Will new brass help for accuracy?

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MartyK2500

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Trying to break the 5 groups of 5 shots sub 1/3 moa at 200M lately.
I can do constant sub 1/2 moa.

Wondering if brass would be a component that would help.
My brass is lapua now 5-6x fired, but was also my learning to reload rifle with brass.
Did several sizing and neck turning mistakes in it’s first firings, wondering if the 2-3x fired by then has fireformed and buffed out initial mistakes.

Other than that, i am using what i think is a top notch barrel and components (.308),
Starting to explore the option of maybe cleaning my bore, by looks there is no copper markings but has seen over 500 rounds without the slightest brush or solvent, i just leave it be.

Edit : if these numbers matter, this morning i ran a 15 shot string through my labradar.
2701fps avg, 21 E.S., 6.6 S.D.
 
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I think the best answer here is:

try it (both with new brass and cleaning it) and see what happens.

Try cleaning your barrel first and seeing if anything changes. Once you get the results from that, move on to new brass and see if that makes any difference. Cleaning it costs next to nothing, and even buying new brass isn't going to cost you too much more than $120 for a 100 new Lapua cases, and if having too much Lapua brass is a bad thing....it's news to me ;)

You can never have too much information. :)

I discovered that in my rifle, virgin Lapua brass requires 0.3gr more powder than subsequent loadings, but I've gotten my tightest groups with it.

My barrel needs to be cleaned ~200 rounds,
 
I will try cleaning it.
Got some wipeout, wipeout accelerator, and a nylon brush.
Just that many threads ago, there was this strong general opinion, of never cleaning your bore.
Since i got my ibi barrel, i had only cleaned it once after 300 rounds.

For virgin lapua, if you have to use more powder on initial load you don’t fireform it with pistol powder and COW?
 
Get a Wilson's case gauge for your calibre. It will help you set the appropriate shoulder placement for your chamber. It uses fired brass to set your die for your chamber. Thoug with what your shooting already you may get more from refining your technique first.
 
For chamber shoulder measurements , i use an RCBS precision mic along with a clymer 1.630’’ headspace gauge to calibrate it.
Body is resized and shoulders bumped 2 thous, using a redding body die.
I resize necks separately.

For technique i cannot comment, am self taught.
I do use my 7 years of competition pistol for breathing, trigger squeeze and follow through, but don’t know if there’s more to it.
 
Did you try annealing the 5-6 times fired brass? That could help restore/normalize the neck tension. Also, it sometimes helps to do a full length sizing after the cases have been fired 5 times to set the shoulder back to SAAMI specs.
 
What brand is your barrel?

A lot of bench rest shooters shoot their brass until it's at the end of its life. No need to replace brass. I would clean every 200 rounds. A dirty barrel will eventually open up the groups.
 
MartyK2500 said:
I will try cleaning it.
Got some wipeout, wipeout accelerator, and a nylon brush.
Just that many threads ago, there was this strong general opinion, of never cleaning your bore.
Since i got my ibi barrel, i had only cleaned it once after 300 rounds.

For virgin lapua, if you have to use more powder on initial load you don’t fireform it with pistol powder and COW?
Click to expand...

Sounds like more fun to send a bullet down the barrel than some COW ;)
 
No need to do any of the silly fireforming "tricks" - shoot your standard loads. You can back them off to ~90-95% charge if you are really paranoid, but using pistol powder or the cream of wheat thing is just straight sillyness.
 
*MALICE* said:
Sounds like more fun to send a bullet down the barrel than some COW ;)
Click to expand...

Yeah, I guess if a buy a 300 lot of lapua same lot, I could do a small load dev with virgin brass, then do a second load dev once they are once fired.
Load devs with this barrel aren't hard, almost any load I do is always sub 3/4-7/8 moa, and have got constant sub 1/2 moa without too much work.
And my ''so far'' best load is at 42.7gr Varget sending my 175 SMK @ 2700fps, I don't feel the need to go explore the higher node stuff.

kthomas said:
What brand is your barrel?

A lot of bench rest shooters shoot their brass until it's at the end of its life. No need to replace brass. I would clean every 200 rounds. A dirty barrel will eventually open up the groups.
Click to expand...

Barrel brand is International Barrels Inc (IBI), made them cut a .308, 26'', M40, 5R, 1:10, 3/4x24 muzzle threads.
What I like, for a prefit, with my 175 SMKs, I am touching lands at 2.820''OAL avg (as I measure lands and seating depth from Ogive).
I headspaced it right at 1.630''.
So I am loading at 2.800''OAL avg, which is mag length spec., for a 20 thou jump with 175 SMKs.

Will give it a good clean tonight, after 300 rounds wipeout removed very very little copper, we'll see what 500+ rounds did for that.

p.s., this mornings shooting was done via a savage 10 receiver.
I felt right at home with it, forgot how seemless feeding a gun from a magazine could be, brought all my mags today, different brands, different materials (polymer-metal), even those I have tweeked lips and aren't factory spec anymore. Fed everything without the slightest hiccup, didn't touch the ramp once.
 
MartyK2500 said:
Barrel brand is International Barrels Inc (IBI), made them cut a .308, 26'', M40, 5R, 1:10, 3/4x24 muzzle threads.
What I like, for a prefit, with my 175 SMKs, I am touching lands at 2.820''OAL avg (as I measure lands and seating depth from Ogive).
I headspaced it right at 1.630''.
Click to expand...

PM incoming.
 
kthomas said:
No need to do any of the silly fireforming "tricks" - shoot your standard loads. You can back them off to ~90-95% charge if you are really paranoid, but using pistol powder or the cream of wheat thing is just straight sillyness.
Click to expand...

^^^This^^^
 
I would give it a good wipeout cleaning and try .2 grs. + and - of powder in your load.Lapua brass is pretty consistant for case capacity but you could try to seperate them into exact capacity using the H20 method or ball powder.
 
I did give it a good wipeout cleaning last night.
500+ rounds later there was some coppering, not as much as I’d expect though.
Lots of gunk though.

With clean barrel, i’ll shoot 10 foulers, and do a mini load dev see if i can squeeze more.
 
I’m no expert Marty, but if you are settled on a good middle of a powder node, middle of a good seating node, then your brass is likely just fine. You could check your runout, sort bullets by Base to ogive, weight, change your bullet seating procedure. My rifle barrel is factory, it shoots well, but needs cleaning before 100 rounds. Love the wipeout, I usually spray it, run a patch through in two hours, then spray it and deal with it after it’s sat overnight.
 
This is something i never had the patience for, sorting by volumetric capacity, or sorting bullets.
I will try and see if i can squeeze more without going there.

My current method produces practically zero runout.
All my ammo is vetween 0.5 and 1 thou runout.

What bullet seating procedure do you use?
 
New brass may help, everything you stated seems to have the load should be about perfect. Bullet and case grouping will be next for gaining consistency. What kind of direction are you going with your rifle? More a bench rest/F-class or a PRS style rifle?
 
Direction is more of personal satisfaction, and having fun with the service rifle section when they have precision rifle sessions.
Tomorrow i’ll go send lead down range with a mini load dev
We’ll see if a clean barrel gets me there.

If not I’ll try new brass.
Like a poster mentioned: one can never have too much lapua brass
 
The problem with virgin Lapua brass is that the neck tension is fairly tight, and sometimes the necks are dinged a bit from rough handling during transport.

I find my best groups are after 2-3 firings with careful brass prep which the OP is doing - body die to set the shoulder back consistently, Lee Collet die to set neck tension, and trim/chamfer/deburr to consistent length (with a Girad trimmer in my case).
 
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