reloading reutine - opinions to get it better??

[Ledd Slinger]

I disagree Mr. bayou shooter. You arent doing the prep work for him so what difference does it make to you??? If a person wants to prep any type of brass, I say prep away! If it does anything at all, it can only help.

Most of the top competition shooters prep and sort their brass, and guess what? Most of them use Lapua brass. They win matches for a reason so there must be a beneficial purpose behind it all

 

[Turbulent Turtle]

Mr. Ledd Slinger, thank you so much for taking the time to explain these concepts to me. However, I will point out that I was only talking about all the prep work for VIRGIN brass, as in before the first firing, not as an ongoing process.

Surprisingly enough, I use virgin Lapua brass which I buy in lots of 500 cases and use for the life of the barrel starting with another lot when I replace the barrel.

My routine for VIRGIN Lapua brass is simply to run a mandrel through the mouth to round it out, prime, load powder using a CM1500 and a A&D 120 with an Omega trickler and seating the bullets with a Redding Competition seating die. After the first firing, the process is very different, with the use of two Giraud devices and other steps.

Seems to work for me.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

I see. You're right about virgin brass. Kinda missed that part. I agree that it's better to prep after it has been fired in your rifle's chamber.

 

[Sniper338]

Ah i still disagree... ive prepped enough lapua brass to see for myself how much brand new brass can be cleaned up... box to boxi always see overall length within 5 thou to about 30 thou difference... that bother me so i trim new brass after a full length resize... theres ALWAYS case mouths that are not round or dented.. always material to clean out of primer pockets with a reamer.... i firmly beleive brass gets better after one or two firings and after its ran through a good brass prep reutine a few times... but i still like to do what i can with virgin brass.... heck i just had one piece of virgin lapua brass that the neck was totally messed up to a point... like a piece of the case moth was sliced out... thank god it was long anyways where i could trim it to the right specs and it cleaned that part out...

I think lapua brass is the best but it can be worked over quite a bit still... yet way less worked over than many other brands...


Best dang uniform lapua brass ive had is 6BR brass... the 6br brass seems to hardly need much dont it... trimmed a bit... but primer pockets are dang near flawless lately... my reamer barley cuts anything out of themthey are so square and depth is so uniform... way better than some other calibers of lapua brass...

 

[Turbulent Turtle]

Everyone's experiences are different. I have just started a new lot of 500 cases with my latest barrel and as usual, the only thing I do to each box of 100 cases is to run a mandrel through the mouth, prime, add powder and seat bullet.

At the last 3X20 600 yard F-TR match, that worked just fine for me as I shot 2 cleans and dropped only 4 points all day (all in match 2,) and that was due to me, not the load.

After the first firing the brass is set to my chamber and I then F/L resize pushing the shoulder back .002 and do all the other fun stuff, anneal, trim, wine and dine, etc.

 

[Sniper338]

Everyone's experiences are different. I have just started a new lot of 500 cases with my latest barrel and as usual, the only thing I do to each box of 100 cases is to run a mandrel through the mouth, prime, add powder and seat bullet.

At the last 3X20 600 yard F-TR match, that worked just fine for me as I shot 2 cleans and dropped only 4 points all day (all in match 2,) and that was due to me, not the load.

After the first firing the brass is set to my chamber and I then F/L resize pushing the shoulder back .002 and do all the other fun stuff, anneal, trim, wine and dine, etc.

interesting... but thats what makes it all competative... everyone does different things... no one way is perfect or everyone would do it all the same... and use all the same tools... im going to have to shoot a match one day... see where i stand haha