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lapua .223 brass prep?

hi everyone.

just bought a couple of boxes of new lapua brass in .223. I am curious what you usually do for prep with this particular brass/caliber before firing. Do you uniform flash holes, primer pockets, size, neck turn, etc etc?? I will be working up some loads for a match grade auto. Thanks
 
The ONLY thing I do to virgin Lapua brass is round out the mouth by tunning a mandrel through it and then I seat primers, load powder, seat bullet and go shoot.
 
I second Bayou Shooter's post, run an expander thru the necks, inspect the flash holes for any debris, prime them and go. Leave the primer pockets alone.

Frank
 
bayou shooter said:
The ONLY thing I do to virgin Lapua brass is round out the mouth by tunning a mandrel through it and then I seat primers, load powder, seat bullet and go shoot.

Same... Neck expander die to round the dents and then load it.
 
Ditto, but the mouths on all mine were so uniform I didn't bother to do anything. I loaded them as there were and while probably not the best idea, they were accurate from the start.
 
I expand the necks, turn the necks, trim to a uniform overall lenght, uniform the primer pockets, uniform the flash hole, lighty debur the inside of the flash hole. Champher the outsider of the neck and use a 11 degree vld champher on the inside of the neck then hit the mouth of the neck with steel wool.
 
FroggyOne2 said:
I expand the necks, turn the necks, trim to a uniform overall lenght, uniform the primer pockets, uniform the flash hole, lighty debur the inside of the flash hole. Champher the outsider of the neck and use a 11 degree vld champher on the inside of the neck then hit the mouth of the neck with steel wool.

Quit being so lazy. ;D
 
My last batch of 22-250 brass got the works but no neck turning as it was not a tight neck chamber. I did go through the 200 cases and inspected them. To be honest they were so spot on and good to go i do not know why i even bothered prepping them for my varmint rifle. Next time i think i am not going to bother with it.
 
nra-for-life said:
Working up some loads for a match grade auto. Thanks

Run cheaper WW brass through a Dillon 650 and save the good brass for a bolt action something. Aside from that, what they said will suffice.
 
Viperdoc said:
I fl resize, run a mandrel, neck turn, resize with a type s die, then chamfer the necks, and this is for an AR.

So, not only do you FL resize virgin brass before first use, but you do it twice? Wow. Just. Wow.
 
FroggyOne2 said:
I expand the necks, turn the necks, trim to a uniform overall lenght, uniform the primer pockets, uniform the flash hole, lighty debur the inside of the flash hole. Champher the outsider of the neck and use a 11 degree vld champher on the inside of the neck then hit the mouth of the neck with steel wool.

well that is basically what ive done with every other batch of lapua ive ever bought (except not exactly the same on the chamfer) but i know some people are advocates of certain things like this with certain calibers.
 
bayou shooter said:
Viperdoc said:
I fl resize, run a mandrel, neck turn, resize with a type s die, then chamfer the necks, and this is for an AR.

So, not only do you FL resize virgin brass before first use, but you do it twice? Wow. Just. Wow.

I think you have to size twice if you are turning necks. If you dont size the brass before you turn, then the necks will not turn evenly. Then because its been through an expander mandrel you pretty much have to resize the neck again. That is the way I have been doing it anyway :).
 
The better question is: does all of this work make a difference? To me, if the groups are bad, or I miss the PD, at least it wasn't the ammo.

When this happens, I usually blame it on the wind, the sun, clouds, or the high tide.
 
Viperdoc said:
The better question is: does all of this work make a difference?

Doubtful. I think some prefer the minutiae of preparation to life's actual events.
 
Unless you are trying to split hairs I wouldn't do anything but trim all to the same length and clean the burs. Lapua brass is very consistent so anything else would have minimal benefit. Spend more time figuring out what length and speed etc your gun likes. You will see more gains there.
 
Well I just opened a new box of 6BR Lapua Blue Box brass, ran them thru the sizing die to round the necks, noticed on the necks Longitudnal lines , could not figure it out but after 12 of these all had the same lines, I cleaned the die, and guess what, same thing, Well guess where my sizing die is today-Forster, being polished. I should have chamfered first, but according to Rod at Forster they have seen this recently with Lapua brass. Burrs. It must have been on the very first brass out of the box or maybe all had it, who knows, BUT in the future I will chamfer all Lapua Brass, Had not had this problem in the past, could have been the lot. Be forewarned chamfer your brass first, save the expense of having to polish your die. Still like Lapua, just could be the lot I have.
 
With all Lapua brass, we recommend running an expander mandrel in the neck and doing a light deburring on the case necks before loading and shooting.
 

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