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What is the big deal about Lapua brass

Clinton Mullins

I have been loading for 35+ years and shot probably every brand of brass out there.
Can someone explain to me why People think Lapua brass is so far superior than any other brands?
If utmost precision is called for why hasn't anyone turned ultra precise brass on a mill?
Am I just too old school?
 
I will give you my 2 cents worth. I do not think that Lapua brass is BETTER than ALL brass>>>>just most brass. Norma makes brass that, in my opinion, is just as good. Lapua brass makes their brass with strength, as well as a high level if precision, dimensionally. Their neck walls are thick enough to be able to turn them down for a tight neck chamber, yet still have enough durability to last and last. I have some 6 Dasher brass, made from 6mmBR brass, that I used for load development, that was and still is being used from my FIRST Dasher barrel 5+ years ago! I have .260 brass that was made into .260A.I. that was and still is, load development brass and I am on my 3rd .260A.I. barrel. Those pieces of brass have been loaded so many times I can not truthfully tell you how many! AND they are still producing excellent accuracy! And I shoot more rounds down my bores in one year than many people shoot in 3 years! That, my friend, is how good Lapua brass is! I hope this answers your question. And as far as "Old School" is concerned, I have been shooting and reloading rifles since I was 19 years old in 1973! I think that qualifies as Old School... LOL!!!
 
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I binned my Lapua brass after the second fireing. Case head expansion was greater than 9 times fired Winchester brass. Winchester and Norma are my first choices.
 
It requires less prep in general, and doesn't cost a whole lot more than culling/sorting/etc. But the *biggest* reason, I suspect, is that they make good donor brass for 6PPC's, and Palma brass for .308's. Because of that, they've gained a (well earned) reputation for being "competition grade", so people just buy it and forget about it.
 
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Brass manufacturers make their brass with different amounts of certain materials. None of them are 100% brass. This mskes for difference consistancies, softer, and harder cases.

Wish i could find the chart, but somewhere ive seen a bredkdown by brand and dmounts of different materisls each company uses, the chart compares all the major brands by material used
 
I shoot .308 Palma .
I have Blue Box Lapua different Lots.
Yes to less Prepping , but still have to weight sort it.
I buy Winchester much less cost. I may get one or two bad cases.
There is more Prep . Maybe 1 or 2 more grains of Varget ?

I shoot the same scores with either ,and with Winchester I have Beer Money left ...

El Cheap O !

Good Luck,
Don
 
The consistency stands out in my mind. However there is the 'cuban cigar' thing too. You can't get them on a regular basis, so you want them all the more. I would say that if they were stacked to the ceiling at Gander or Cabelas they wouldn't cost as much too.
 
Bindi2 said:
I binned my Lapua brass after the second fireing. Case head expansion was greater than 9 times fired Winchester brass. Winchester and Norma are my first choices.
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Different brands for different applications. You would never see anything but Lapua in a short range bench rifle. You might find one or two guys using Norma, but it's rare. I have personally found in my experience that the OLD Norma brand 6BR cases that I have necked up to 30 cal, doesn't last worth a shit compared to Lapua. The big thing is the brass seems softer and the primer pockets loosen up way too quick. I haven't tried it since they supposedly reformulated it a few years ago. Years ago, some writer in Handloader magazine did an article on trying to make a loaded round out of many components that would equal or exceed Federal's 308 168gr Gold Metal Match ammo. That guy used about 10 different brand of brass cases, 2 different 168 grain bullets, (Hornady and Sierra MK), many different primers, and 2 kinds of powder, (Varget and RE15), in 2 different rifles, (Sako TRG 21 and Rem 700 Tactical). What I remember is that as far as brass went, the Norma cases lasted the longest as far as the number of FLR until failure. Remington nickel and Remington's regular cases were 2nd and 3rd, and Lapua was 4th. I think the worst case was Hornady's. Nosler's cases failed very early also, BUT using Nosler brass, it made the most accurate loaded rounds. I know that this test wasn't very scientific, but there are too many variables out there, and too many different applications that put different stresses on cases, but it was interesting reading none the less. I know that at one time Winchester cases weren't half bad, but the junk they are pushing out now is just that, JUNK. IMO, I have felt that TODAY'S Lapua brass does not have the quality that it once had, but it's still the best out there for serious competition applications.
 
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dickn52 said:
The consistency stands out in my mind. However there is the 'cuban cigar' thing too. You can't get them on a regular basis, so you want them all the more. I would say that if they were stacked to the ceiling at Gander or Cabelas they wouldn't cost as much too.
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We have near 100% availability year round in the UK, although it's not cheap. Despite that availability, nine out of ten serious competition shooters here choose it over any other make and that includes Norma and RWS. One of our importers bought in Winchester 284 Win brass a few years ago when the cartridge became popular in F-Class and BR thinking it would sell well - cheaper, no expanding necks / removing 'doughnuts' etc - it didn't! I bought 300. Big mistake! Apart from some short / mid-range loadings with 160s (and I use 7mm-08 for this purpose anyway nowadays) I've ended up with Lapua 6.5-284 as my brass. The workload / toss-out rate with the Winchester stuff was heavy to put it mildly.

In 7-08, I also have Winchester brass. Nothing wrong with it, works well after some batching and culling, but one short-range load aside, I've ended up using reformed Lapua .308 Win 'Palma' small-primer brass in this cartridge - much stronger, longer-lived, and performance is very good indeed.
 
Bindi2 said:
I binned my Lapua brass after the second fireing. Case head expansion was greater than 9 times fired Winchester brass. Winchester and Norma are my first choices.
Click to expand...

You don't say what cartridge and whether you used the same load in both makes. In 308 Win, Winchester brass has substantially greater capacity than that of Lapua. Transfer a warm or hot load from the former to the latter without reducing charges and working up again will produce over-pressures and short case life.

This is particularly marked in 308, but applies to a greater or lesser extent to most cartridges. Not all though - the aforementioned 284 Win in the previous post sees little difference between the two makes with my batches, and necked-up 6.5-284 Lapua actually has marginally greater capacity in my lots.
 
Lapua is my first choice for all the reasons listed above. The quality of the last bag of Winchester brass i bought was not great. I think out of 50 pieces i had to cull 4. One more reason to consider Laupa.
 
I am getting about 15-17 firings from Lapua Blue Box .308 Palma brass using at or near maximum charge weights. I anneal necks every 5th firing only. More than makes up for it's higher price. Norma brass is good but also pricey but does not last as long. For me Lapua is cheaper overall than all the rest.
 
I use Lapua because it holds up better. Example, in a dasher I shoot 33.5-33.8 gr. RL15 using 108 gr. bullets. 12 firings on brass , no problems. A fellow shooter shot 33 gr. of RL15 with 105 gr. bullets using new Norma dasher brass. After second firing he had loose primer pockets.
 
ShootDots said:
And as far as "Old School" is concerned, I have been shooting and reloading rifles since I was 19 years old in 1973! I think that qualifies as Old School... LOL!!!
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Sorry to question your qualifications Ben but, you aren't even CLOSE to old school yet. I was born in the FIRST half of the last century. :eek::eek:
 
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