Virgin brass treatment - Lapua

[sharp.shooter.ser]

I know this subject has been generally covered, but I havent read anywhere what to do with Lapua virgin brass? I ve never before purchased virgin brass, and while reading about procedures about preparing it, I got a bit confused what to do before I load and shoot them for the first time (for Lapua, since I understood it is bit different and higher quality than the other brands out there).
Do I FL size it, trim, chamfer, uniform pockets etc? Thanks

 

[urbanrifleman]

I found the BR brass to need to be inside sized. They are way too small.

 

[Legionnaire]

Tagging in to hear the answers. I'm new to Lapua brass, too.

 

[#40Fan]

Usually, you'd want to FL size them all to make sure you won't have any chamber issues. If you have other brands of brass, use them to set up the FL die. At the least, you should size the necks to make sure they are round before seating a bullet.

 

[spife7980]

I dont ever full length size before the first firing. Its already short of your chamber, making it shorter yet is just going to shorten brass life. I have just loaded it up but they have an ungodly amount of neck tension from the factory. I now run them over a mandrel to try and get a baseline of uniformity.

 

[Ned Ludd]

I open up the necks first with an oversized expander mandrel (Sinclair Gen II die, OS mandrel ~.001" under bullet diameter). It's not uncommon to find a mixture of necks in a single box that get noticeably opened up, barely or minimally opened up, or where the mandrel doesn't even touch the inside of the neck. That alone tells you the neck diameters can be highly variable straight out of the box. The idea is to open them all up to some minimal diameter that your sizing die can do it's job properly. After openeing up the necks with the mandrel, I size them back down with a bushing die using the appropriate bushing to give ~.002" neck tension (interference fit). FWIW - I remove the expander ball on all of my sizing dies. Cases are then trimmed/chamfered. This procedure with the OS mandrel followed by a bushing gives very uniform results. I have used brass prepped this way in matches on many occasions.

 

[mikecr]

All the same as any other brand.

 

[SteveOak]

Compared to the precision with which a custom action such as a BAT or a professionally chambered and fitted barrel is made, the process by which brass is made is comparable to work done with a hammer and vice grips.

Lapua brass, while better than most, is still just brass, rather crudely extruded from a chuck of metal. Then they run down a conveyor and are dumped into a box. The bodies and necks are dinged, generally not usable out of the box as a whole although some may be.

At a minimum, I run new brass through an expander and then run it through a Redding bushing die that has the undersized nut and not the expander.

If your rifle is tight necked you will need to turn the necks before you shoot them the first time. Mine is not but I skim turn the necks after the first firing. I trim the cases (6BR) to 1.550" once they reach 1.560".

 

[Macropod]

I seat the bullet with a jam on the first firing to help keep the cartridge base against the boltface.
Lapua brass tends to be short, base to shoulder, at least in the 308 cases I have.

 

[BoydAllen]

It depends on how picky you are. Recently I helped an old (90) friend with some new .243 cases for his AI. To better control its position in the chamber for the first firing. I chamfered the IDs of the necks, lubed them with a petroleum lube, and expanded them to 6mm before expanding them to .25 caliber. Then I used a one piece neck die to form a false shoulder that I could feel when closing the bolt, and then expanded them again with the 6mm mandrel to deal with the over sizing by the neck die. I could have simply left the expander in the die instead. If I was not concerned about optimizing fire forming and was not shooting in an AI chamber I would have just chamfered and expanded at 6mm. As they come they are tight.

 

[swadiver]

Using new Lapua brass in .223, 6BR, and .308, i also use a oversized mandrel on all, then lightly chamfer the necks in and out. i check for obstructions in the flash holes, and remove as necessary with a pin vise. i rarely find obstructions in the .223 or .308 brass.

funny thing though, using the above procedure, i find new Lapua .308 and 6BR brass shoot excellent, but the lapua .223 brass shoots rather poorly when new as compared to when fired in my chamber

 

[Homerange]

I know this subject has been generally covered, but I havent read anywhere what to do with Lapua virgin brass? I ve never before purchased virgin brass, and while reading about procedures about preparing it, I got a bit confused what to do before I load and shoot them for the first time (for Lapua, since I understood it is bit different and higher quality than the other brands out there).
Do I FL size it, trim, chamfer, uniform pockets etc? Thanks

Most of my brass is range brass but like you if buying new Lapua the answers above definitely indicate some spread in neck size.
My approach to address this would be; check trim length and then chamfer, chamber a good few to ensure there's no headspace issues and to address specifically the neck size variations, run them all through a LCD and then fireform with a moderate load.

