Been lurking here for a while and decided to finally post. I have several rifles in calibers not supported by Lapua that shoot very well. I go through and neck turn (bevel and chamfer the necks too) and debur the primer flash holes as well as uniform the primer pockets and weight sort. After 3 firings I anneal. I am wondering if I am limiting my maximum performance by not being able to use Lapua brass. One of the rifles I own is chambered in 223, I have some Lapua brass for that rifle as well. I am going to test the theory of brass prep VS Lapua brass and see what happens. I am going to use the load I run now but try it in prepped and non prepped military surplus, new Winchester and Lapua brass. Anyone ever tried this before? What were the results. I would sure think if all the prep work is done there should be no room for inconsistencies. What are your guys' thoughts?
Brass prep vs Lapua
- Thread starter kemlin
- Start date
I don't know about laupa brass in a 223 but I went from winchester brass to some lake city(once fired) and it tightened the groups up more than I thought it would.I use lapua brass in a 6br and a 30br and I have abused it in load development and it has stood up well.I haven't annealed it at all and it is still working well.I don't know if this helps but lapua has for my money more than filled the bill.
Shooting one load developed in a specific manufacturers brass in various other brass will tell you nothing.
It may do better. It may do worse. It will not tell you which brass is better overall. They have different internal volumns and that alone will negate your test.
For instance. I have a Kreiger Palma tightbore 308 Win. that usually gets fed Lapua. If I switch to Winchester brass with more internal volumne the load must change also. In this case drastically.
If I were to develop a max load of Varget and 155's with Win brass in this gun and try the same charge weight with Lapua brass I'd probably be wearing the gun. Be careful!!!
It may do better. It may do worse. It will not tell you which brass is better overall. They have different internal volumns and that alone will negate your test.
For instance. I have a Kreiger Palma tightbore 308 Win. that usually gets fed Lapua. If I switch to Winchester brass with more internal volumne the load must change also. In this case drastically.
If I were to develop a max load of Varget and 155's with Win brass in this gun and try the same charge weight with Lapua brass I'd probably be wearing the gun. Be careful!!!
Shynloco
You can lead a horse to water, but ........
I'm also a newbie up here as well as have only been reloadin for 9 months. It has been my impression from reading and learning about load development, that anytime you are trying out a new load, ANY change in that load (whether it be the powder, the bullet or the casing) that you drop down to low range on your powder loads and work up to make sure you haven't overloaded the casings and cause a disaster. Am I incorrect in my beliefs?
I dont know of any theory about "brass prep vs Lapua brass". All I use is Lapua brass, but I do a lot of brass prop to it before I load and shoot it, especially when its new.
Just because its Lapua brass, doesent mean its ready to load and shoot right out of the box, what it does mean to me is, its the best brass you can buy. And in most cases, it will outlast other brands, and thats a good enough reason alone, for me to use it.
I must not be up on this theory stuff.
Just because its Lapua brass, doesent mean its ready to load and shoot right out of the box, what it does mean to me is, its the best brass you can buy. And in most cases, it will outlast other brands, and thats a good enough reason alone, for me to use it.
I must not be up on this theory stuff.
Well that kind of wrecks that idea for me. If the load is not close to the max then is it still a viable worthwhile test? So really if I am reading what is being said here can I ASSume that if the brass prep is all done brass is brass? I don't mean to say that the internal case capacities are the same or the brass is the same quality but as long as the prep has been done there will be no advantage to Lapua brass versus prepped Winchester or even military surplus stuff?
Was going to stay out of this one but...
It all depends what sort of chamber you're using.
In my particular case, I run tighter than SAAMI spec chambers, with a tight no turn neck, and a fairly tight throat. Given the minimal neck thickness variations with the lot #s of Lapua brass I use, this works very well. Brass prep consisted of inspecting the cases, a minimal neck size using a bushing die and carbide expander ball, loading and shooting.
Anyhow, the tight fit of the brass to chamber saves wear and tear on brass, resizing is more precise because of the minimized expansion from firing, and runout of loaded rounds is minimal. All of which are good things.
The other thing about the brass is that the final little tweak to get low single digit ES/SD numbers is precise control of neck tension. Major neck thickness variations in most commercially available brass mean larger ES/SD numbers. Minimizing that means neck turning. Which means either working the brass quite a bit in any sort of standard chamber or going to a tight neck chamber. All of that is not required with better lot #s of Lapua.
So I get single digit ES/SD using out of the box Lapau brass at 2950 fps and excellent accuracy at 1,000 yards. At least in 6.5 X 284. The .223 and .308 are still works in progress and seemingly less cooperative to the tuning process.
It all depends what sort of chamber you're using.
In my particular case, I run tighter than SAAMI spec chambers, with a tight no turn neck, and a fairly tight throat. Given the minimal neck thickness variations with the lot #s of Lapua brass I use, this works very well. Brass prep consisted of inspecting the cases, a minimal neck size using a bushing die and carbide expander ball, loading and shooting.
Anyhow, the tight fit of the brass to chamber saves wear and tear on brass, resizing is more precise because of the minimized expansion from firing, and runout of loaded rounds is minimal. All of which are good things.
The other thing about the brass is that the final little tweak to get low single digit ES/SD numbers is precise control of neck tension. Major neck thickness variations in most commercially available brass mean larger ES/SD numbers. Minimizing that means neck turning. Which means either working the brass quite a bit in any sort of standard chamber or going to a tight neck chamber. All of that is not required with better lot #s of Lapua.
So I get single digit ES/SD using out of the box Lapau brass at 2950 fps and excellent accuracy at 1,000 yards. At least in 6.5 X 284. The .223 and .308 are still works in progress and seemingly less cooperative to the tuning process.
The test mule that I was going to do the test with is a factory offering from savage with a very deep throat which is nice since it is a 1:7 twist and the bullets stay out of the case for the most part. That being said it is a factory chamber and no doubt cut large. I neck size for the rifle now using a lee collet die which I have read is a good budget choice (this rifle was meant to be a budget rifle). Currently I am really consistently getting .5" groups at 200 yards. What I have learned is I should have never built a 6br, it shoots so nice that all the others I have built kind of seem like dogs when compared. 
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