Lapua brass use in a hunting rifle?

[Bill K]

New or old brass fired in a new rifle chamber will need done no matter. For as little as you seem to use a rifle for hunting, your new or old one. Just reload and use your Remington brass ( Make sure it feeds in your new rifle, as you should with any load prior to hunting with it) and go enjoy your time in the field.
Why spend extra money on new Lapua brass when what you have will work just fine, for some practice and hunting rounds.

 

[kujuak]

OK. thanks for your comments. I have been persuaded to buy some new brass for my "new" rifle. Now I have learned about Peterson LONG 300WinMag brass I have to decide whether to get Peterson Long brass or Lapua. the price is pretty close to the same. I am retired so I am shooting a lot more now and I have a lot of components to use up before the refs blow the whistle to end the game.
So? Lapua or Peterson. I checked comparisons and it seemed to be a coin toss. Going to order today, hunting season is only 2 months away and I plan to win the big horn sheep lottery in my Province.

 

[CJ6]

OK. thanks for your comments. I have been persuaded to buy some new brass for my "new" rifle. Now I have learned about Peterson LONG 300WinMag brass I have to decide whether to get Peterson Long brass or Lapua. the price is pretty close to the same. I am retired so I am shooting a lot more now and I have a lot of components to use up before the refs blow the whistle to end the game.
So? Lapua or Peterson. I checked comparisons and it seemed to be a coin toss. Going to order today, hunting season is only 2 months away and I plan to win the big horn sheep lottery in my Province.

LAPUA

 

[Sandstorm]

I plan to win the big horn sheep lottery in my Province.

Now thers something to shoot for.
I hope you do Sir

 

[searcher]

I shoot Lapua in many rifles - but only in a few hunting rifles. Your supply of Remington brass will surpass the life of your barrel - so it only makes sense (to me) to buy Lapua if you can't get something out of your Remington brass that Lapua can give you. You don't need extra brass life. You already have enough brass to wear the barrel out. so then it is accuracy. If I am able to get 1/2" MOA out of my big game rifles - I stop load development right there. I don't shoot at big game animals much past 500 yards so I have all the accuracy I need. Lapua would give me nothing I need - even if there was a tad bit of improvement - which you may not actually get. You will get a bigger hole in your wallet. That is the only certainty.

But you DID win the lotto in sorts - by buying those Magnum primers before they all disappeared.

 

[Mauser06]

This group was shot from Lapua 308 brass





This group was shot from win or rp brass....





Same exact load. Everything was identical except for the brass. Rifle was a Kimber Montana. Range was 100yds.

The load was NOT developed for the rifle. It was my "goto" hunting load for 308s and I had a couple over the years. I was shooting up what was left while shooting the Lapua brass and did that comparison.


Take that for what it's worth. I'm sure you could change the load and get the opposite results. Maybe. Lol.

 

[Konocti's Wigwam]

Same exact load. Everything was identical except for the brass.

But what does that mean? I would be surprised if the brass had the exact same volume, so of course the results are going to be different.

 

[Southern shooter 59]

Peterson Long

 

[miningshawn]

I think I am opposite in thinking than most. I often hear people saying "hunting rifles only need to shoot X accuracy". I personally do not agree.

I spend a ton of time working a solid and consistent load for my hunting rifles. When I take a shot, I want to be extremely confident that all of the variables that I can remove or mitigate have been dealt with.

When I am hunting I have so many other things to deal with - wind, angles, weather, footing, rest. I choose to make the rifle the least questionable portion of the shot.

My $0.02 is to use the finest brass, bullets, powder, and primers I can afford. I buy the brass at the same time I buy the rifle and scope, and I usually have a very good idea on the components I will use for reloading as well. Then I make sure that those components are "tied" to that rifle for life.

Confidence is a key mindset when you're looking at the shot of a lifetime.

Good luck!

 

[L.Sherm]

I think I am opposite in thinking than most. I often hear people saying "hunting rifles only need to shoot X accuracy". I personally do not agree.

I spend a ton of time working a solid and consistent load for my hunting rifles. When I take a shot, I want to be extremely confident that all of the variables that I can remove or mitigate have been dealt with.

When I am hunting I have so many other things to deal with - wind, angles, weather, footing, rest. I choose to make the rifle the least questionable portion of the shot.

