Lapua Neck Tension With New Brass

[brianc74]

Does anybody know what the neck tension is with unfired, new out of the blue box 6.5-284 Norma brass is on berger bullets or JLK bullets?

Bran

 

[Martin52]

Does anybody know what the neck tension is with unfired, new out of the blue box 6.5-284 Norma brass is on berger bullets or JLK bullets?

Bran

No, but its likely to be generally tight and inconsistent and I would run an expander through it first if I did nothing else.

 

[GSPV]

I know that you can’t rely on it. Expand it with a 6.5 mandrel and then run it through your FL die with the right bushing.

I’d lube the inside of the neck with dry neck lube, too. But, that’s just me.

 

[brianc74]

So like a .261 or .262 expander ball?

 

[Martin52]

So like a .261 or .262 expander ball?

Rather than a standard ball, I'm suggesting a mandrel, more like this :

http://www.pmatool.com/30cal-expander-mandrel

You will need the die body as well to hold it, should you go this way.

There are also a couple of forum members who make these and might chime in.

 

[MagnumManiac]

I run EVERY new case through a mandrel for comp shooting, and modified Neck dies for hunting. If the case is NOT at my desired SIZE, I don’t load them up.
I have seen new brass vary by .004” on neck size, even from Lapua.

I also turn necks on comp brass, not for clearance, but for consistency, haven’t used a ‘turned neck’ chamber for a long, long time.

Cheers.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

always FL size every piece of new brass

 

[Mozella]

always FL size every piece of new brass

I agree. You gotta' assume you're going to do something serious with your new brass like load testing, killing one of God's little furry creatures, or perhaps even shooting a competitive match of some sort. Therefore, you want your brass to be as good as you can make it.

To me, that means buying Lapua brass, inspecting the flash holes, uniforming the primer pockets, annealing, lubricating, body sizing, neck sizing to an ID slightly smaller than my turning mandrel, inserting the turning mandrel, skim-turning the brass, trimming to a uniform length, chamfering, cleaning, and inserting a final sizing mandrel just prior to priming.

 

[fatelvis]

I have found neck tension on factory new Lapua brass overly tight on my 222, 223, 6 Creedmore and 308 brass, (around .005”-.006” tension). I use a 21st Century expander before loading to lighten the bullet pull and to make them more consistent.

 

[JRS]

always FL size every piece of new brass

That's it

 

[GSPV]

I suggest always running them over an expanding mandrel then FL resizing them.