Brass

c-fbmi

c-fbmi

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I have a question for you guys, I have loaded, shot and hunted for 40 years and have always used or tried to use W-W brass, found it tougher than any other and lighter, giving greater case capacity and greater resistance to pocket expansion at where I like to load.
Question..... Is Lapua better in these aspects than W-W, because as we all know W-W is going for $h1t, flash holes all diff sizes, weights all over the place. I get about 50-60 useable cases from 100 in most cals now, so price isn't really all that diff is it? Not a bench shooter but I do like to get the most consistency in my brass as possible for all my loads. Never had much access to Lapua in the past, or where to even find it, but things have changed with the internet and all things are now within our grasp, even in the Yukon.

So how would you rate Lapua in toughness, weight and consistency to the OLD W-W of 20 years ago? Price not a concern.
 
c-fbmi said:
I have a question for you guys, I have loaded, shot and hunted for 40 years and have always used or tried to use W-W brass, found it tougher than any other and lighter, giving greater case capacity and greater resistance to pocket expansion at where I like to load.
Question..... Is Lapua better in these aspects than W-W, because as we all know W-W is going for $h1t, flash holes all diff sizes, weights all over the place. I get about 50-60 useable cases from 100 in most cals now, so price isn't really all that diff is it? Not a bench shooter but I do like to get the most consistency in my brass as possible for all my loads. Never had much access to Lapua in the past, or where to even find it, but things have changed with the internet and all things are now within our grasp, even in the Yukon.

So how would you rate Lapua in toughness, weight and consistency to the OLD W-W of 20 years ago? Price not a concern.
Click to expand...

I am just going through this after selling off all my reloading gear and components about 10 years ago but quite familiar with reloading prior on the 20 year old winchester brass, imperial you name it. From what I have seen so far just in the 243 the Lapua is better in every aspect and I am going to get some in 223 next and cannot understand why they don't make it in 270. But again I am an old fart to reloading from the late 60's but a newbie to today's components and guys with more experience will chime in I am sure to give you more details on lapua. So far I really like it
 
My lapua brass gets shot, trimmed, neck sized, X 5, then full length resized, annealed. Some 6.5-284 is at 20 firings. Still no sign of failure. I find the weights very close to each other.
On the other hand I just bought 1000 winchester 308 brass and weighed 600 so far into 3 lots 156 gr 157 gr and the rest. Fireform, load test and I'm good for ever in 3 rifles.
 
tigrr said:
My lapua brass gets shot, trimmed, neck sized, X 5, then full length resized, annealed. Some 6.5-284 is at 20 firings. Still no sign of failure. I find the weights very close to each other.
On the other hand I just bought 1000 winchester 308 brass and weighed 600 so far into 3 lots 156 gr 157 gr and the rest. Fireform, load test and I'm good for ever in 3 rifles.
Click to expand...

Just wondering about your process for annealing?? Years back I used a stove and color changing cream. What is done now??
 
I've been a faithful Winchester brass user ever since I was old enough to pull a press handle and for the most part with a couple exceptions their brass is standing up good for what I do.
However some bulk Winchester 223 brass I bought two years ago is the worst garbage I have ever seen... several pieces with no flash hole at all and most of it had gouges all the way around in the extractor groove.

As for Lapua brass I think it is awesome and I only use it in the 308, 338 Lapua Imp., and the 9.3 so far.
A lot of my 338 Lapua Imp. has gone past 16 reloads without trimming and these are full power loads.... 110.5 US 869 under a 300 gr. Sierra Matchking.
I think any other brand of brass would have been tossed long before if only from primer pocket stretch..... speaking of which I had to toss quite a few Hornady cases for the 375 Ruger because they wouldn't hold a primer... any primer after 3 or 4 reloads, and I'm nowhere near max..
 
Out of the 1800 pcs of .308 Lapua brass that I have, they run from 170 gr to 173 gr. Once I have fired all my brass I start reloading again. I am into the forth barrel on my target rifle with this same brass. I do not anneal the cases. I have culled a few cases because the primer pocket were loose (less than 30 cases so far) and one case had a split neck.
Worth every penny.
 
*IF* you take the time to prep your brass, then WW or RP brass works just fine. Take the time to weigh, sort, trim, chamfer, deburr and true the pockets and flash holes. A few hours work per hundred brass, and you'll probably end up discarding a percentage.

Or, just buy Lapua, and load it right up out of the box.

