BRASS and its excellence is crucial for all reloading operations. Everything depends upon it — safety and foolproof functioning together with the best accuracy and most power we can squeeze out of our rifles by reloading. The cartridge case holds all the ‘working’ components in proper relationship to each other prior to firing.
A handloader aims to reuse the case. The number of times it can be reloaded and the level of performance obtainable from it depends to a certain degree upon its structural design. It is pretty well recognised that there is no fundamental difference in the strengths of modern rimless and belted cases. Due to differences in hardness and web thickness, it is not unusual to find a lot of rimless brass which will stand higher pressure than a given lot of belted brass, or vice versa.
Overall, the two types of cases can be regarded as being equal in ultimate strength, despite rumours to the contrary.
Perhaps it’s academic from a handloading standpoint, but the strongest cases manufactured today are without any doubt rimless super magnums based on the .404 Jeffery case.
Most of the factors vital to gaining the best accuracy lie in the cartridge case. Brass is the starting point for all reloading operations and all cases manufactured anywhere in the world conform to precise specifications in external dimensions. This