My $0.02 is to use the finest brass, bullets, powder, and primers I can afford. I buy the brass at the same time I buy the rifle and scope, and I usually have a very good idea on the components I will use for reloading as well. Then I make sure that those components are "tied" to that rifle for life.

Confidence is a key mindset when you're looking at the shot of a lifetime.

Good luck!

100% truth right there^^^^

 

[searcher]

But what does that mean? I would be surprised if the brass had the exact same volume, so of course the results are going to be different.

Absolutely right. I have targets with virtually hundreds of groups which show better grouping with the same load using Lake City, Remington, Winchester and Nosler brass over that of Lapua. Those who make a comparison on a single load like that might not grasp the dynamics at play. I believe Lapua brass to be better than any of those I list - but not always better with a specific load.

 

[Mauser06]

But what does that mean? I would be surprised if the brass had the exact same volume, so of course the results are going to be different.

I explained what it means....I know it's very likely meaningless. I explained in my post...I was shooting a new rifle and shooting up old ammo and getting a firing on new brass which is how I ended up shooting those 2 groups.

 

[jxb]

You're going to have to work up loads for it either way so other than annealing and sizing your brass so it will chamber in the Sako so you can fire form it, I don't see the point of high end brass.

That said IMO you should use a different brand brass (see below). Might as well buy new for it.

I have an old 7mag and a new one, the old one is backup. When I got the new one I started with brass of a different brand/headstamp. The reason being that while I might grab the wrong ammo for the rifle I'm shooting (unlikely but possible), when I'm picking up or tumbling brass them being two different head stamps makes it trivial to get them back into the correct pile for each rifle. If you are doing proper inspection of your brass before you resize, it will also assure you don't resize them to the other rifle's chamber (assuming you remember to set your die correctly for that brass). It's just way easier to reload for them if one uses a headstamp that the other never uses.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Definitely get Lapua or ADG brass if you want to run hot and get the speed out of a 300 Win Mag. Primer pockets won’t hold up very well in cheaper brass and case heads will swell more making the brass sticky in the chamber. If planning on loading at factory ammo speeds, cheaper brass is fine, but you’ll need to fully prep and sort it.

When I owned a 300 WM, I was pushing 180gr Accubonds at 3230 fps in a 24” barrel. I hit 3250 fps, but the primer pockets on Remington, Winchester, and Norma brass would all get loose so I backed it off to 3230 fps and they would last about 5 firings. Lapua didnt make 300 win mag brass back then and ADG didn’t even exist yet so I had no other choices at the time. Now my big 30 cal is a 300 Norma Improved.
My father’s current load for his 300 win mag pushes the 185gr Bergers at 3260 fps in a 26” barrel. I think he’s using ADG brass.

The 2 primers I use in large magnums is Fed GM215M and CCI 250. One of those will produce good results.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

OK. thanks for your comments. I have been persuaded to buy some new brass for my "new" rifle. Now I have learned about Peterson LONG 300WinMag brass I have to decide whether to get Peterson Long brass or Lapua. the price is pretty close to the same. I am retired so I am shooting a lot more now and I have a lot of components to use up before the refs blow the whistle to end the game.
So? Lapua or Peterson. I checked comparisons and it seemed to be a coin toss. Going to order today, hunting season is only 2 months away and I plan to win the big horn sheep lottery in my Province.

Definitely get the Lapua brass. Much better than Peterson.

 

[Horsemen61]

I use the best I can afford when it comes to any shooting for me!

 

[Murray Brook]

Certainly agree with @Ledd Slinger on the primer pockets. In my 300 Win (24" barrel) I use the 175 Barnes LRX with RL-26 and Rem brass. I push it to 3225 ft/sec and the primer pockets last maybe 3 firings, at most 4. I may try and rework my load using Laupa brass when I can find some.

 

[kujuak]

I’d load the Remington brass and let it eat. Especially if it’s a hunting rifle. That said, if you have the funds and can find it, it’s hard to beat Lapua brass. Either way I think you’ll be fine. Let us know how the new rifle shoots.

Sam.

Shoots ike a house a fire with my first reloads using Hornady 180BTSP bullets, sub 1" 3 shot groups at a hundred yds, with my "hurry prep", (you guys would laugh/cry at what that consists of- full length resize once fired (in another rifle)brass, trim with Lee hand trimmer , champfer mouth, machine thrown powder charge , seat to standard OAL and shoot.