Mr. Borland is a poster I highly respect on these forums. And I would lay down cash money that if I went head to head with him in any manner of a revolver shooting competition, I'd likely walk away in second place and I also imagine I'd learn something and be better for it. I am certain I would
enjoy the experience. I can also agree with & respect Mr. Borland's take that he
likes R-P brass and it works famously well for his needs. With that, there can't be any logical argument.
However, I will vehemently knock heads with him when it comes to handloading for handguns -- and will do the same with anyone who attempts to convince even a small group of on-lookers that Remington handgun brass is better than almost ANYTHING on the market.
On the whole, however, R-P brass is
famous for being thin, especially in the case mouth, and while it definitely seems to show itself with regards to longevity, it's
real issue in that respect is the pitfall it can promote in certain semi-auto chamberings.
Off-topic, as this is a revolver forum and we are talking .38? That could be argued, even successfully. FWIW, I use a heap of R-P .38 Special brass...mostly because I
have it. It's noticeably thinner in the case mouth, and this is easily observed in the feel of the press lever in both flaring and seat/crimp stages of the process. For certain-- I make adjustments when using R-P brass to account for the obvious differences between it and 90% of everything else on the market.
However (avert your eyes for the off-topic drift), this stuff causes problems in some semi-auto chamberings, and of this -- I have little doubt. In 9mm, I have zero issues. In .45, it's noticeably thin, and in .380, .40 S&W and 10mm, I all but
refuse to use the stuff. I will admit that I tend to use that brass for cast lead slugs that are normally sized a thousandth larger than their jacketed counterparts in some cases.
In a self-jacking semi-auto, I can't stress enough how
dangerous poor case mouth tension can be. It's long been my theory that a large portion of .40 S&W "kb's" are very much intertwined with unnoticed and/or unintended bullet setback...due to poor case mouth tension. (everyone likes to make a simple deduction that ham-fisted reloader "double charged" the case...
)
If you are the type to do a specific test, grab some Nosler .40 cal jacketed bullets and load them in to nickel-plated 10mm R-P brass. You'll find an answer in that test.
Worse handgun brass than R-P, specifically? That would be
A-Merc, the hands-down fully agreed-upon whipping boy, the textbook "worst EVAR" specifically reloadable brass.
What is better in handgun brass than R-P?
Everything else I've ever used.
I've put an irrational amount of thought, energy and experience behind these opinions, but though I'm dispensing them as FACTS at the moment, they are my opinions.
