Too much neck tension New Lapua brass

[243Lapua]

I just FL size them straight out the the box. Don't worry about tension on first load. Load with 36.0 of Varget and a cci450 and 6 to 8 thousand of the lands. 140gr Berger Hybrids. Don't use a mandrel if your planning on using bushing dies. It kind of doesn't make sense to use a bushing die then run a mandrel thru the neck

 

[dgeesaman]

I guess the first question is whether your neck ID is the same after expanding on the virgin vs fired brass. I use a 3pt bore mic for this but a dial caliper should at least spot a significant difference. Adjusting the mandrel size should compensate if this is happening.

Then I also agree about the friction- I use Redding dry neck lube on most of my loads. This mostly eliminates the friction issues of very clean brass. Unless you’re cleaning your virgin brass after expanding, I expect the expander lube is still mostly there.

 

[hambone1971]

I am having issues with new Lapua brass in 6.5x47. I have read all threads relating to this but still seek guidance. I run the new brass over a mandrel expander die and use Imperial dry neck lube but the first load is very heavy in neck tension. Are these just throw away loads?

Is this a neck turning mandrel or expander mandrel? Neck turning is .002 under bullet dia. and Expander mandrel is .001 under bullet dia. Also are you using a chamfer tool to put a slight angle on the inside of the neck? I expand the necks , chamfer and then expand them once more to get rid of any chamfer burrs. Nice and easy bullet seating. I'm finding on my 223 bolt it likes a tight bullet hold and I use only the neck mandrels .002 under. More mandrels can be found at 21st century reloading. http://www.xxicsi.com/products-1.html
HB

 

[hambone1971]

I just FL size them straight out the the box. Don't worry about tension on first load. Load with 36.0 of Varget and a cci450 and 6 to 8 thousand of the lands. 140gr Berger Hybrids. Don't use a mandrel if your planning on using bushing dies. It kind of doesn't make sense to use a bushing die then run a mandrel thru the neck

One reason to use a bushing die and mandrel expander in the neck is not to over work the necks especially compared to a full length resizing die and then mandrel. Compress it back after firing a tad with bushing and then open them all equal to what tension you desire. All necks are not equal in thickness...HB

 

[243winxb]

i will not likely use these in competition but it goes against the grain when one uses all the available tools to make a load and yet something is very wrong

Brass has a memory. It wants to return to its previous state. Its different between brands. Annealing changes things the most.

Fire forming is needed on new brass.

- Cartridge Brass-
Material is 70 copper/30 zinc with trace amounts of lead & iron , called C26000. Material starts to yield at 15,000 PSI when soft (annealed), and 63,000 PSI when hard.
Material yields, but continues to get stronger up to 47,000 PSI when soft, and 76,000 PSI
when work hardened.