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Lapua 6.5 Creedmoor times fired

6.5 forever

Silver $$ Contributor
I've tried the search and couldn't find a answer. Most posts get off track. How many firings do you get before retiring your 6.5 Lapua brass?

My loads are conservative, annealed with a Amp each firing, and shoulders are bumped less than two thousand. Fired in a Lone Peak Fuzion. Never had a problem but I have stopped using at 20 firings.
 
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I run my loads at book max velocities, but not beyond. I've got 50 cases that are on the 12th reload with no indication that they are getting tired. The SRP pockets seem to be as tight as they were when new. It looks like the barrel will be toast before the brass.
 
If it's half way decent brass and your annealing you should get at least ten with a medium load , that a conservative estimate.... It's hot rodding them that kills them.... I run mine with a 140gr bullet around 2550 for my hunting and target shooting load.... When I first got my 6.5 ( not that long ago ) I bought some factory ammo to test it across a crono for data.... First was FGMM and I got a hard bolt lift , I didn't pay that much attention because it was factory and it was only one or two... But when I got an ejector mark on a Hornady box I started paying attention.... Right then I decided to slow it down when I started reloading for it and it paid off... I don't need it that hot to hunt small white tail in south Texas... Anyway since slowing it down my brass lives forever.... I need to buy an annealer but thinking about it real hard lately....
 
6.5 forever said:
I've tried the search and couldn't find a answer. Most posts get off track. How many firings do you get before retiring your 6.5 Lapua brass?

My loads are conservative, annealed with a Amp each firing, and shoulders are bumped less than two thousand. Fired in a Lone Peak Fuzion. Never had a problem but I have stopped using at 20 firings.
Click to expand...
20 is just a number. Brass can last quite a while when annealing and sizing dies are set up properly. You just need to keep an eye out for issues like stiff chambering, stiff bolt lift, head separation indications, primers to loose in the pocket, an indication the case body might split. If you don't see any such issues, keep firing them until you do.
 
Nobody has said whether their Lapua brass life refers to the small or large primer versions since Lapua makes both and IIRC, the SP version appeared first. There is a great difference in their case-head strengths. 20 cycles wouldn't surprise me at all for the SP version and eight with a fairly stiff load isn't an unusually short life for the large primer model.

Nothing new here. Many people got a mere three to six loadings out of 308 Win LRP brass in the early days of F/TR then junked them for case-head expansion and the resulting slack primer pockets. After Lapua SRP 'Palma' brass appeared ca. 2010, the same people shot barrels out before changing brass, and suddenly the word 'annealing' appeared everywhere to keep shoulders and necks in good condition. Same case-heads for the two cartridges, but the Creedmoor is often run at higher pressures especially in factory loads.

Even more instructive is the small-primer only 6.5X47L case, again with a common case-head and web which is often serially abused in handloaded pressures. I have a range pick-up from one such with three visible sets of ejector marks such was the pressures being run, but little expansion and retaining a tight pocket.
 
Laurie said:
Nobody has said whether their Lapua brass life refers to the small or large primer versions since Lapua makes both and IIRC, the SP version appeared first. There is a great difference in their case-head strengths. 20 cycles wouldn't surprise me at all for the SP version and eight with a fairly stiff load isn't an unusually short life for the large primer model.

Nothing new here. Many people got a mere three to six loadings out of 308 Win LRP brass in the early days of F/TR then junked them for case-head expansion and the resulting slack primer pockets. After Lapua SRP 'Palma' brass appeared ca. 2010, the same people shot barrels out before changing brass, and suddenly the word 'annealing' appeared everywhere to keep shoulders and necks in good condition. Same case-heads for the two cartridges, but the Creedmoor is often run at higher pressures especially in factory loads.

Even more instructive is the small-primer only 6.5X47L case, again with a common case-head and web which is often serially abused in handloaded pressures. I have a range pick-up from one such with three visible sets of ejector marks such was the pressures being run, but little expansion and retaining a tight pocket.
Click to expand...
Good point Laurie. Mine are SRP.
 
Straightshooter1 said:
20 is just a number. Brass can last quite a while when annealing and sizing dies are set up properly. You just need to keep an eye out for issues like stiff chambering, stiff bolt lift, head separation indications, primers to loose in the pocket, an indication the case body might split. If you don't see any such issues, keep firing them until you do.
Click to expand...
Good points!
 
I have personally fired Lapua 6.5 Creed brass 36 times and it probably could have
been reloaded a few more times but I just decided not to push my luck.

Brass was annealed every firing and resized with a Forster FL die with
the neck honed and a mandrel pushed into the neck.

Edit: Load was pushing 140 hybrid at 2780 fps.
 
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whatsupdoc said:
I have personally fired Lapua 6.5 Creed brass 36 times and it probably could have
been reloaded a few more times but I just decided not to push my luck.

Brass was annealed every firing and resized with a Forster FL die with
the neck honed and a mandrel pushed into the neck.
Click to expand...
Good info
 
Just like the "Energizer Bunny" Lapua brass just keeps going and going. While not the same caliber I have .22BR Lapua brass with over 50 firings on them. If you have a good chamber to brass to die match they will last a very long time. Annealing certainly helps once you get past 15 shots or so. Don't bump the shoulders more than .002 and keep on shooting. I certainly would not pitch them just because I got to a certain number though. When you get your first sign of incipient case head separation on the body, then you are truelly done. Carry on and good shooting too you.
Paul
 
I’ve got five lots of SRP Lapua (3ea) and Peterson (2ea) in the high teens. Minimal sizing both case and neck. One lot of LRP that’s not doing as well. I use a Speedy die and I squeeze the case back about 0.0015-0.0020”. Anneal after every firing. I believe the annealing gives a more consistent head spacing. Around 2800 plus on the FPS.
 
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