefer fully prepped.

This.

The load data I posted was created using LC 7.62x51mm brass. It will last longer when fired through a semi-auto.

The $350 pulldown LC 308 brass is legit. Considering it is virgin brass and how much CCI #34 primers cost, you basically get the brass for $220-230/k. I have 2k of it and when budget allows, I'm going to buy more if it is still available.

There was guy on YT that had a bit of problem with some of that brand ammo.

With supply chain shortages still impacting our hobby that price point on the LC pull down brass is quite attractive.  Considering the price of primers.

Does anyone know who makes ZSR brass?

Lake City, already primed, is a known quantity. The load data I posted will work great in any .308 rifle.

It is made in turkey, and their loaded ammo seems to have poor reviews. That is all I know.
Seems most of the complaints is over pressure and guns blowing up.

Probably how/why this brass came to be. I'm guessing the ammo that was blowing up guns got demilled.

So I have decided to pass on this brass and instead I ordered the LC pulldown brass I linked to in post #7.
I went ahead and got the 1250 piece case.
A little more than I really wanted to spend on primed brass, and I actually prefer commercial brass over LC brass (in 308), but at least this way, I could resale the once fired brass if I wanted to.

I just noticed you are getting these from Arm or Ally and they lowered their prices since the last time I looked there. Please keep us posted on how they look.

The 2k I bought were from American Marksman.

https://www.theamericanmarksman.com/7.62x51-primed-cases-1000-ct.html?FLARN=1701261736

Didn't know they lowered their prices. It had been the same since I found them when I posted this thread.

I did use a trick I have used in the past with arm or ally.
I added it to my cart, entered in all my info and got all the way through checkout to the point all I needed to do was enter my card info, then I closed out the web page.
A few hour later they send me a email with a $10 off code.
Yea not much, but every little bit helps.

I will update when I get them and see what type of a year range mix I get and their condition.

This, there are relatively recent youtube video reviews of their ammo blowing up guns.  My guess is this is the brass from recalled ammo.  

No way I would risk it.  It could have been overloads or bad soft brass OR BOTH.

Turkish quality.

The LC brass showed up today from arm or ally.
It came well packed and looks really good. I think it may have been tumbled before or after pulling down, just based on how it looks. But I do not know for sure.
Cases are clean and all the ones I looked at, did not appear to have any sealant left in the necks.
From the couple handfuls I inspected closely, I would say I have about 99% 2021 and about 1% 2020 dates.
About 50% of the necks have a little deformation to some extent, but nothing bad by any means.
I have have found no cases damaged, or anything to make any of them not usable.
I got the 1250 case and I counted 1253. So the count is pretty spot on.

My neck sizer is a standard RCBS. I will probably pick me up a Lee collet neck sizer and take the decapping pin out. That way I can re size the necks and not have to worry about lube.



I also noticed that AR lowered the price on the ZSR brass.
Guess it must not be moving very well.
Is there a price low enough to make anyone take the risk and buy some?

I've posted this before.

If you're just loading blasting ammo, you may try my method.

Use a bushing die with a slightly undersized TiN bushing to bring the necks back round. No expander ball or decapping pin installed...

Then use a universal belling die to slightly bell the mouth for loading.

Anything running through the tar ends up being a huge pain in my experience. Tried the Lee Collet. Tried a slicked up M-Die. Tried a Sinclair carbide mandrel. I'm way too lazy to clean all the necks with solvent.

$212/k delivered would be pretty tempting if I didn't already have a shitload of the stuff.

I wonder how hard it would be to convert into 8.6 Blackout? The soft necks would be helpful in the forming and neck turning I suspect...