By Tom Beckstrand
Few things in the firearms world develop a significant emotional attachment like that found between a rifleman who reloads and his brass. Just like the Sunday school lesson where the shepherd leaves the 99 sheep to go in search of the lost one, so will many riflemen search high and low for those last few pieces of fired brass.
The attachment occurs because brass represents an investment of time and money. Cheap brass takes a lot of effort to achieve mediocre results, and then it does not last more than a few firings. The best brass I have found across all performance metrics comes from Alpha Munitions.
Knowing how special brass is to the long-range game, Alpha Munitions requires 30 quality checks along the entire length of production. The smallest flaw will result in the case being rejected.
Alpha Munitions is unique from other brass manufacturers because the company stepped away from traditional manufacturing techniques devoted to turning out large quantities of brass, and turned to developing around the principle that every case needed to be exactly the same. It is a huge difference in mentality that has been with the company right from the start.
Early on, Alpha Munitions recognized that brass performance boils down to three critical factors: consistent internal volume, uniform and clean flash holes, and consistent neck tension. Variations in any of those key areas will create erratic muzzle velocities.
No one runs more exhaustive quality control than Alpha Munitions. Every 600 pieces of brass gets measured over 120 times and must pass 30 go/no-go performance checks before it can leave the factory, which does not count hardness checks or visual inspections. While other premium brass manufacturers will check weight and external dimensions, Alpha goes further checking thicknesses and internal dimensions, rejecting brass at any point along the manufacturing process.
Alpha Munitions is also willing to spend the time tailoring production around case optimization. A good example of this is with their newest offering in the 6mm Creedmoor.
In its creation of 6mm brass, Alpha Munitions sweated the smallest of details and found a way to avoid excess brass in the neck and shoulder. The easy way to produce 6mm Creedmoor is to make a couple tooling inserts that neck down the in-production 6.5 Creedmoor. The problem with doing it that way is the excess brass that ends up in the neck and shoulder.
Alpha solved this problem by selecting a different raw material and using entirely new tooling for their 6mm Creedmoor. This allowed them to put the right amount of brass in the neck while still maintaining good neck tension in the standard factory chamber. Keeping excess brass out of the neck and shoulder allowed them to refine the taper on the case walls, increasing strength and longevity of the case.
The end result is increased case capacity that allows the shooter to use slower-burning powders while still achieving velocities that match the faster-burning offerings. Since popular fast powders such as Hodgdon H4350 are in short supply, slower powders like Alliant Reloder 23 and 26 and Hodgdon H1000 become attractive options. Many precision reloaders also believe slower powders yield longer throat and barrel life.
Alpha Munitions brass is priced the same as other premium brass products, but it is my opinion that Alpha is the best stuff available. They have been slowly developing and refining their manufacturing process while simultaneously making incremental improvements to their brass. Every change they make is data-driven and the process will never stop.
Such methodology means brass is available when it is available. They do not run three shifts a day just to kick product out the door. In the words of Bob Danielson, the president of Alpha Munitions, "We are not going to rush to our deaths."
Every decision and every move is made to create the best brass the world has ever seen. Accuracy-minded rifle shooters can be thankful that companies like this still exist. This is the golden age for rifle shooters thanks in large part to companies like Alpha Munitions.
