Bad Lapua Brass ??

[Lpart]

I am having a problems with a new to me 6.5x55. I purchased 2 boxes of 100 each Lapua brass. It came with a box from two different batch numbers. First time to the range for ladder work and a lot of the shells wouldn't eject. I have had gun checked by a gunsmith and everything looks to be fine. I sat down Thursday and ran every one of the brass from each batch through the rifle. In the first batch 52 of 100 would not eject. In the second batch 57 of 100 wouldn't eject. The rims appear to be too thick running .055 to.068. I checked the rims on some 308 brass and found them to be .043 to .048. The ejector can't seem to catch my 6.5x55 brass. Anybody run into this before and do you think my and my gunsmith's conclusion of bad brass is correct? If so what make of brass would you recommend I try?

Thanks for your insight.

 

[Tikkamike]

Sounds pretty likely that the brass is bad but its hard to say without seeing the brass and being able to play around with it... Never heard of bad lapua brass before though

 

[J E Custom]

I am having a problems with a new to me 6.5x55. I purchased 2 boxes of 100 each Lapua brass. It came with a box from two different batch numbers. First time to the range for ladder work and a lot of the shells wouldn't eject. I have had gun checked by a gunsmith and everything looks to be fine. I sat down Thursday and ran every one of the brass from each batch through the rifle. In the first batch 52 of 100 would not eject. In the second batch 57 of 100 wouldn't eject. The rims appear to be too thick running .055 to.068. I checked the rims on some 308 brass and found them to be .043 to .048. The ejector can't seem to catch my 6.5x55 brass. Anybody run into this before and do you think my and my gunsmith's conclusion of bad brass is correct? If so what make of brass would you recommend I try?

Thanks for your insight.

Take the bolt out and try a case in the bolt, there should be a few thousandths of clearance
between the extractor and the case head. You can stack shims and find out how much
clearance you have.

If you have plenty of room (All of your cases will go in the bolt) then you may have to much
headspace for the case, allowing it to move forward.

If these are fired cases the loads are probably to hot or the bullet is to close to the lands.

Just some thoughts.

J E CUSTOM

 

[M67]

Hi, from Norway - the land of 6.5x55

In Norwegian High Power shooting 6.5x55 is used almost exclusively - brass beeing "RANO" - made by Lapua, and Norma, only!

A while ago there was a problem with the soft "recruit" - ammo (100grs bullet @ 2600fps) from RANO (brass made by Lapua), a lot of rounds would not extract. Rims ARE too thick, but not by much - the same brass used in full power loads extracts 100%.
Norwegian full power 6.5x55 loads push 140gr bullets close to 3000fps, and 130gr sometimes are pushed at 3000 period.

So try loading somewhat harder. At least if you have a quality rifle.

K

 

[M67]

BTW. Rim specs are different .308 and 6.5x55, the x55 being somewhat thicker and has bigger diameter. Read the specs.
Some Redding .308 shellholders wont accept 6.5x55 brass.

We use the same bolts though, but one made super tight for .308 would make trouble w/ 6.5x55

K

 

[fj40mojo]

I recently switched from Win brass to Lapua in my 6.5x55. No problems with extraction but mine is built on a '98 Mauser action. If I was going to have problems it would happen going in to the chamber because of the controlled round feed. What I did notice was considerably higher pressures with loads I'd shot in the Win brass with no pressure signs at all. 45.7grns of H4831 was giving me 2875fps from Win brass, The same load in the Lapua was 3000+fps and showing some stretch just ahead of the web. So, I've had to go back to my starting load and re do my ladder testing. I've also noticed a big increase in neck tension which would account for some of the increased pressure as well. I may have to turn necks, a step I've never done before. The Lapua brass was also much harder to size initially and left a lot of brass smeared on the expander button. I've heard that the US brass mfgs use .308/.30-06 base dimensions for their 6.5x55 brass while the European mfgs (Lapua, Norma, Prvi) stick to the original dimensions which are slightly thicker. The batch of brass I purchased seems to be a lot thicker than the Win that I had been shooting. You didn't mention what make your rifle is.

 

[Lpart]

Rifle is a Savage 110 LA.

 

[Shane G.]

My savage .308 will pull them out and drop them about half way out leaving me to try to get my fingers in there to get them out.

I was told an oversize ball under the extractor would probably cure the problem,might be something to look into as the are cheap and easy to replace.