Look what just showed up! 100 pcs of 224 Valkyrie brass by Hornady!
Edited below to show inital data from Hornady vs Federal dimensions.
I'll put up some comparisons to the Federal virgin (I have several hundred). Will be putting up virgin overall weight, virgin case H2O capacity, fired H2O capacity, virgin shoulder measurement before and after fired shoulder growth. Plus pictures.
Will be shooting in a few known loads to see if any improvement over federal in terms of new and once fired. Will report back on if any pockets get loose quickly or more slowly than Federal (number of firings.)
Anything else you guys want to see/know?
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Followup- Quick post of basic dimensions: Web Diameter, OAL Untrimmed, Base to .330 Diameter Shoulder, Dry Weight. Next series to include H2O Capacity (after trimming to 1.587 for Hornady and 1.591 for Federal), neck thickness (measuring loaded necks) and fired case capacity.
Basically identical except for three points: Hornady is .001" bigger in diameter around web, Hornady is ~2 grains heavier and has ~40% less weight variation. This may not mean much until we get water weights, but its definitely a start in the right direction.
Visually, Hornady is not as polished (shiny) as Federal but the inside of the necks seem duller and more uniform (notice darker necks than Federals streaky necks).
Update: 7/21/19: added fired water capacity variation and groups from virgin brass with Hornady. Seems to be about 40% less case variation in H2O capacity both virgin and fired. The Hornady brass was only chamfered and deburred, not trimmed to same OAL, so I would expect the variation to decrease if all cases set to exactly same length. The Federal WAS trimmed/chamfered/deburred prior to firing (had already done it prior to test) and it was on second firing; this means what you see is about as good as Federal can get... Hornady seems to win in the consistency category. Better consistency, better primer pockets, slightly larger web, better overall weight control and not quite as soft as Federal.
Stats and pictures below for those that want them. Note that the web, OAL, Base to Shoulder and initial dry weights are of 50 cases and remaining numbers are 15 (expect virgin H2O, which is only 10 because its a bit meaningless).
More to come....
Hornady on Left - Federal on Right...
Group from virgin Brass is bottom right two groups. Velocity is combined for both groups (same load) fired back to back. Factory 90SMK top right and a 223 Match for comparison in two upper left groups. I shot the Valkyrie with my backup lower and optic to test the 223 and didn't feel like switching due to time constraint. trigger was terrible for groups with 224 V as it was a polished mil-spec with JP spring kit. Says 4lbs but sure doesn't feel like it; very tough to control left/right with that trigger.
Edited below to show inital data from Hornady vs Federal dimensions.
I'll put up some comparisons to the Federal virgin (I have several hundred). Will be putting up virgin overall weight, virgin case H2O capacity, fired H2O capacity, virgin shoulder measurement before and after fired shoulder growth. Plus pictures.
Will be shooting in a few known loads to see if any improvement over federal in terms of new and once fired. Will report back on if any pockets get loose quickly or more slowly than Federal (number of firings.)
Anything else you guys want to see/know?
________________________
Followup- Quick post of basic dimensions: Web Diameter, OAL Untrimmed, Base to .330 Diameter Shoulder, Dry Weight. Next series to include H2O Capacity (after trimming to 1.587 for Hornady and 1.591 for Federal), neck thickness (measuring loaded necks) and fired case capacity.
Basically identical except for three points: Hornady is .001" bigger in diameter around web, Hornady is ~2 grains heavier and has ~40% less weight variation. This may not mean much until we get water weights, but its definitely a start in the right direction.
Visually, Hornady is not as polished (shiny) as Federal but the inside of the necks seem duller and more uniform (notice darker necks than Federals streaky necks).
Update: 7/21/19: added fired water capacity variation and groups from virgin brass with Hornady. Seems to be about 40% less case variation in H2O capacity both virgin and fired. The Hornady brass was only chamfered and deburred, not trimmed to same OAL, so I would expect the variation to decrease if all cases set to exactly same length. The Federal WAS trimmed/chamfered/deburred prior to firing (had already done it prior to test) and it was on second firing; this means what you see is about as good as Federal can get... Hornady seems to win in the consistency category. Better consistency, better primer pockets, slightly larger web, better overall weight control and not quite as soft as Federal.
Stats and pictures below for those that want them. Note that the web, OAL, Base to Shoulder and initial dry weights are of 50 cases and remaining numbers are 15 (expect virgin H2O, which is only 10 because its a bit meaningless).
More to come....
Hornady on Left - Federal on Right...
Group from virgin Brass is bottom right two groups. Velocity is combined for both groups (same load) fired back to back. Factory 90SMK top right and a 223 Match for comparison in two upper left groups. I shot the Valkyrie with my backup lower and optic to test the 223 and didn't feel like switching due to time constraint. trigger was terrible for groups with 224 V as it was a polished mil-spec with JP spring kit. Says 4lbs but sure doesn't feel like it; very tough to control left/right with that trigger.
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