Lapua brass problems.

Chinbullco

Chinbullco

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New Lapua brass sized for the first time, is leaving grit in my dies and if not cleaned out builds up on case necks and will scratch the brass. Never had to deal with taking a die apart every three rounds to polish flaking brass out of neck. Tried sizing wax, silicone spray lube, bullet swage lube and just about every lube in my shop. Its not a lube issue its a flaking brass problem. The next box of brass will be washed with STM before I waste any more time polishing loading dies. Its happened with 222, 220 Russian, 6.5 X 47, 308, 308 Palma, and 6.5 X 55. Only the Lapua brass in the new plastic container has given me these problems. The 6.5-284 cases in the cardboard box are fine. Could there be some weird typhoid causing C7+ aromatic fumes in those boxes that is deteriorating the brass?
 
Lapua brass

A&Shuntr said:
Just cracked open a new plastic box of .260 Rem no problems with Redding dies. Strange...
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The problem is not die related. Its the Lapua brass flaking in the mouth. No problems with any other brass. 6.5 X 47 and 6.5 X 55 were the worst. Used grey Scotch-Brite wound on 22 cal bore brush in drill press to clean necks on new brass. Problem solved,--- but, ??
 
Chinbullco said:
The problem is not die related. Its the Lapua brass flaking in the mouth. No problems with any other brass. 6.5 X 47 and 6.5 X 55 were the worst. Used grey Scotch-Brite wound on 22 cal bore brush in drill press to clean necks on new brass. Problem solved,--- but, ??
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But....that's not what you'd expect with Lapua brass. Have you emailed them and asked?
 
I have been reloading the same Remington 308 brass for 20 years. YES I said 20 years. Last year I had a couple of the necks starting to split. I bought a Styer SSG P1 last fall and thought what the heck, I'l buy 100 Lapua brass and I should be golden for another extended period of time.
I have reloaded the Lapua brass maybe 10 times and shot it in my very tight Remington chamber and the SSG (not so tight). Last week I had two case seperations and I can see where a few more are getting ready to go as well. I full length resize every time and I size them to fit the Remington being the tighter chamber.
Not impressed.
SRSA311
 
SRSA311 said:
I have been reloading the same Remington 308 brass for 20 years. YES I said 20 years. Last year I had a couple of the necks starting to split. I bought a Styer SSG P1 last fall and thought what the heck, I'l buy 100 Lapua brass and I should be golden for another extended period of time.
I have reloaded the Lapua brass maybe 10 times and shot it in my very tight Remington chamber and the SSG (not so tight). Last week I had two case seperations and I can see where a few more are getting ready to go as well. I full length resize every time and I size them to fit the Remington being the tighter chamber.
Not impressed.
SRSA311
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May not be impressed but unfortunately you will have to get used to it. Like comparing my 1966 impala to my wife's 2008
I also have 20 plus year rem and win brass saved just for hunting loads also but the quality of that brass is not even on the same page as what they sell today. Far superior
As far as what is being sold today Lapua is for sure one of the best but don't expect to get 20 years of reloading out of it 10 -12 reloads for me and time for new.
I use it in 223 and 243 and never had the issue the OP describes
 
SRSA311 said:
I have been reloading the same Remington 308 brass for 20 years. YES I said 20 years. Last year I had a couple of the necks starting to split. I bought a Styer SSG P1 last fall and thought what the heck, I'l buy 100 Lapua brass and I should be golden for another extended period of time.
I have reloaded the Lapua brass maybe 10 times and shot it in my very tight Remington chamber and the SSG (not so tight). Last week I had two case seperations and I can see where a few more are getting ready to go as well. I full length resize every time and I size them to fit the Remington being the tighter chamber.
Not impressed.
SRSA311
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Going from gun to gun like that I am surprised you got 10 reloads out of it, what do you expect when you work harden and stretch/shrink the cases to the extremes that you are??? Might be time to think about buying brass specific to the rifle you shoot it in, will save you money in the long run :slap:
 
Chinbullco said:
The problem is not die related. Its the Lapua brass flaking in the mouth. No problems with any other brass. 6.5 X 47 and 6.5 X 55 were the worst. Used grey Scotch-Brite wound on 22 cal bore brush in drill press to clean necks on new brass. Problem solved,--- but, ??
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This is the 3rd or 4th thread with guys having the same issue with new lapua brass. Severe scatching of dies...

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=724330

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=767646
 
I had the exact same problem with brand new Lapua 308 and 223. I started wiping the brass off with a towel first and that seemed to lengthen the time between having to use a 3M pad in my drill.
 
Had the same prob with some blue box 6.5x284.

I highly doubt the brass is scratching either steel or TiN coated bushings. What I see is very soft annealled brass on the necks which is probably galling on the die or bushing.

Use a tiny bit of lube on your finger to neck size the new brass and it will fine again after firing.

I just neck sized 85 once fired brass (of the same brass I had the galling problem with mentioned above) and had absolutely no issues with the galling problem.
 
joe-nwt said:
Can someone explain how brass can scratch steel? Thank you.
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Different prob ... from what I have experienced, that when I'm not using lubrication, brass will built up a deposit on some point within a die neck to the point where it starts to scratch the brass. Clean the (die) neck with some fine steel wool and brass cleaners, then good to go again ...
 
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New Lapua brass

Lubing neck made no difference, inside and outside. Removed primer punch and expander assembly, still getting scratched cases. Washing new Lapua brass in STM tumbler solved the problem. I think Winchester brass even with a 50% cull rate is easier to deal with than this crap from Lapua. Its not like I found this brass in the used ### toy bin!
 
Chinbullco said:
Lubing neck made no difference, inside and outside.
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Did you clean off the residual brass from the die or bushing before lubing and trying again? I had used some copper remover (ammonia) and some polish to remove the galled brass from my bushing and the lubed necks worked great for 100+ rounds.
 
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