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260 Rem - Lapua versus Remington Brass

ShtrRdy

Gunny Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
  • Sep 17, 2011
    2,941
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    High Plains
    What are the benefits with using Lapua brass for the .260 Rem cartridge? I would like to understand why Lapua brass is about twice as expensive than Remington brass.
     
    Re: 260 Rem - Lapua versus Remington Brass

    it is Lapua brass....

    number of relaods.
    Drilled as opposed to punched
    wall thickness

    Did I mention it is Lapua brass?
     
    Re: 260 Rem - Lapua versus Remington Brass

    <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 308sako</div><div class="ubbcode-body">FWIW, the last box of Lapua 6.5/284 brass I have opened is about the worst brass I have ever seen in terms of run out.

    Must be my old eyes lying to me. </div></div>

    Interesting to hear.
     
    Re: 260 Rem - Lapua versus Remington Brass

    I have about 3500 rounds on my 260, I bought a 1000 rounds of Rem brass when I started. It still groups 1/2 moa. Except for the brass I lost and the ones I pushed a little hard and tossed they worked awesome. I wouldn't pay the difference.
     
    Re: 260 Rem - Lapua versus Remington Brass

    Lapua brass is very nicely made, but you've really gotta ask yourself what your going to do with it.

    I know folks that can shoot out a 308 barrel with 100 pcs of brass. They load 100, make a few trips to the square range, and then they load them back up. They rarely if ever lose brass, and they don't need a whole bunch, because a range trip is usually 20-30 rounds.

    That doesn't work for me, and probably a lot of other folks here!

    I shoot, I move, I shuck brass into the tall grass, into the leaves and then might get the chance to come back later for it. I never come home with as much as left with.

    I'll be damned before I shuck out $1.00 pieces of brass to be left behind.

    In terms of accuracy, I think there is little difference between the RP and Lapua. I haven't tried to shoot the difference in 260, but I have in 308. My eyes got opened wide when I tested some really crappy IVI69 NATO brass I had with terribly off center flash holes, and shot bugholes at 200 yards with it.

    Lastly, if you are a KD target shooter, where .050" @ 600 yards or 1000 yards might break you into the scoring ring and win you the match, sure, the Lapua is worth it. For tactical type shooting under heavy time pressure and awkward positions, it's not worth it.

    YMMV
     
    Re: 260 Rem - Lapua versus Remington Brass

    Turbo54, couldn't agree with you more for the type of shooting that you do. I bought 500rds of 308 Laupa brass years ago and turned it into 260 brass and that brass is on its 3rd 260 barrel as we speak.

    I am getting to the point now of getting cracked necks. I can't even tell you how man times the brass has been reloaded. I started off with Remington 260 brass and my rifle kept getting unexplained flyers. Once I changed to the Lapua that went away. Now granted the earlier 260 brass was very inconsistant when it first came out. So maybe the newer brass is better. I know my Remington 6.5x55 brass is excellent. I just can't get the number of reloads out of it and I don't cry when I loose one either.HA
     
    Re: 260 Rem - Lapua versus Remington Brass

    I bought Winchester 7mm-08 brass and resized it to 260 Rem, so far no problems and 28.00 for 50 I think its a deal!
     
    Re: 260 Rem - Lapua versus Remington Brass

    I got 30 loads on my Lapua 308 Palma brass with no trouble. I recently put on a 7mm08 barrel and am to lazy to neck up 260 brass from Lapua. The Winchester brass is a good deal, but I'm ordering some Nosler brass on Monday to give it a try. If Lapua made the caliber I needed I would definitely get that instead, but I'm not doing anything that causes me to lose brass.
     
    Re: 260 Rem - Lapua versus Remington Brass

    I did quite a bit of head to head testing of Remington vs Lapua .260 brass when I first got my TRG .260. I found that both were very accurate but the Lapua consistently averaged groups about 1/10" tighter at 100 yds. For hunting, casual shooting or tactical comps, this won't matter. For F-class shooting, it was enough for me to stick with the Lapua.

    I also have gotten better longevity out of the Lapua. I load pretty warm for f-class and the Remington brass starts to get loose primer pockets after 4 or 5 loads. Lapua lasts about twice as long.

    Another consideration is interior case volume. Since the Lapua brass has thicker walls, you have slightly less case volume. I noticed indentical loads where the Lapua brass produced consistently higher velocity; about 25fps. This also means that you get higher pressure with the Lapua brass, so if you are loading near max you may have to reduce your powder charge slighly as compared to Remington brass.

    Lastly, if you are using Redding S type dies, you will need a different bushing for Lapua brass than Remington to maintain a given neck tention, again because of the difference in case wall thickness.
     
