How Many 6PPC Shooters Are Switching To Alpha Brass.

[Infrequent Shooter]

The Alpha Brass length out of the box fits my chamber perfectly. Maybe better than Lapua, which always comes out about 1.490 to 1.495 in length after fire forming. My reamer has a .050 throat.

Here is what the Alpha looks like in my chamber after about four firings. This case measures .1.510.View attachment 1663896

Jackie, thanks a bunch for your report and your efforts! It is nice when some things actually improve.

 

[stavey]

Sorry to hijack. Was going to try alpha. My current reamer is a Lapua no turn with a .274 neck. Which wouldn’t work . So I decided to try Starline 6.5 Grendel . Since I have a box of 1000. And no Grendel. Hoping it works well.

 

[stavey]

Sorry to hijack. Was going to try alpha. My current reamer is a Lapua no turn with a .274 neck. Which wouldn’t work . So I decided to try Starline 6.5 Grendel . Since I have a box of 1000. And no Grendel. Hoping it works well.

Starline is a no go, loaded round measures .268
Looks like I’ll have some Grendel brass for sale. LOL

 

[jackieschmidt]

I just went out in my shop and seated one of my 68 grn BT bullets in an Alpha case and this is what it measures. .270.

 

[Shooter13]

I just went out in my shop and seated one of my 68 grn BT bullets in an Alpha case and this is what it measures. .270.

That's consistent with what I got.

 

[jackieschmidt]

An update.
I shot one of my 6PPC rifles at our 200 yard VFS Match yesterday at Tomball.

I shot the Alpha brass, and it worked great.

I shot the Match with15 cases that I had neck turned and fired once. My load is 30.0 grns of 133 over my own 68 grain BT. Velocity checked over a Garmin at 3440 fps.

Not one complaint. This stuff is for real.

 

[Janeau]

When there will be winning at States and National level with it..then I will look into it. But for now ..I stick with the proven Lapua.

It’s way to early to praise that brass has equal or better than Lapua..it’s new - time will tell..but I won’t be the guinee pig and spend time - money - barrel life and components on it now.

But Thanks to those who do.

 

[Tim Singleton]

I was skeptical initially. I had some issues that were caused by my stuff and had set the brass aside
After shooting it at a match this past weekend, Im liking it pretty good

 

[Clancy]

Anyone NOT neck turning love it? Did they get that fixed?

I shot alpha in a few rifles and got tired of having to turn necks for no turn chambers. It was pretty bad. The bottom 2/3 of the brass was the best I’d seen though. I’ve been back on Lapua and Peterson since that.

 

[Leeinmichigan]

I’m sticking with Lapua. I’ve won with it, so at this point, no reason to change IMHO. And, I get nothing from Capstone or Lapua to use it.

 

[wvlongshot]

The alpha 6ppc brass is tough. Almost too sturdy. I've shot 7 ubr matches with a set of brass and have figured out might need to change my setup for more consistent neck tension. For the 133 shooters running bunch of tension it should work well.

 

[jackieschmidt]

I am kind of hoping that Lapua will get the message and bring out their own 6PPC case.
Years ago, when this question was asked, shooters said there was a liability problem. Lapua as well aware of the extreme pressures that many Benchrest Shooters use with their 220 Russian made into a 6PPC.
Once shooters altered the case, there was no liability.
That, and they sold every 220 Russian case they made, so why bother.
As more and more shooters try the Alpha, I would think they would see what shooters such as Speedy and Lester have discovered.
I’m a part time 6PPC shooter nowadays, as I primarily shoot VFS with my 30 BR. The Alpha Brass might make me revisit the 30PPC that I shot when I first started shooting Score. A good friend of mine is shooting a 30PPC based on my old reamer, using N-120.
Recoil is less than with a 30BR and accuracy is outstanding with 112’s.

