New brass

Just received some new Lapua brass. Do you guys clean and prep new (never fired) brass the same way you would fired brass?
Lapua brass is fully prepped ie debuted flash holes,uniform primer pockets and case length. The only thing is if the case mouth is bent the a slight insertion in into the sizing die but not a full length just enough to make the neck round again
 
I loaded lots of new W-W, Hornady, and Lapua brass straight out of the bag/box without problems, until I didn't! Got a new box of Lapua 6.5-284 and the necks were so bad that I couldn't seat Accubond Bullets without leaving a crease in the tip. Found them more oval than round. Don't know if QC is slipping with the current high demand, but I'm in the mandrel, debur/chamfer club henceforth. Never encountered the need to trim.
 
With Lapua brass in several cartridges I have measured case OAL and it has always been in spec and +/- .001. I just load them and fire form right outa the box. Then I get all anal with them. In some cases I have had tremendous precision and accuracy with the unprocessed brass...especially in .308.
 
Myself, check the necks with a mandrel and dry lube, load and fire. They are darn good out of the box. If you want to get ticky, check weights and sort that way. You might get a little work out of an internal flash hole de-burr tool. Otherwise, get ticky after the first firing.
 
I use Wilson chamber seating dies with an arbor press, so it's very sensitive to neck tention.I then measure the neck of the new brass, if its too tight I will use a neck mandril to expand it out and then resize with my neck die.I then chamfer the case mouth with a RCBS 3 in 1 trimmer which gives an outside chamfer a slight inside chamfer and trim length.If you are going to use them beyond 600 yds batch them by weight to get the best results.Fear not Lapua brass is of very high quality and has a very good working life,like someone has already said shoot it like you stole it.
 
Been reloading 40 years and I FL resize new brass to insure the shoulder is set where I want it as I use a Frankford Arsenal case trimmer that registers on the shoulder. I trim and chamfer as well to make sure it is all the same so that if I decide to crimp bullets they all come out the same.
Good Luck
 
Bit late to the party, but I see only ONE other person mention this.
On ALL new brass, I run them through my neck die/mandrel to ENSURE ALL have the same neck tension and I lube the necks with GRAPHITE.
If you are not doing this you need to start doing it. The difference in UNIFORM & REPEATABLE neck tension is night and day.
I have always found neck tension on new brass, no matter what brand, is always NOT what I want.
Brass like Remington brand 22-250 brass requires annealing, however the same brass in 25-06 does not... go figure.
Lapua brass is exceptional in quality and consistency batch to batch, so is Norma, yet they are definitely not the same.
My process is the same as Memtb, the only difference is I measure case volume.
I also load by volume in CC's rather than a powder weight.

Cheers.
 
If you are new and starting out I suggest establishing a consistent routine and follow it every time. In my experience, prepped and sorted brass is more consistent than just used out of the box.

Starting out I would cut primer pockets, flash holes, and size. Its not necessary for most recreational shooting under 500 yards, but at a minimum, I get a mental boost knowing every piece of brass started equal.
 
Oh, I don't touch primer pockets.
I found changing primers in preference of changing the bottom shape of the pocket gave me consistent results. A square bottomed pocket does NOT funnel the primer charge uniformly, I could watch this on the Pressure Trace II. It is concave for a reason when punched at the factory.

Cheers.
 
Oh, I don't touch primer pockets.
I found changing primers in preference of changing the bottom shape of the pocket gave me consistent results. A square bottomed pocket does NOT funnel the primer charge uniformly, I could watch this on the Pressure Trace II. It is concave for a reason when punched at the factory.

Cheers.
Interesting
 
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