Lapua 308 Win Palma, Pros and Cons?

[Rem7targetactical]

I keep seeing this brass available everywhere and was wondering if there were any pros or cons to using it over standard 308 win brass? I understand it uses small rifle primers which is a huge pro to me cause they can actually be found in BR versus the large rifle BR which is impossible to find. Is there anything else that makes them different? Are they undesirable to someone not shooting really hot loads for Palma competitions? Is the 308 Palma chamber different and these shouldn't even be fired out of a standard 308 Win? thanks ahead for any help.

 

[FCS]

Unless shooting in really cold temps, I doubt you'll see any real difference other then the Lapua Palma gave me smaller ES and better LR accuracy.

You'll need a smaller decapping rod as the flash hole is smaller, 0.060" dia IIRC, and a "standard" decapping pin will not fit through flash hole.

 

[Xcount]

there is really no minuses that i've heard of. There were lots of 450's shot with the large primer and people continue to shoot great groups and scores with the large primer. The one big plus i've heard of is people shooting really hot loads with heavy bullets like the brass because the pockets seem to last longer. I saw a reduction in group size using the small primer brass but I didn't do very much group testing with he large primer brass, the load just seemed to work better with the small primer? So I stopped testing and I use them at 1k. Brass is really the smallest part of the 1k shooting equation but if you can get small primers then use them. They don't make a difference really.

 

[ksthomas]

R7TT,

As a general rule, we try to discourage the use of the 308 Palma cases for anything other than competition applications. This is due to the potential for misfires or hangfires when these cases are used in "worst case" scenarios, such as some hunting applications. The Small rifle primers do enhance accuracy, and are perfectly reliable when used with the relatively fast powders (such as Varget, N140 or RL-15) which are normally used for Palma competitions. Most matches are fired during the summer months, or during periods in which weather isn't a serious problem. In switching to the hunting fields, we're more likely to see very cold temperatures, and often very heavy charges of slower burning powders, or ball powders. The Small Rifle primer works under the good conditions, but that's about the limit of what they will reliably set off. Getting into the hunting fields places additional demands on a primer that they can't always overcome. The predictable result, is a higher potential for hang-fires or outright misfires. Consequently, we recommend these cases for competition use only.

There was also the mention of the smaller flash hole, and that was perfectly correct. The Palma cases use a .060/1.5mm flash hole, as opposed to the standard .080/2.0mm in our regular 308 Win brass. This means you'll need to replace the decapping pin with the smaller version (most reloading equipment manufacturers offer these for their respective dies), or you WILL wind up sticking the pin in the flash hole.

There is a difference in Palma and most other versions of the 308 Win chamber, but it's not much of an issue for the chamber itself; the differences are in the throat. Most makers of reamers dubbed as Palma chambers have a significantly shorter throat to accommodate the 155 grain bullets mandated for International competition. Most US shooters who may wish to use their guns in other competitions, and don't worry about complying with the International regs, generally set their guns up with faster twists and longer throats so they may use heavier bullets as well.