Jager
Gold $$ Contributor
So, like a lot of us who shoot .30 BR, I was disappointed a few weeks ago when Lapua announced it was suspending production of part of its catalog... including the 6 BR Norma that a lot of us use to make .30 BR.
I've never used Peterson brass. But it has an excellent reputation, here and elsewhere. So I was happy when Fed Ex dropped off the box a couple days ago.
First quick comparison, straight out of the box...
Case length differences do not matter, as both headstamps will be trimmed to 1.500.”
Likewise, TIR is largely meaningless at this stage, as both headstamps will be significantly re-shaped in turning them into .30 BR brass.
Empty case weight is notable, however. At this point it's a safe assumption that Peterson is very slightly thicker, and case volume will be correspondingly less.
Sixty fresh-from-the-box samples of Peterson are necked-up to .30 caliber, neck-turned, wet-tumbled, dried, trimmed (1.500), and FL-sized. No issues at all.
Selecting three of the just-formed Peterson cases, I loaded them with a moderate charge of LT-30 behind a Berger 115 and sent them downrange. No surprises. Velocity was very close to what I expected, based upon QuickLoad models.
I took these three pieces of brass, FL-sized them, loaded them again, and shot them a second time.
Measuring the case volume of the three pieces of brass, and comparing them with a (different) lot of Lapua .30 BR from earlier in the year...
The case volume disparity might not seem like much. But it makes a difference. If you had a load of 33.6/LT-30 behind a Berger 115 that you wanted to transition to Peterson, you'd need to drop the charge to 33.28 to get the same velocity. You'd get there, but at the cost of a somewhat more compressed load, and a bit more pressure.
Here's what it looks like with a 34.0/H4198 load...
As a general rule of thumb, it looks like Peterson brass will require about 0.3 gr less powder than comparable loads using Lapua.
A lot of guys shooting the .30 BR are already shooting heavily compressed loads, in Lapua brass. Seems to me the biggest challenge with moving to Peterson will be dealing with the additional compression that will be necessary. I don't doubt that Peterson will prove itself to be every bit as accurate as Lapua. But some of those upper-end loads in Lapua may prove just out of reach for the American headstamp.
For me, the goal is, having developed a load in one brand of brass, to be able to transition to the other with minimal development work. We'll have to see if that works out.
I've never used Peterson brass. But it has an excellent reputation, here and elsewhere. So I was happy when Fed Ex dropped off the box a couple days ago.
First quick comparison, straight out of the box...
Case length differences do not matter, as both headstamps will be trimmed to 1.500.”
Likewise, TIR is largely meaningless at this stage, as both headstamps will be significantly re-shaped in turning them into .30 BR brass.
Empty case weight is notable, however. At this point it's a safe assumption that Peterson is very slightly thicker, and case volume will be correspondingly less.
Sixty fresh-from-the-box samples of Peterson are necked-up to .30 caliber, neck-turned, wet-tumbled, dried, trimmed (1.500), and FL-sized. No issues at all.
Selecting three of the just-formed Peterson cases, I loaded them with a moderate charge of LT-30 behind a Berger 115 and sent them downrange. No surprises. Velocity was very close to what I expected, based upon QuickLoad models.
I took these three pieces of brass, FL-sized them, loaded them again, and shot them a second time.
Measuring the case volume of the three pieces of brass, and comparing them with a (different) lot of Lapua .30 BR from earlier in the year...
The case volume disparity might not seem like much. But it makes a difference. If you had a load of 33.6/LT-30 behind a Berger 115 that you wanted to transition to Peterson, you'd need to drop the charge to 33.28 to get the same velocity. You'd get there, but at the cost of a somewhat more compressed load, and a bit more pressure.
Here's what it looks like with a 34.0/H4198 load...
As a general rule of thumb, it looks like Peterson brass will require about 0.3 gr less powder than comparable loads using Lapua.
A lot of guys shooting the .30 BR are already shooting heavily compressed loads, in Lapua brass. Seems to me the biggest challenge with moving to Peterson will be dealing with the additional compression that will be necessary. I don't doubt that Peterson will prove itself to be every bit as accurate as Lapua. But some of those upper-end loads in Lapua may prove just out of reach for the American headstamp.
For me, the goal is, having developed a load in one brand of brass, to be able to transition to the other with minimal development work. We'll have to see if that works out.
