Lapua and other higher price brass ?
- Thread starter rebs
- Start date
Depends.
What cartridges?
What purpose? (Competition or hunting)
What's your wallet say?
I shoot and reload just for the fun. No competition or hunting for me.
I use lapua brass for all of my guns. The only exception is for my scar 17. I use federal gold medal match ammo cases.
My 6.5x47L cases have more than 20 firings and the primer pockets are still good.
To me lapua is worth the expense. Ymmv.
What cartridges?
What purpose? (Competition or hunting)
What's your wallet say?
I shoot and reload just for the fun. No competition or hunting for me.
I use lapua brass for all of my guns. The only exception is for my scar 17. I use federal gold medal match ammo cases.
My 6.5x47L cases have more than 20 firings and the primer pockets are still good.
To me lapua is worth the expense. Ymmv.
Lapua is the benchmark or standard. That doesn't make it perfect or the best. Your game and skill level will dictate what is good enough.
You will typically see less variation in the high dollar brass, but it is caliber specific.
Lots of good smaller brass manufactures looking for a piece of the lapua market.
You can achieve the same results with almost all brass you might have to sort and it will take more effort. Where do you want to spend your time?
Not easy or likely to put an exact number on it.
You will typically see less variation in the high dollar brass, but it is caliber specific.
Lots of good smaller brass manufactures looking for a piece of the lapua market.
You can achieve the same results with almost all brass you might have to sort and it will take more effort. Where do you want to spend your time?
Not easy or likely to put an exact number on it.
223 cal for a Tikka T3x varmint mainly for local club fun matches.
Lake City is what I have the most of. I bought 1000 brand new never loaded from Graf's when it was on sale. It is all brand new 2018 head stamp. Should this be good or very good brass ? I weigh the cases into lots by weight. 69 and 77 SMK bullets that I also weigh into lots.
Lake City is what I have the most of. I bought 1000 brand new never loaded from Graf's when it was on sale. It is all brand new 2018 head stamp. Should this be good or very good brass ? I weigh the cases into lots by weight. 69 and 77 SMK bullets that I also weigh into lots.
Last edited:
MGYSGT
Silver $$ Contributor
I bought some LC once fired. Turned the necks, sorted by year (most were the same anyhow), full length resized, trimmed to length, used that trimmer to clear/clean out the inside of the cartridge primer hole, annealed shoulder area and prepped the primer crimp (cut it out). Shot the best midrange I ever have. Not to say I don't use Lapua in my rifles. I do, because now I can. Still have to turn the necks, trim to length and prep the primer pocket. If I couldn't get Lapua, I would go back to LC once fired. I bought new LC once. Didn't work out. Someone told me they were seconds that the Government did not accept. I tend to believe that. Had head separation on about 1 of 10 during the first firing. Not saying they all do that, but mine did.
All I can add this that my Lapua .308 Palma SRP brass went 25 firings before being retired. Even then more than half of 200 pieces still had tight primer pockets. I annealed neck/shoulders every 4-5 firings to prevent cracks.
I have 400 .223 cases on their 5th firing with zero signs of giving up. Annealed those every 4th firing.
Have yet to try some of the other new brands that have popped up lately. Letting others wear them out before I buy but price wise they are all pretty competitive with each other.
I have 400 .223 cases on their 5th firing with zero signs of giving up. Annealed those every 4th firing.
Have yet to try some of the other new brands that have popped up lately. Letting others wear them out before I buy but price wise they are all pretty competitive with each other.
I'm loading .338LM and bought some new Lapua brass because of the reputation since I'd never used it before. I also had twenty cases of FGMM once fired.
I'm on the fifth firing of the Lapua and the primer pockets are still snug. No issues with necks yet despite not annealing, but I see that in my future. The FGMM once fired primer pockets were downright loose.
.223/5.56, .308/7.62, .30-06, .22-250 I sort by headstamp, whatever I have enough of for how many I want to load. Better/worse matters less than uniform. Six firings/ten firings, at the end of the day it is a consumable. For the rifle that costs to reload and shoot I want good, and better is always better. Especially since I'm trying to reach out for distance.
I'm not married to Lapua, just dating. I just picked up some Peterson because I got a decent deal but wouldn't have if it didn't have a good reputation. Primer pockets on the new brass was even tighter than Lapua and case weights were even more uniform with SD roughly 2/3 of Lapua.
I'm on the fifth firing of the Lapua and the primer pockets are still snug. No issues with necks yet despite not annealing, but I see that in my future. The FGMM once fired primer pockets were downright loose.
.223/5.56, .308/7.62, .30-06, .22-250 I sort by headstamp, whatever I have enough of for how many I want to load. Better/worse matters less than uniform. Six firings/ten firings, at the end of the day it is a consumable. For the rifle that costs to reload and shoot I want good, and better is always better. Especially since I'm trying to reach out for distance.
I'm not married to Lapua, just dating. I just picked up some Peterson because I got a decent deal but wouldn't have if it didn't have a good reputation. Primer pockets on the new brass was even tighter than Lapua and case weights were even more uniform with SD roughly 2/3 of Lapua.
I have some I’ve been using since this stuff first appeared what, 9 years ago? Been fired at least 25-30 times, only this year I’ve shot strictly new cases so far.
Price isn’t a reliable indicator for how well brass’ll shoot for you (too many other variables affect that outcome) but it’s a good one for how long they’ll keep shooting when you care for them properly.
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