New Lapua brass - can I just load it or ???

[Macropod]

It's annealed when you buy it????

It is what it is. Seating force varies considerably with virgin Lapua brass. After it is correctly annealed that issue goes away.

 

[dcali]

I've never had any issues shooting it right out of the box. That's not to say there isn't a difference, but I can say that it's a small one. I also never anneal, as I don't think it's helpful. Milage may vary. Right reserved to be wrong.

 

[Willie]

I'm with ShootDots, on his procedure. I run a couple of .296 necked 6.5s, so I also turn for .004" clearance. On the .297"no turn 6.5s, I still turn. I love Lapua brass AFTER it's been properly prepped. My experience is that it's not gonna shoot near as well out of the box.

 

[RampedRaptor]

Here is what you do to ANY brass, Lapua or not, to make them shoot properly. If you are not improving the cartridge (i.e. making an Ackley) or completely forming it, like making a BRX or Dasher, you can make virgin brass fire as accurately as fireformed brass.
1.) Expand the necks. If it's a .22 cal or whatever, get a .22 expander mandrel and expand the necks. This will push most, if not all, of the imperfections in the neck to the outside. TRICK: when expanding the case necks, run the case up in the mandrel body die and then back off, spin the case about 1/3rd turn, run back up in the die. Do this 3 or 4 times (it takes an extra 5 seconds) and you will feel the case gong up in the die very smoothly>>>then you know the imperfections have been pushed to the outside.
2.) If it is a "no turn neck", at least skim-turn your necks to about 90 percent "clean-up". This will turn off the imperfections you just pushed to the outside.
3.) Anneal the necks>>>even on virgin brass
4.) Chamfer the inside and outside of the case mouths.
5.) Heat has a way of moving metal. So, run the brass back thru the mandrel to straighten up the necks>> using the spin method once again...
6.) Using a "used / carboned up" neck brush, vigorously brush out the necks.
7.) Prime the case
8.) Using a Q-Tip, swab out the inside of the case neck with Imperial DRY neck lube.
9.) Charge your case with powder,
10.) Seat your bullet.

If you do this to virgin brass, you will not see a difference between the virgin and fireformed brass. DON'T do this with virgin Lapua (or any brass) brass and you are kidding yourself!

This is what I do with new Lapua brass and really is good practice with all brass. However, I do not do step 3 or 8, I'm too lazy to anneal new brass and just assume it won't be perfect the first firing. I do anneal every firing after the first firing. Be careful with step 2 because it is possible to "skim" too much and then you will be unnecessarily overworking your brass when resizing. This is assuming you have a no turn chamber.

 

[DRNewcomb]

I had decent results just trimming for length and deburring. Also, check the necks for dents. They are very soft and get dented in shipment. It all depends on what you are trying to accomplish. YMMV.

 

[rjtfroggy]

Late to this post but some times life gets in the way of pleasure. Any way yesterday I fl sized 100 Lapua 308 cases (brand new) and 40% were tight and about half of that were very tight through a brand new RCBS comp. die. So yes IMO all brass regardless of maker should be sized first.
ASSUME nothing

 

[Macropod]

Late to this post but some times life gets in the way of pleasure. Any way yesterday I fl sized 100 Lapua 308 cases (brand new) and 40% were tight and about half of that were very tight through a brand new RCBS comp. die. So yes IMO all brass regardless of maker should be sized first.
ASSUME nothing

Are you using a small base die? The reason I ask is I've just prepped 200 new Lapua cases and they are barely touching the case.