I need some help from the reloading gurus.

[ShootnMathews]

Here's what I've got. It's a Savage 308 win. I used Federal gold medal match for the barrel breakin and then worked up a load in the Federal brass that was shooting 1/4 moa with 168 grain Amax and 46 grains of Varget and a 210M primer. I only had about 40 pieces of Federal brass so after it was getting pretty shot out I grabbed a box of Lapua brass. I knew I'd have to tweak the load some but I expected just a small powder charge adjustment because I have done similar with other rifles In the past. Instead though this rifle just shoots like crap with the Lapua brass. 45.8 grains shoots the best at about 3/4". So you think the brass needs fire formed first to shoot well? I've always had good luck with Lapua right out of the box. What are some of your thoughts??

I have not changed anything g else in the load. I just took the 1/4 moa load and put it in the Lapua brass. Same primer. Same bullet. Same seating depth. And the same charge at first. Then I went up to 46.6 grains and 45.5 grains. 45.8 shot around 3/4 moa and below that opened up and above that opened up. It's got me a little puzzled.

Here's a pic of how it was shooting with the Federal brass. I know it says 45.8 grains but 46 (like I said above) proved to be the better load after more testing.

 

[just_jon]

I wouldn't get hung up on group size with new brass. I would load the 3/4 " group load and have fun shooting steel until you've got formed brass.

 

[ShootnMathews]

I wouldn't get hung up on group size with new brass. I would load the 3/4 " group load and have fun shooting steel until you've got formed brass.

So you think after I fireform it the groups will tighten back up? The 1/4 moa load with fed brass was FL sized brass

 

[Teekerguy]

Could give the OCW a try then play with seating depth but like @just_jon said just load it up have fun and get that brass fitting your chamber better and with the new brass did you run a expanding mandrel through it to get more consistent neck tension?

 

[lancetkenyon]

I am going to make a guess and say the Federal brass weighs a lot more than the Lapua brass, meaning less case capacity and higher pressures with the same charge weight.

Weigh the Federal brass and the Lapua brass, and check that first. I would also bet the Lapua brass load is slower because of case capacity, and is now out of your accuracy node.

Switching brass usually means reworking your load.

 

[ShootnMathews]

I am going to make a guess and say the Federal brass weighs a lot more than the Lapua brass, meaning less case capacity and higher pressures with the same charge weight.

Weigh the Federal brass and the Lapua brass, and check that first. I would also bet the Lapua brass load is slower because of case capacity, and is now out of your accuracy node.

Switching brass usually means reworking your load.

This is what I expected as well. That's why I worked up to 46.6 grains expecting to hit the node again. Instead I hit pressure signed and groups got worse.

 

[cajun]

Changing brass with different capacities means a whole new work up. It's not plug and play. Chrono data would be helpful.

 

[lancetkenyon]

This is what I expected as well. That's why I worked up to 46.6 grains expecting to hit the node again. Instead I hit pressure signed and groups got worse.

So did you weigh the empty cases to see what the difference is between them?

 

[ShootnMathews]

Could give the OCW a try then play with seating depth but like @just_jon said just load it up have fun and get that brass fitting your chamber better and with the new brass did you run a expanding mandrel through it to get more consistent neck tension?

I did FL size it but it seemed to already fit the die pretty perfectly. Maybe I'll size it with my .311 expander to open it up and then Run it through my 308 die and load some up and try that. Maybe that'll even out the neck tension.

 

[ShootnMathews]

Changing brass with different capacities means a whole new work up. It's not plug and play. Chrono data would be helpful.

I was hoping not. I have other rifles that I've swapped brass in several times and only needed to tweak the powder slightly and was right in the money again.

 

[lancetkenyon]

No I didn't. Maybe I'll size it with my .311 expander and the. Run it through my 308 die and load some up and try that. Maybe that'll even out the neck tension.

You are using a .311 expander for a .308 bullet?

Nevermind, I re-read it. You are over expanding then running back through the FL...I got you.

 

[Teekerguy]

No I didn't. Maybe I'll size it with my .311 expander and the. Run it through my 308 die and load some up and try that. Maybe that'll even out the neck tension.

That might help but like others are saying new brass means starting over again unfortunately

 

[ShootnMathews]

You are using a .311 expander for a .308 bullet?

Nevermind, I re-read it. You are over expanding then running back through the FL...I got you.

No no. But I thought a 311 expander would open the brass up similar to firing it. Then running it through my 308 die should give much more uniform tension.

 

[ShootnMathews]

So did you weigh the empty cases to see what the difference is between them?

No. I'll go weigh them now. From my experience Lapua is slightly thinner than federal and needs a little more powder to hit the same pressure. So I just went on past experience.