What do you do to prep your Lapua brass?

[MontanaRifleman]

I'm new to using Lapua brass basically because the cartridges I have shot and reloaded for did not have Lapua brass available.

So far I'm very impressed with it. I've got 6.5-284 to be necked down to 6mm and 223 Rem. A random sample of each showed less than .001 in length difference. Case mouths visually appear (is that redundant?) to be perfectly round. Pockets seem to be very square and uniform. No dents or apparent irregularities in 400 pieces of brass.

I have deburred the flash holes, not sure if necessary. I have also squared and uniformed the pockets, not sure if necessary.

I plan to load the 223 brass without sizing because it looks ready for loading and because I do not yet have a sizer for it.

What do you do and don't do before you start seating bullets?

 

[AZShooter]

Too bad Lapua doesn't make brass for all our chamberings. If they did it would be all I would buy.

I always size the necks to be certain they are round and will have the neck tension I want to use.

I have found the flash holes don't need to be touched. Do uniform primer pockets.

If I know I am going to use Lapua brass I specify a no turn neck reamer.

Have a 6mm-284 that uses 6.5-284 lapua brass. I used the custom reamer and an old 264 barrel to make a intermediary sizing die which helps neck the brass down with fewer failures than going right to the 6mm-284 FL die. An alternative would be to use a standard seater die for the in between step. just thought I'd add this though you may already know about it.

 

[MMERSS]

What do you do and don't do before you start seating bullets?

Mark,

I will run new brass thru an expander die before seating. This with establishing more consistent neck tension for that first round.

 

[roninflag]

the only thing i do is lightly chamfer the case neck . nothing else.

 

[Outlaw6.0]

Glad to see your getting ready for that 6-284 I'm still in love with mine.


I use Lapua brass as well. I use an S-type bushing die & neck down in 2 or 3 steps which seems to create a little more consistency at the final size compared to just crunching them down in one step.

I did try to deburr the flash hole but never found any burrs to remove! So, i'll quit doing that with my next batch.

I do uniform primer pockets, it seems to me (as I recall from memory) that they did take a little clean up.

I do use a VLD chamfer tool on the inside of the neck.

OAL was still incredibly consistent, I don't recall trimming the cases. I also measured case neck thickness to determine if turning was going to be necessary. It was not IIRC, necessary.

I considered weight sorting but, with the level of consistency I found everywhere else I figure it too, to would be a waste of time.

t

 

[MudRunner2005]

With my Lapua .308 Win brass, I remove from package, insert primer, load powder charge, insert bullet, press bullet, then shoot it.

I have found that all the Lapua .308 brass I've ordered was so concentric and perfect that after thorough inspection of about 50-75 of the first 100 I just went ahead and decided to load them up.

 

[MontanaRifleman]

Too bad Lapua doesn't make brass for all our chamberings. If they did it would be all I would buy.

I always size the necks to be certain they are round and will have the neck tension I want to use.

I have found the flash holes don't need to be touched. Do uniform primer pockets.

If I know I am going to use Lapua brass I specify a no turn neck reamer.

Have a 6mm-284 that uses 6.5-284 lapua brass. I used the custom reamer and an old 264 barrel to make a intermediary sizing die which helps neck the brass down with fewer failures than going right to the 6mm-284 FL die. An alternative would be to use a standard seater die for the in between step. just thought I'd add this though you may already know about it.

I also wish they made it in all the chamberings I shoot. Great stuff!

I used a Lyman flash hole beburrer and did remove some material with it. Not sure if it was burrs or just material. No biggie. Using the primer pocket uniformer didn't seem to make much of a difference.

I sent my 6-284 reamer drawing to Hornady to have a custom FL bushing die made (like a type S) I will get and intermediate bushing to 2 step it down. And I should have about 2-4 thou clearance in the neck chamber without turning.

 

[MontanaRifleman]

Mark,

I will run new brass thru an expander die before seating. This with establishing more consistent neck tension for that first round.

Sounds like a good idea but I don't have an expander die. using the crude method of spinning the neck in my calipers, a sample of cases seemed to be perfectly round. Just seated a bullet in one of the 223 cases and the neck only grew 1 thou and about .002 runout. I can live with that.

 

[MontanaRifleman]

the only thing i do is lightly chamfer the case neck . nothing else.

With my Lapua .308 Win brass, I remove from package, insert primer, load powder charge, insert bullet, press bullet, then shoot it.

I have found that all the Lapua .308 brass I've ordered was so concentric and perfect that after thorough inspection of about 50-75 of the first 100 I just went ahead and decided to load them up.

I might try a batch of 223 without doing anything but chamfering and see if there is any noticeable difference with the cases I prepped.

 

[MontanaRifleman]

Glad to see your getting ready for that 6-284 I'm still in love with mine.


I use Lapua brass as well. I use an S-type bushing die & neck down in 2 or 3 steps which seems to create a little more consistency at the final size compared to just crunching them down in one step.

I did try to deburr the flash hole but never found any burrs to remove! So, i'll quit doing that with my next batch.

I do uniform primer pockets, it seems to me (as I recall from memory) that they did take a little clean up.

I do use a VLD chamfer tool on the inside of the neck.

OAL was still incredibly consistent, I don't recall trimming the cases. I also measured case neck thickness to determine if turning was going to be necessary. It was not IIRC, necessary.

I considered weight sorting but, with the level of consistency I found everywhere else I figure it too, to would be a waste of time.

t

My smith just got the Broughton barrel last week . I should be getting it in about 3 weeks for break-in then off to H&M for nitriding which should take another couple of weeks or so. By end of July, I should be regulating PD's. You should come up to Roundup and help me for a couple of days gun)

Got my 105 Hybrids last Sat. They are some purdy looking bullets.

 

[Outlaw6.0]

My smith just got the Broughton barrel last week . I should be getting it in about 3 weeks for break-in then off to H&M for nitriding which should take another couple of weeks or so. By end of July, I should be regulating PD's. You should come up to Roundup and help me for a couple of days gun)

Got my 105 Hybrids last Sat. They are some purdy looking bullets.

I just happen to have a couple days of vacation left, we might just be able to do that.

I've been thinking about the the Hybrids but the SMK shoot SOOO good. If I change bullets it will be for the DTAC's or the Matrix 117.


t

 

[MudRunner2005]

I might try a batch of 223 without doing anything but chamfering and see if there is any noticeable difference with the cases I prepped.

So far, I haven't had to do anything, and they've shot great. They shoot even better the 2nd reload on once they're fireformed, but they shoot excellently from the very first load....From my experiences.

 

[Hunter2678]

For my 6br brass I run my expander mandrel through it...trim the necks, then turn the necks...then load em...never worry about the flashholes..they dont need any deburring. Sometimes the necks have been dented or bent during shipping hence the use of an expander mandrel as the 1st step.

same thing with my 284 when using thier 6.5x284 brass.

 

[MontanaRifleman]

I just happen to have a couple days of vacation left, we might just be able to do that.

I've been thinking about the the Hybrids but the SMK shoot SOOO good. If I change bullets it will be for the DTAC's or the Matrix 117.


t

That would be cool. Maybe we can do it on a weekend to save you some vacation time? I usually don't know what my schedule is until that week. I might be working up in Big Sandy in July. I'll keep ya posted. August might work too.