What do you do to prep your Lapua brass?

[MontanaRifleman]

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.

As far as I can tell, none of my necks are dented. Guess I got lucky.

 

[MudRunner2005]

None of the necks on any of my Lapua brass have been dented either. Same goes for Nosler brass.

I have tried to get Lapua to start making belted magnum caliber brass, and I sent the guy from Lapua (who is on here) a PM a while back, but he never responded to me....

If they would make .257 Wby, 7mm RemMag, and 7mm STW brass I'd exclusively use Lapua brass.

 

[Outlaw6.0]

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.

Weekends are cool with me. Just have to play it by ear.


t

 

[AZShooter]

You enjoy your new 6mm-284!

I forgot I also chamfer and deburr the necks......

 

[MontanaRifleman]

You enjoy your new 6mm-284!

Thanks, I plan too! Really looking forward to it, I think it will be a real fun shooter!

I forgot I also chamfer and deburr the necks......

Yup, that would be the minimum with any brass. I did neck down a few pieces of the 6.5-284 brass with a Hornady New Dimension 6-284 FL sizer ansd seated some bulets to get some neck measurements. I neglected to chamfer a couple of the cases and there was significant resistance getting the bullet into the neck which also resulted in about 7-8 thou runout in cases that showed about 1.5 thou runout after sizing. When I chamfered, the bullet slid in very easy and runout was about 2.5 - 3 thou.

 

[Michael Eichele]

Typically I don't deburr Lapua flash holes but have had a couple of recent lots that needed some touch up. I have in the past uniformed primer pockets but don't anymore. While I've seen accuracy gains in having smooth flash holes, I have never been able to detect any accuracy improvements in modifying primer pockets.

For the most part with Lapua brass (if the flash holes are good) I just bump the case mouth with an expander ball (I don't run it all the way, just a bit) and then chamfer the mouths gently. Prime, load and shoot.

On that note, I have taken a shining to Norma brass over the Lapua. Seems like the flash holes are cleaner and the necks feel a lot smoother/consistent when seating bullets. I also never feel a small donut like I often do with the Lapua. My only complaint with Norma brass is that it takes ungodly amounts of force to seat primers. Also with two different lots of 6.5 brass, case weights were roughly 5 grains apart. Consistent weights within lots but lot versus lot was a bit different. Lapua brass has been consistent from lot to lot in my 308 brass for 11 years.

So far, they're holding up even on stout loads. Using 6.5x284, 308 and 300 win mag.

 

[Kevin Thomas]

I have tried to get Lapua to start making belted magnum caliber brass, and I sent the guy from Lapua (who is on here) a PM a while back, but he never responded to me....

Mudrunner,

My apologies for this one, but I don't recall ever getting a PM from you on this. However, I've answered this same question so many times over that I may have overlooked it. No, you're not the only one who has made this suggestion. I hear it a lot, and it gets passed on to the Finns . . . repeatedly.

I don't know when they'll start this line, or even if they will, but on my last trip over to the factory, it was a topic we had a long discussion about. The 300 WM is the 800 lb gorilla right now, and with all the military contracts based on this one cartridge, I suspect it'll be the one that finally gets things running. They've never made either belted cases or this (.532") head size before, so the tooling and initial operating costs would be substantial, and I understand their hesitance in this regard. My suggestion was to go with the 300 and 375 H&H cartridges, due to their extra length. If you go with these as your base line, the entire family of .532" cases becomes much more easily available; the H&H cases, the Weatherby family, the 458 Lott, and the entire range of short mag cases from the 264 on up to the 458 Win. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but will be more than happy to share whatever I can just as soon as I know
more about this.

 

[MudRunner2005]

Mudrunner,

My apologies for this one, but I don't recall ever getting a PM from you on this. However, I've answered this same question so many times over that I may have overlooked it. No, you're not the only one who has made this suggestion. I hear it a lot, and it gets passed on to the Finns . . . repeatedly.

I don't know when they'll start this line, or even if they will, but on my last trip over to the factory, it was a topic we had a long discussion about. The 300 WM is the 800 lb gorilla right now, and with all the military contracts based on this one cartridge, I suspect it'll be the one that finally gets things running. They've never made either belted cases or this (.532") head size before, so the tooling and initial operating costs would be substantial, and I understand their hesitance in this regard. My suggestion was to go with the 300 and 375 H&H cartridges, due to their extra length. If you go with these as your base line, the entire family of .532" cases becomes much more easily available; the H&H cases, the Weatherby family, the 458 Lott, and the entire range of short mag cases from the 264 on up to the 458 Win. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but will be more than happy to share whatever I can just as soon as I know
more about this.

Kevin, I was hoping I had it still sitting in my "sent" folder, but I apparantly deleted it. It's not a big deal. Don't sweat the small stuff.

I was just fixing to say, if they have the tooling for the base of .532" belted magnums of the .375 H&H case, they can do the .257 Wby Mag, 7mm RemMag, and 7mm STW brass I have been longing for.

I know the STW guys (including myself) need some other option for brass, since Nosler has ****-near priced themselves through the roof, Rem brass sucks, Winchester STW brass is about impossible to find, and Federal brass seems to be splitting after 3-4 reloads... There just doesn't seem to be a good solid option anyway you look at it.

I love Lapua brass, and would be ecstatic if they jumped into the belted magnum realm.

I have an idea for a non-belted, belted magnum case that should last longer than standard cases, I will PM you to see what you think...

 

[MudRunner2005]

Kevin, you have an inbound PM.