Need some fire forming help with .338 Lapua

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personal_aviator

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I have 100 once fired brass (not fired from my rifle) that I need to fire form to my chamber. I have cleaned and resized the brass using my Redding body die and sized the neck using my Redding type S bushing die. I have never fire formed brass before other than loading up a load and shooting it. I am hoping to save on components so unless that is my only option that is what I will do.

Suggestions?
 
Are you suggesting you will fire form the brass after resizing it with a body die? Why would this be necessary? Even if it was previously fired in a different rifle the resizing (and perhaps trimming to length) should bring the case back to its nominal dimensions.
 
When fire forming cases for cartridge conversions like .303B to .410 shotshells I use 10-15gr of shotgun or pistol powder, top off the case with cream of wheat, and stuff some paper towel in the neck to seal it. Sometimes takes 2-3 loadings to get them fully formed though. I'm not sure how well it would work for forming FL resized cases to your chamber though.

You could try loading a lighter load with a discount or cast bullet to fire form them. Saves on components. I'd aim for a medium pressure load and not one of the really light ones that barely has enough pressure to obturate the case.
If you don't cast you're hardest step is going to find .338" or .339" cast bullets.
 
personal_aviator said:
Ok I have some SGK's that don't shoot well for me so maybe i'll load those and shoot them before loading my SMK's. Just don't want to waste my 300g SMK's
Click to expand...

Those should work fine.

I'm not sure how much accuracy improves with fire formed cases compared to cases that were full length sized. I always full length mine. I've never seen a neck sizer on the shelf at any of the stores I've been to or I might try it. I know it's easier on the brass but I'm not all that worried about my Hornady brass, maybe I'll worry more when I start using my Lapua brass.

Good luck
 
The biggest thing I've learned about reloading is (besides safety is #1) is consistency is key. I have a load that shoots very well when my cases are fire formed to my chamber. So I want to maintain that accuracy by fire forming my cases before loading my target rounds. Maybe I'm being just too particular and need to relax a bit. But I have been known to use tweezers to remove a grain from my load to get a "perfect" weight.

Am I being unreasonable? I'm shooting for fun, not trophies. But we do shoot out to 1000m so that is where, I believe, the consistency really pays off.
 
Just shoot a ladder test with it. Unless they were fired in the tightest chamber possible, and they bounce around like a tennis ball in yours, the difference in volume is minimal. Use the same brass to shoot some groups with what the ladder shows. That way you aren't wasting time fireforming and still get good data.

An example. For my 6mmBR, I had 300pcs of new Lapua brass. So I worked up a load using the unfired brass until they were all once fired, and then re-did ladder and grouping test and hey! Same load as before.
 
Just to reiterate I already have a load for this rifle. Load shoots great. I am just looking to get the best consistency I can therefore the smallest groups I can get too. I do not neck turn.......yet. I will in the future when I can get the equipment.

My process with my brass is as follows.
1. body size
2. Trim to 2.716 (I don't trim again until my brass stretches to 2.720)
3. Size neck with bushing die (2/3rd of the neck that is)
4. Load and shoot

I check every piece of brass for stretch (my limit is 2.720) after each firing. I run every piece of brass after it's been fired through the rifle to see how tight it is to close the bolt. I will neck size only until the brass has 3 firings on it at which point I aneal, body size again, neck size, trim if necessary and repeat.

So my last batch of brass had about 16 firings on it and I decided to pitch the batch after fining rings inside pointing to imminent case head separation.

So now I'm on a 'New" (once fired bought on the EE) batch. So because it wasen't fired in my rifle I body sized it, trimed it, and sized 2/3 of the neck. The brass is back to SAMMI spec but needs to be fire formed to my chamber for the best consistency which brings me back to my first post.

Do I need to fire form it for the best accuracy, if so then what would be the best way of going about that, with keeping wasting components to a minimum?

Or would I just be better off to load it up as normal and shoot it?

Cheers
 
I use 20gr of green dot with the case topped up to the bottom of the neck with cream of wheat, then capped with paper towel to form brass for my edge ai. It is much better to not have a muzzle break on for fireforming with COW. You will need to swab out your barrel about every 5-6 rounds using cow, but your also not burning up barrel life.

If you were dealing with a much smaller case like a 6br I would be more worried about fire forming, with the Lapua case I doubt you would see much difference.
 
Thanks all for the replies. From what I gathered from everyone, I figure the general consensus is to load and shoot and that's just what I'm goanna do. Actually went to the range yesterday and forgot my chrony :( so packed up and went home. Will get out this week though or even maybe tomorrow some time and get some fired off.

Thanks again..
 
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