The only other mod I do is inside flash hole chamfer and Lapua cases would not be exempt in getting this treatment too.

 

[Richard Coody]

prepping new lapua brass for for firing

expand the necks
check trim length
chamfer and debur lightly with a hand tool
don't mess with primer pockets or flash holes.

do not set up any kind of shoulder bump with a sizing die until fully fireformed. can take 3 or more firings. check by checking for consistent base to shoulder dimensions among fired brass or tight chambering with fired brass.

 

[KenOath]

With virgin BR brass I chamfer inside and outside of necks then lube inside of necks with graphite, load and shoot.. neck tension is up there though..

 

[JimSC]

I shoot them straight from the box during practice sessions then give them the full prep treatment before using as match ammo. I have done the same with Peterson and Starline. Most of those practice sessions are shot across a chrono and I have never really seen a difference between the new and once fired. Most practice groups of ten had SD's below nine and ES below twenty with developed loads

 

[JFrank]

With virgin BR brass I chamfer inside and outside of necks then lube inside of necks with graphite, load and shoot.. neck tension is up there though..

My recent added a Mandrel step ensuring a consistent neck ID
Other that that I use the same process with good results.
J
Gents here's a classic example of two thoughts overlapping to create one f.. d up sentence
My bad
J

 

[Liven The Dream]

For the sake of information just got 300 Lapua .308 Large Primer Brass Same Lot No.
The first thing I see is the Annealing is very light. ( compared to years past ).
There where a few dented necks.
I checked a few for OAL ! all I checked where .003 to .006 over 2.005

I ran then thru my bushing Die that I use for my Palma Rifle.
I trimmed them to size , ran a VLD inside chamfer tool.
I saw a few with inside flash hole burs , ran my inside flash hole tool . Primer pockets left as is.
Washed them with Acetone . Dried on a Towel in the Hot Sun.
I then Primed them all and weight sorted them in three groups Light ,Medium and Heavy .
Most came in at Light ( my choice Average weight) then came Medium , and only 12 came in Heavy out of 300.
I can not give the difference in weight as I find a Average and Zero my old 10-10 and then just sort up,down and middle.

 

[243BR]

Judging from the above comments, I suspect this is will seem "unprofessional". I just load it up and shoot it.

 

[Liven The Dream]

Judging from the above comments, I suspect this is will seem "unprofessional". I just load it up and shoot it.

Not so .
My best Shooting Pal does the same thing .
I have to much time on my hands .

 

[flintcreek6412]

Ok, I'm sure I'm going to be the oddball. But it works for me. Keep in mind, this is for F class shooting so it's overkill for some.

I begin by running it through an expander sized for my K&M neck turn tool. I then neck turn all of them. If I didn't neck turn I would still expand them all.

I then size them all to match what I bump size to. With my comparator tool I bump size all my brass to 1.6215"(that is specific for my tool only). That is a .002" bump. I use .308 Palma brass and I want my bolt to drop freely with an empty case in the chamber with firing pin removed. This will not happen with Lapua Palma brass straight out of the box. My comparator measures 90% of them at 1.623" so most are getting bumped .0015". Some a little more and some a little less or not at all.

I then neck size all of them with my bushing die to get .002" neck tension.

I then chamfer inside and out and load as normal. I do not mess with the primer pocket or flash holes at all.

I obviously have a shorter chamber than most stock guns though. I will take these virgin cases to a match and do very well if I do my part with wind and trigger. My SDs are nearly always single digit and never out of the teens. I used to think I needed to fireform brass but now I don't.

FYI, I do anneal after every firing and my brass life is unreal.

These pics are from a 3x300 match using all brand new Lapau brass. Notice the SDs and average velocities for each 20 shot group. This is why I prep the way I do. Again, not for everyone but works for me.