Winchester Brass - Any Good?

Hello,

I'm new at reloading for 45. Is Winchester brass (headstamp with the whole word "Winchester") good for bullseye? I have about 2000 pieces of it that was once fired from police ranges in the past couple of years or so. It looks good, but I have heard that there are issues with it? Let me know your thoughts. My pistol is being smithed right now, and I can find some other brass if need be, but if the Winchester brass is good, I'll use it.

Thanks!

Until you are shooting High Master scores, you really don't need to worry about fancy brass or top dollar bullets.

I've been able to get sub 3" groups with cheap lead bullets and mixed stamp range brass.

In case you were wondering, Starline makes the brass that works best at 50 yards...because it's the longest.

If your Winchester brass is from a department that uses Glocks  it is a nice piece of insurance to run it through a "Bulge buster" die to make sure the case is sized properly all the way to the rim. Lee's Bulge buster is used with their factory crimp die so if you have not purchased dies yet you may want to consider just buying the whole Lee set. I had some problems with a bucket of Winchester, WCC, WIN, and WRA brass that was from my old department range. We had a variety of .45s that were authorized with Glocks among them. Check some brass sized in your regular die in a case gauge and you may find that the case will enter effortlessly except for about half the thickness of the rim. This is what the bulge buster will cure.

I use Winchester once fired for the 50 yard line outdoors and I just shot a 98 slow fire with it. I give it a thumbs up!

Most long lasting, its ok for accuracy. Primer pockets are a little tighter than Federal and Starline IMHO which makes it less fast to reload in my Hornady LnL. 

I like Federal and Starline better.

just know, old Winchester had smaller flash holes than the stuff made in the last 10 years and it will shoot to a different point on the target at 50 yds.

I use Winchester as its thinner case-walls work nicely with cast LSWCs and my 1911's chamber (also W-W and R-P brass; my previously-preferred Federal cases did not work so well). I find it a little annoying that Winchester WLP primers take a bit more muscle to get them to seat in Wincher brass, however.

Thanks for the responses everyone. I'll bulge bust it and run it. Good, I bought something that will work! I deprimed and wet tumbled it. The stuff looks like new brass to me. Per Kwix's post, yes, some appears to be glocked. The bulge buster should take care of that. I have used a Grx for 40 and am familiar with the idea.

The thing I heard about whole-word Winchester is that the case wall taper is thick enough that the bullet can cause a bulge that affects feeding. Never heard that before, and thought I'd ask about that brass on the forum.

Thanks again!

The bulge buster doesn't like too much of smashed rims.  Reducing rims broke my carbide one time.  Lee replaced it.