Using new (virgin) Lapua brass

[Timon]

I know this has been covered in the past, as I once saw it. However, I cannot find it. I am about to load some new .223 Lapua brass. Want to make sure of a few things. Should I full length size, or just neck size. I also recall something about the neck being to tight. How much should I open it up. I just ordered a Lyman M die expander. Was also curious, what lube are you all using on the cases?

 

[watercam]

For me I simply run the necks over an expanding ball once, outside turn the necks if you want and load them up. Once fired I never use the expander ball again as I use FL S-type bushing die.

 

[Jody Simcox]

Just me (and I’m no expert)...I found no need to size virgin lapua brass as mine was very consistent. I use a Sinclair neck turning mandrel which is .002” smaller than bullet diameter. At first I was trying to lube inside of necks with die wax, but have since switched to dipping case mouth in Imperial Application Media with Dry Neck Lube- this has worked wonderfully for me. Once brass has been fired, I always FL size and use Imperial Die Wax for this.

 

[KevinThomas]

Jody nailed it perfectly, start to finish. The use of the mandrel is all that’s needed, and that should be just a matter of ironing out any out of roundness that is caused during shipping.

Go to it!

 

[Ned Ludd]

I've loaded many, many, many virgin .223 Lapua cases. In my hands, neck diameter of cases straight out of the box can be all over the map. Years ago, I began using Sinclair's Gen II die with the oversized (~.001" under bullet diameter) mandrel to open up all the necks. Next, I use a a FL resizing die with the appropriate bushing (0.248") to give me ~.002" neck tension (interference fit) for loaded rounds. I remove the expander ball from all my re-sizing dies before use. This process basically opens up all the necks to a minimum diameter so that the bushing can size them down to the desired diameter. It will not move the shoulder back at all on virgin brass. There are other variations on this approach, but if you don't do both an expansion and contraction step, not all of the necks will have uniform tension afterward. Afterwards, I re-chamfer all the cases on the Giraud trimmer. Virgin brass prepped in this way has very uniform neck tension, I have used it in competition many times.

 

[Timon]

Thanks so much for all the great info!

 

[10at6]

Run them through a Lee collet die.. Chamfer and load