Life of Lapua .308 Palma Brass (finally)

[Nature Boy]

I have a pile of 210M primers or I would have already switched to palma brass. As it is, I’m getting 8-10 cycles before the pockets give out on the Lapua LRP brass

 

[watercam]

Since the original post I have put 6 more firings on the Palma brass with no end in sight.
Regarding the 5-firing anneal regimen, I was surprised as anyone when I had neck cracks but there they were. Went to an every-4th firing anneal schedule.
At this point a few of the cases show less resistance when priming with the somewhat larger-than-spec Unis Ginex primers so perhaps they are beginning to complain. Or the primer pockets opened up from being primed with over-sized primers so many times. Who knows.

 

[JimSC]

I have some 85 or 90 Lapua Palma that has @ 25+ reloads that dates from 2009. I stopped shooting .308 back in 2012 but I did neck down 5 of those .308's to .260 just for a experiment this summer. They shot fine. I lost five or ten over the years due to primer issues but never any neck problems and only annealed every 5th reload back then

 

[Papa Charlie]

I have had similar performance from my Lapua .308 Win brass. So far I have a set of 100 that has gone 22 firings. I have lost 2 of them because the primer pockets got too loose, but still have yet to see any signs of neck issues.
For me my loads are as follows:

.308 Win
Berger 185 Juggernauts
Varget 42.9gr
CCI BR-2
2745 fps
Anneal every firing using torch, visual validation of dull red on necks

 

[watercam]

I have had similar performance from my Lapua .308 Win brass. So far I have a set of 100 that has gone 22 firings. I have lost 2 of them because the primer pockets got too loose, but still have yet to see any signs of neck issues.
For me my loads are as follows:

.308 Win
Berger 185 Juggernauts
Varget 42.9gr
CCI BR-2
2745 fps
Anneal every firing using torch, visual validation of dull red on necks

So tell me this, I once tried the dull red glow anneal and it worked fine however I ended up with some kind of crud on the outside of the case necks that was a bear to remove. What is that? Did not seem to degrade the brass any FWIW. I do not get that when I use 750º Tempilaq inside the neck type of anneal.

 

[Papa Charlie]

Over time I have developed a dark substance on the outside of the necks. You cannot feel it and it doesn't seem to come off during tumbling with Walnut shells.
My first guess would be lube or some other foreign substance. For me this dark colored substance appeared before I started using Redding's biodegradable case lube. Back then I used RCBS case lube and I would use acetone to remove the residue, I think I was not getting it all off and this is what the discoloration came from. I don't see it on my other cases that are newer and that have only seen the Redding lube.
If the case had been overheated, you would see the zinc coming out of the metal. But you have to get it pretty hot to pull that out.The color I get, maybe a little more redder than dull equates to about 800 plus degrees, but no higher than 900 degrees.