Is Lapua brass annealed and neck turned?

[Tulsa Reiner]

I was recently able to purchase some Lapua brass in 308 Win. Today while I was prepping it, I noticed what is seen in the attached picture: The body looks like a different shade in the lower 2/3's than the rest of the case, making me think it has already been annealed. And there is a collar on the upper half of the neck, consisting of many fine longitudinal lines, which makes me think the neck has been turned. I measured neck wall thickness in 4 quadrants on about 6 pieces. The thickness varied only between 0.0147" and 0.0155" (the last digit is an estimation.)
I've seen many discussions of brass on the forum, but never seen anyone mention Lapua brass being annealed and neck turned in the manufacturing process. Are my assumptions wrong?

 

[Taylorbok]

Yes it is annealed from factory. Something is weird with that brass on the neck, usually you would neck turn slightly into the shoulder and also neck turning results in perpendicular lines, think like cutting on a lathe.

that almost looks like someone tried to shove the loaded ammo into a sizing die

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

I was recently able to purchase some Lapua brass in 308 Win. Today while I was prepping it, I noticed what is seen in the attached picture: The body looks like a different shade in the lower 2/3's than the rest of the case, making me think it has already been annealed. And there is a collar on the upper half of the neck, consisting of many fine longitudinal lines, which makes me think the neck has been turned. I measured neck wall thickness in 4 quadrants on about 6 pieces. The thickness varied only between 0.0147" and 0.0155" (the last digit is an estimation.)
I've seen many discussions of brass on the forum, but never seen anyone mention Lapua brass being annealed and neck turned in the manufacturing process. Are my assumptions wrong?

These cases were bought from a private person?
If they are new i would contact Lapua and replacement brass.
Lapua "Anneals" their Brass, but does not neck turn.
If you bought these from a private seller ask them what they did to it. Sure look like someone tried to put them in a sizing die with a bushing and only went 1/2 way.
I know that with some cartridges I might just run the case into the bushing 3/4 - 7/8 of the way.

 

[epags]

This

 

[cohunt]

Technically-- all brass is annealed-- that is part of the forming process to manufacture bottle neck cases-- but some (like lapua) will do an additional neck/shoulder anneal after the forming/manufacturing process is complete to help consistency--- as other above said, your brass looks like it's been partially bushing sized

 

[Tulsa Reiner]

These were brand new cases, in the Lapua box with a Lapua seal on it, purchased from Midway.
On close inspection, I can see the neck turning marks are only on segments of the circumference of the necks. I interpret this to indicate that their manufacturing process uses a vertically cutting blade to reduce the thickness of the necks only where they are detected to be thicker than tolerance allows.
I think I will contact Lapua and ask about this, then report back.

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

These were brand new cases, in the Lapua box with a Lapua seal on it, purchased from Midway.
On close inspection, I can see the neck turning marks are only on segments of the circumference of the necks. I interpret this to indicate that their manufacturing process uses a vertically cutting blade to reduce the thickness of the necks only where they are detected to be thicker than tolerance allows.
I think I will contact Lapua and ask about this, then report back.

We have purchased thousands of Lapua Cases and never got this from the factory. Really looks like run through a sizing die. Send Lapua pictures and let us know what they say.

 

[Orange Dust]

We have purchased thousands of Lapua Cases and never got this from the factory. Really looks like run through a sizing die. Send Lapua pictures and let us know what they say.

I would bet my hat someone returned then to Midway and carefully replaced the seal. Just don't thing Lapua would send them out looking like that. I've been wrong before, but.......

 

[Taylorbok]

I would contact Lapua or Midway. Those should not be like that.

 

[LRNut]

These cases were bought from a private person?
If they are new i would contact Lapua and replacement brass.
Lapua "Anneals" their Brass, but does not neck turn.
If you bought these from a private seller ask them what they did to it. Sure look like someone tried to put them in a sizing die with a bushing and only went 1/2 way.
I know that with some cartridges I might just run the case into the bushing 3/4 - 7/8 of the way.

That is what it looks like to me; I have a few calibers that I size like that.

 

[Tulsa Reiner]

Update: the Lapua customer service rep, in Ft Wayne, IN, asked me to send him 3 pieces of the brass.
He has never seen anything like this. I suspect he will forward them, or at least pics of them, to Lapua in Finland.
Stay tuned........

 

[Tulsa Reiner]

Update: the Lapua customer service rep, in Ft Wayne, IN, asked me to send him 3 pieces of the brass.
He has never seen anything like this. I suspect he will forward them, or at least pics of them, to Lapua in Finland.
Stay tuned........

Problem solved: before sending in pieces of brass, I discovered that it was only sized brass that bore the markings.
So I inspected the inside of the die with my borescope, and only saw minor lint and debris; nothing that I thought would cause this uniform pattern of lines on the neck as seen in my picture above. Nonetheless, I followed the advice of the Lapua technical rep, and cleaned the die by turning it upside down and filling it with Boretech Eliminator for a couple hours. Then I used a brass brush and cleaning cloth to scrub it out--- problem solved. The marks are no longer there.
I guess they were caused by carbon left from inadequately cleaned brass necks when resized.
Any comments would be welcomed........

 

[338 dude]

I was recently able to purchase some Lapua brass in 308 Win. Today while I was prepping it, I noticed what is seen in the attached picture: The body looks like a different shade in the lower 2/3's than the rest of the case, making me think it has already been annealed. And there is a collar on the upper half of the neck, consisting of many fine longitudinal lines, which makes me think the neck has been turned. I measured neck wall thickness in 4 quadrants on about 6 pieces. The thickness varied only between 0.0147" and 0.0155" (the last digit is an estimation.)
I've seen many discussions of brass on the forum, but never seen anyone mention Lapua brass being annealed and neck turned in the manufacturing process. Are my assumptions wrong?

Yes they are annealed in their process but those necks look like they've been sized halfway if they came like that new I would want them replaced

 

[Tulsa Reiner]

Yes they are annealed in their process but those necks look like they've been sized halfway if they came like that new I would want them replaced

At first I thought that all 50 the I first pulled to load were like that. But it turns out I had put them thru my sizer before the marks appeared. The other 50 in the box were unmarked. Therefore, all my fault.,