As far as 'toughness' goes - if my primer pockets are opening up too much after only 4 or 5 loads, I'll just back off a bit. I have no interest in 'finding the maximum potential' of my hand loads. I like my face the way it's currently arranged. I don't just want to get stronger brass which masks the signs of high pressure, right up to the point something else gives
 
Nosler

Nosler make nice brass too. Some folks like to use Lake City brass in the smaller cases like 222, 223. Me and my partner have all of the latest gear for brass prep so it way easier on the hands. FS
 
W-W vs Lapua

Thanks guys, questions answered;

Lapua as tough as W-W
Lapua more consistent than W-W
Lapua alot heavier than W-W my W-W 308 weighs 153-155 gns.
I was afraid that might be the case.

Thanks again for the input.

Douglas
 
c-fbmi said:
Thanks guys, questions answered;

Lapua as tough as W-W
Lapua more consistent than W-W
Lapua alot heavier than W-W my W-W 308 weighs 153-155 gns.
I was afraid that might be the case.

Thanks again for the input.

Douglas
Click to expand...

For the hell of it I checked a hand full of used 308 lapua and they are running 172.5 to 174 gns in weight. The have been fired and reloaded also and came with some other gear I bought. I don't have any brand new 308 lapua to check
 
Douglas

I only use Lapua in my 9.3x62 but it is very nice stuff. Annealed from the factory and nice to work with. As the rifle in question is an "irons only" proposition I wasn't too concerned about wringing every tenth out of it, but when weighed the brass was very consistent and so far has given me zero problems. For the average low-volume hunting rifle it may be nicer than necessary and more durable than it has to be, but if I was building a target rifle that I was going to shoot a lot I would spend the extra cash for the Lapua brass.

Luckily I haven't had to buy brass for anything common in a few years so I haven't run onto the problems you detail with W-W brass. I too have used it almost exclusively for years, only using R-P in my BPCR to take advantage of the smaller internal volume.
 
3macs1 said:
Just wondering about your process for annealing?? Years back I used a stove and color changing cream. What is done now??
Click to expand...

Uhhhhhhhh you really DON'T want to do that. Only the neck and shoulder should be annealed. If the case head is annealed it will be too soft and cause the case to fail in a spectacular manner that may prove to be quite painful to the shooter.

The best way to anneal is to suck it up and buy a machine. This is quicker and more consistent than any other method.
 
Suputin said:
Uhhhhhhhh you really DON'T want to do that. Only the neck and shoulder should be annealed. If the case head is annealed it will be too soft and cause the case to fail in a spectacular manner that may prove to be quite painful to the shooter.

The best way to anneal is to suck it up and buy a machine. This is quicker and more consistent than any other method.
Click to expand...

Had no problem doing it 15 years ago with a burner off a propane stove, metal water tray and using the two colored temperature paints so the case doesn't over heat. I will see if I can find the old method.
 
I just chuck the case into the case holder from a Lee trimmer, chuck it into a cordless drill, and use a propane torch. Spin it in the same part of the flame each time, and count the same time for each case - works well, and can process a hundred cases an hour, or so. Annealing doesn't need to be done too often - using Collet dies and reasonable loads, I get 10+ before I feel I should anneal.

You can definitely over-anneal, too. And that screws up the neck tension and bullet pull, and, if really extremely soft, it can cause the shoulders to collapse instead of size
 
Suputin said:
If the cases are standing vertically in a pan of water how does the stove heat the top of the cases?
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Sorry I did not stand them in water, I spun them by hand over the stove burner which was propane until the temp stick mark turned color then I dropped them in the pan with water. Sticks like this


Temperature sticks are crayons that melt or change color at a specified temperature. Marking the case neck with a 660 degree Fahrenheit temperature stick and then heating the case neck evenly with a propane torch is the preferred method of hand annealing. The temperature stick mark will let you know exactly when the case reaches the proper temperature, then the heat is removed and the case allowed to cool. Temperature sticks can be purchased from various sources, including Tempil and McMaster-Carr.
 
c-fbmi said:
Thanks guys, questions answered;

Lapua as tough as W-W
Lapua more consistent than W-W
Lapua alot heavier than W-W my W-W 308 weighs 153-155 gns.
I was afraid that might be the case.

Thanks again for the input.

Douglas
Click to expand...

What about R-P brass?

I've used LOTS of it over the past decade of reloading and prefer it.

I only use Lapua brass for the 6mm BR since that's what's available for it - great stuff but at a significant price premium.
 
R-P brass

superd222 said:
What about R-P brass?

R-P brass okay but heavier and softer than W-W, I use it a fair bit lately but still prefer W-W or hopefully a suitable replacement.

I've used LOTS of it over the past decade of reloading and prefer it.

I only use Lapua brass for the 6mm BR since that's what's available for it - great stuff but at a significant price premium.
Click to expand...

R-P brass OK but heavier and softer than W-W, I do use it but prefer W-W until I can find a better replacement.
 
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