Alpha 6PPC Brass

[DaWhit]

Just did the third firing. 30.4 grains of N133 on top. 30.7 grains on the bottom at 3580 FPS. Gun function was normal. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Y’all work your load up. Do not assume you can duplicate what I am doing. Most of you know that, but for those that don’t…this is your PSA.

Bullet?

 

[jimmymac]

65.4 grain BT

 

[Bronsin]

I just tested mine today with LT-32 up to 29.6grs and got 3486fps from a 20.5" barrel. No problems at all with extraction or anything else.

 

[bichettereds]

There are a lot of guys testing this brass. I am a bit bummed that everyone is tight lipped.

Just some notes on the batch I received…

-The shoulder was about .006” short from where one of my fully formed fired cases (bolt wont close on) measures.

-The diameter at the top of the body and the .200 line was about .002” small compared to my reamer (standard 1045).

-I didn’t measure case capacity with water or alcohol, but the powder column height wasn’t noticeably different compared to Lapua. Velocity was about 10fps faster with the same load and seating depth though.

-The case head thickness is about .020” greater than Lapua, but the wall thickness is just a hair thinner.

-The neck wall thickness was about .0135-.0140.

-The flash holes were a little tight on my .058 decapping pin, so I decided to uniform them all to .062. Not something I normally do with Lapua.

-The inside of the flash holes are clean (no burrs or obstructions) and have already been chamfered, so if that’s something you do, you can skip that step.

-The length was pretty consistent, 1.504-1.505.

-The weight variation after all my prep was exceptional. Approximately 0.75 grains across all 100 cases. For what that’s worth…

-The primer pockets were nice and square, and the depth was consistent, ranging from about .121-.122. Shallower than the newer Lapua. I adjusted my uniforming tool to cut to .122.

-The primer pocket diameter at the bottom is about .0015 smaller than Lapua and Norma. As a result, it takes a noticeable amount more force to seat a primer.

-It looks like there’s a groove about half way down the primer pocket wall, and below that groove it tapers in towards the bottom to a smaller diameter. I’m told this is by design.

-The necks cut well. I didn’t notice a difference between how they cut vs Lapua. I did have to adjust my turning mandrel in because the cutter didn’t touch the shoulder as it was currently setup for Lapua 220R.

-The neck ID was still small enough that they needed to be expanded to fit my turning tool (Pumpkin) but it was noticeably looser fitting on the turning mandrel after expansion (compared to Lapua). Variation in neck thickness did not exceed .0001” though, so fitment was not a concern.

I went to the range a couple weekends ago to test some bullets and brought one turned Alpha case to shoot as a fouler, just to see how well it would hold up.

Using a newer lot of N133, I shot 29.0, 30.0 then 30.5 8 more times in the same case and the pocket is still nice and tight and I felt no heavy bolt lift whatsoever. From all the other reports I’ve heard, they’re holding up to the abuse quite well.

I just finished prepping the rest of the cases and look forward to shooting them in a match.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Just some notes on the batch I received…

-The shoulder was about .006” short from where one of my fully formed fired cases (bolt wont close on) measures.

-The diameter at the top of the body and the .200 line was about .002” small compared to my reamer (standard 1045).

-I didn’t measure case capacity with water or alcohol, but the powder column height wasn’t noticeably different compared to Lapua. Velocity was about 10fps faster with the same load and seating depth though.

-The case head thickness is about .020” greater than Lapua, but the wall thickness is just a hair thinner.

-The neck wall thickness was about .0135-.0140.

-The flash holes were a little tight on my .058 decapping pin, so I decided to uniform them all to .062. Not something I normally do with Lapua.

-The inside of the flash holes are clean (no burrs or obstructions) and have already been chamfered, so if that’s something you do, you can skip that step.

-The length was pretty consistent, 1.504-1.505.

-The weight variation after all my prep was exceptional. Approximately 0.75 grains across all 100 cases. For what that’s worth…

-The primer pockets were nice and square, and the depth was consistent, ranging from about .121-.122. Shallower than the newer Lapua. I adjusted my uniforming tool to cut to .122.

-The primer pocket diameter at the bottom is about .0015 smaller than Lapua and Norma. As a result, it takes a noticeable amount more force to seat a primer.

-It looks like there’s a groove about half way down the primer pocket wall, and below that groove it tapers in towards the bottom to a smaller diameter. I’m told this is by design.

-The necks cut well. I didn’t notice a difference between how they cut vs Lapua. I did have to adjust my turning mandrel in because the cutter didn’t touch the shoulder as it was currently setup for Lapua 220R.

-The neck ID was still small enough that they needed to be expanded to fit my turning tool (Pumpkin) but it was noticeably looser fitting on the turning mandrel after expansion (compared to Lapua). Variation in neck thickness did not exceed .0001” though, so fitment was not a concern.

I went to the range a couple weekends ago to test some bullets and brought one turned Alpha case to shoot as a fouler, just to see how well it would hold up.

Using a newer lot of N133, I shot 29.0, 30.0 then 30.5 8 more times in the same case and the pocket is still nice and tight and I felt no heavy bolt lift whatsoever. From all the other reports I’ve heard, they’re holding up to the abuse quite well.

I just finished prepping the rest of the cases and look forward to shooting them in a match.

Excellent! Thank you for your effort and sharing with us. That's everything I wanted to hear and more(almost). Sounds like we might finally have a domestic alternative to the Lapua, and without the full fire forming gig. Sounds like this brass will/should work with some of the smaller chambers out there too. I don't see a down side to that as long as the die works well with the reamers, etc.
One thing I didn't see and you might not have checked before turning is diameter over a loaded round before turning. If you don't have it, still great info. If you do, I'm doing more no turn chambers all the time and Lapua had been getting thicker in the latter runs, it seems. Which of course makes it tough to spec a reamer. Thanks again! If you have that, I'd like it but if not, fine anyway and we'll get there.

I shoot a lot of stuff on the Grendel case. I'm well stocked for now but 220 brass got too short when fire forming that much...about .016 from target length was best I could do with it. Hopefully this stuff will be another option for that as well.

 

[bichettereds]

One thing I didn't see and you might not have checked before turning is diameter over a loaded round before turning. If you don't have it, still great info. If you do, I'm doing more no turn chambers all the time and Lapua had been getting thicker in the latter runs, it seems. Which of course makes it tough to spec a reamer. Thanks again! If you have that, I'd like it but if not, fine anyway and we'll get there.

I did not. My guess would be around .2710 depending on your bullet, just based on the wall thickness that I measured.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

I did not. My guess would be around .2710 depending on your bullet, just based on the wall thickness that I measured.

Sure...thank you again. I have a .274 chucking reamer that I've been using at times, to open a neck a tad over chamber reamer dimensions. It works fine, especially done in the same setup but I always worry about it if the bbl comes out of the lathe before doing that in another step is all. Can't say I've had a problem yet but nothing is perfect and one setup for all ops possible just makes more sense and makes me feel better.

 

[LVLAaron]