 

[COLT45SA]

With the difficulties I was running into finding brass for my .262 necked 6PPC, I had about given up on that cartridge. I never began at the beginning with the 220 which was beyond my capabilities and had long ago run out of my SAKO 6PPV cartridges. I resorted to buying "once fired (?)" cartridges and preparing them was just too much work. They came in all kinds of lengths, neck thicknesses, and shoulder differences. Just too much for a non-competition shooter.
Just bought 100 Alpha cartridges and am hoping based on what I've just read here that they have saved my bacon. If I'm not missing something it sounds like all I'll have to do is turn the necks, load, and shoot.

 

[jackieschmidt]

With the difficulties I was running into finding brass for my .262 necked 6PPC, I had about given up on that cartridge. I never began at the beginning with the 220 which was beyond my capabilities and had long ago run out of my SAKO 6PPV cartridges. I resorted to buying "once fired (?)" cartridges and preparing them was just too much work. They came in all kinds of lengths, neck thicknesses, and shoulder differences. Just too much for a non-competition shooter.
Just bought 100 Alpha cartridges and am hoping based on what I've just read here that they have saved my bacon. If I'm not missing something it sounds like all I'll have to do is turn the necks, load, and shoot.

Competitive Shooters will “fireform” them once after neck turning, just to match up with their chamber and get the sizing down perfect. Plus a fireformed case will be a tad different on the load window.

But you are correct, all you have to do with them is turn the necks and go to the Bench.

Just a thought. Why not remove your barrel and have the neck portion of your chamber reamed to .273 for no neck turned brass.?

 

[TravisC]

I'm no benchrest shooter, but I bought a used PPC and starting from scratch bought Alpha brass. Loaded was .270 so bought a cutter for .272 and now have 4 barrels done that same way. I may not be shooting .0s but my velocity is 7fps spread across 10 rounds using VV 133, 58 vmaxes at 3460fps. Prairie dogs at 700yds were in trouble a few weeks back.

 

[Larry Koch]

I'm no benchrest shooter, but I bought a used PPC and starting from scratch bought Alpha brass. Loaded was .270 so bought a cutter for .272 and now have 4 barrels done that same way. I may not be shooting .0s but my velocity is 7fps spread across 10 rounds using VV 133, 58 vmaxes at 3460fps. Prairie dogs at 700yds were in trouble a few weeks back.

Poor little prairie dogs.

 

[COLT45SA]

Competitive Shooters will “fireform” them once after neck turning, just to match up with their chamber and get the sizing down perfect. Plus a fireformed case will be a tad different on the load window.

But you are correct, all you have to do with them is turn the necks and go to the Bench.

Just a thought. Why not remove your barrel and have the neck portion of your chamber reamed to .273 for no neck turned brass.?

That's a good thought but I wouldn't simply because the rifle shoots so incredibly well that I wouldn't want to alter anything the builder did in creating this amazing rifle. When and how many 6PPC rifles have you seen built as a "Lite sporter" ( weighs 7.2 pounds with a fixed 12x Leupold mounted) that were capable of shooting 'one hole'~? Also, because I don't shoot competitively or often.

 

[Fire Dog]

If you get a knock on the door at midnight, don’t open it.

You beat me to it with that comment…

 

[Kiwishooter]

Lapua brass has been excellent and available for a numerous number of years, Norma brass came along already formed into PPC brass but you don't hear much about it now, is it still available?
Given the area Lapua is in and what is happening in that area I can certainly understand the production of cases switching to other calibers due to demand, which did leave a shortage of Lapua 220 brass and some others.

To have Lapua 220R brass available again is good news, isn't it?

Even if the top shooter switch to Peterson brass and win does it mean that Peterson is better than Lapua, or if they don't win with Peterson brass it also doesn't mean it is the cause of them not winning, time will tell how the new brass performs, but at present I have plenty of good Lapua brass so don't see a need to change.

 

[SeabeeKen]

Sounds like I should order a box or 2 of Alpha to spend some time with it.

A match made in Heaven. Pun intended