6.5x284 lapua brass

[cognac jack]

I just bought some new 6.5x284 lapua brass and can not get a bullet to seat without crushing the bullet. I expanded the neck .0005 thousands with my mandrel and it felt very hard. Then I loaded it and seated the bullet. It was very hard to get the bullet to seat and when I looked at the bullet it had a very deep ring around where the seater pushed it. It felt like the brass was very hard and never annealed. Has anyone experienced this. I will call Lapua Weds. but thought I would give the forum a try.Here are some pics, not very good but the best I could do.

 

[varget204]

Did you mic I.D. of neck to see what size they are.I would check I.D. after expanding, I rechamfer inside of necks on my 6.5/284 lapua brass, i noticed last box i got,almost no chamfer.I use a carbide 28-30 degree cutteron my rcbs prep center.

 

[cognac jack]

I.D. measures .260 and I tried chamfering the necks. It just seems like this box got out of the factory with out being annealed. I am going to anneal a couple and see if that fixes the problem.

 

[varget204]

.004 is on high side,.001-.002 neck tension is standard.I used .292 bushings,they gave me .2925-.293 O.D.with I.D..262 and. 002 neck tension,when cases had been fired 10-15 x i switched to .291 bushing.to get the same.If your getting ring around bullet from seater, probably 2 much neck tension.

 

[1shot]

@varget204
I have seen this on several occasions, so I anneal every piece of brass that come in the shop. As far as ringing the bullet it may be a simple case of what you described, of the seated stem might need touched up a little. That is an easy fix as well. All you need id a cordless drill, drill press, or a lathe. Chuck the stem in whatever you have and but a fine strip of emery cloth around the bullet. Fire up your device, gently apply pressure with the bullet/emery cloth and you will break that sharp edge that rings your bullets.
I hope this helps,

Lloyd

 

[coldboreshot]

What size bullet are you trying to seat? The pics you posted depict the brass has been annealed. If your trying to load a 7mm bullet (as many of us do, using 6.5x284 brass for straight 284 Win,) in an ID of .260, good luck.

 

[50bmg1979]

I.D. measures .260 and I tried chamfering the necks. It just seems like this box got out of the factory with out being annealed. I am going to anneal a couple and see if that fixes the problem.

What bullet is that your trying to load

 

[flintcreek6412]

It looks annealed to me. I do know the few times I loaded up Hornady bullets in my 6.5x284 they were way tighter than my Bergers and a couple that I had to pull did in fact have a ring with scraped off jacket. It was really weird because they both measured same OD. Can't really explain it.

 

[David Christian]

Your case looks annealed just fine. Did you measure your bullet diameter with calipers? If it measures .264, then measure the inside of your necks to make sure they are somewhere close to .262 or larger. Did you inside chamfer the case neck?

 

[6MMsteve]

.260 is a tad tight you should be ripping jackets, anneal then expand, or nk turn anneal then expand, or expand and seat, what is the wall thivkness

 

[cognac jack]

Well still do not know the total answer. I expanded the inside so I could get .002 neck tension same thing. I annealed some cases and they were a lot better but not right. Bought some Nosler brass, they have the same dimensions as the Lapua. Neck thickness, inside diameter and outside diameter. Bullets seat like butter. I hope Lapua has some ideas.

 

[Dave Nirode]

Perhaps its not the brass. Have you measured the bullet diameter?

Also, your post did not mention whether the powder charge you are using is a compressed charge. Ive seen some loads with the smaller case capacity of Lapua brass that were heavily compressed and I did the same thing to the ogive of the bullets as shown in the pictures. Please keep us advised on what you find.

 

[cognac jack]

I measured the bullet diameter .26385, definitely not a compressed load. I even put a bullet in an empty case. It just seem like hard brass.

 

[1shot]

What is the I.D. of the case neck? If it’s.262 or smaller, that’s a big part of your problem.

Lloyd

 

[Scott Harris]

I don't think there is a problem. Lapua is pretty tight out of the box. Run it through an expander mandrel to loosen it up. My guess, you're probably just not used to using no-turn brass.

 

[FatBoy]

The stem design may not match up well with that bullet as well. If you run the cases through a mandrel to square them and you're still crushing in the jacket like that the stem is likely pushing on an a part of the jacket with no lead behind it. I'd be curious to see it cut in half and how much of that jacket is just airspace.

It almost looks like a 6mm seater is being used based on where the indention is. This is probably why one of the other posters asked if you were wearing a 7mm.

 

[cognac jack]

I used 2 deferent bullet seaters, a Wilson 6.5x284 inline and a Forester 6.5 x284 micro with the right seater stems. I tried smoothing the seater stems with a bullet and emery cloth, as member suggested. I also expanded the brass with a .26245 expander. Same thing. I am going to cut a bullet open to see the inside like FatBoy suggested.

 

[FatBoy]

John,

If you have any 142s or 140s, or any "normal" bullet maybe seat a couple and see how they fair. You have done everything right, I can't imagine it's the brass or your technique.

Chris

 

[cognac jack]

I cut a bullet open, no air space all lead where ring was made.

 

[FatBoy]

Man that's strange