    Re: 260 Rem - Lapua versus Remington Brass

    <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Lakeway</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I did quite a bit of head to head testing of Remington vs Lapua .260 brass when I first got my TRG .260. I found that both were very accurate but the Lapua consistently averaged groups about 1/10" tighter at 100 yds. For hunting, casual shooting or tactical comps, this won't matter. For F-class shooting, it was enough for me to stick with the Lapua.

    I also have gotten better longevity out of the Lapua. I load pretty warm for f-class and the Remington brass starts to get loose primer pockets after 4 or 5 loads. Lapua lasts about twice as long.

    Another consideration is interior case volume. Since the Lapua brass has thicker walls, you have slightly less case volume. I noticed indentical loads where the Lapua brass produced consistently higher velocity; about 25fps. This also means that you get higher pressure with the Lapua brass, so if you are loading near max you may have to reduce your powder charge slighly as compared to Remington brass.

    Lastly, if you are using Redding S type dies, you will need a different bushing for Lapua brass than Remington to maintain a given neck tention, again because of the difference in case wall thickness. </div></div>

    Thanks for sharing your experiences between the two.

    Regarding the different neck sizing bushing, are the Lapua necks thicker than Remington, or vice versa? Which bushings did you end up using for Lapua and Remington?
     
    Re: 260 Rem - Lapua versus Remington Brass

    If you can afford Lapua and it doesn't bother you, go with it. You will be happy, Yes, they do the same thing but you will feel and see a big difference over the long haul between the two. OR, do like I did. I have 300pc of Lapua Brass and 1300pc of win 7-08 brass for my .260 I mostly use the win but for the few paper matches I shoot I use the Lapua on them. Two different loads with 2 different powders. I work out of town and carry my rifle so sometimes when I get home I shoot with the bench guys with my tactical 260 if I didn't have time to reload for my bench guns. I've only shot one paper match with the win brass and my scores weren't to bad. I would deff get the win over the RP if you don't go lapua. Good luck
     
    Re: 260 Rem - Lapua versus Remington Brass

    <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: ShtrRdy</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Lakeway</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I did quite a bit of head to head testing of Remington vs Lapua .260 brass when I first got my TRG .260. I found that both were very accurate but the Lapua consistently averaged groups about 1/10" tighter at 100 yds. For hunting, casual shooting or tactical comps, this won't matter. For F-class shooting, it was enough for me to stick with the Lapua.

    I also have gotten better longevity out of the Lapua. I load pretty warm for f-class and the Remington brass starts to get loose primer pockets after 4 or 5 loads. Lapua lasts about twice as long.

    Another consideration is interior case volume. Since the Lapua brass has thicker walls, you have slightly less case volume. I noticed indentical loads where the Lapua brass produced consistently higher velocity; about 25fps. This also means that you get higher pressure with the Lapua brass, so if you are loading near max you may have to reduce your powder charge slighly as compared to Remington brass.

    Lastly, if you are using Redding S type dies, you will need a different bushing for Lapua brass than Remington to maintain a given neck tention, again because of the difference in case wall thickness. </div></div>

    Thanks for sharing your experiences between the two.

    Regarding the different neck sizing bushing, are the Lapua necks thicker than Remington, or vice versa? Which bushings did you end up using for Lapua and Remington? </div></div>

    The Lapua is thicker by .006". To maintain .002" neck tention for Lapua brass I use a .292" bushing. For Remington, a 286" gives me .002" neck tention. If use the .292" bushing on Remington brass, the bullet literally falls out of the case.
     
    Re: 260 Rem - Lapua versus Remington Brass

    <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 308sako</div><div class="ubbcode-body">FWIW, the last box of Lapua 6.5/284 brass I have opened is about the worst brass I have ever seen in terms of run out.

    Must be my old eyes lying to me. </div></div>

    Your old eyes are just fine. I bought a batch of 260 roughly 6 months ago, first Lapua I've ever purchased, and after two firings, many exhibited loose primer pockets that would no longer hold a primer. This was coupled with pressure signs, although I backed the charge off to 42gr 4350 in a Remington throat, nearly a full grain lower than my standard Remington or Winchester match load, after reading that they may have less powder capacity due to thicker walls.

    I've been in contact with them and we're working on sorting it out so this isn't an insult or attack but they ran into some QC issues, I believe they addressed it and they're working on righting the ship.

    On the positive side, the weight is very uniform, the primer pockets are great, they're more consistent, ready to load out of the box, stronger necks, and an overall superior product to the Remington, Winchester, etc. so that's where the price comes from.
     
    Re: 260 Rem - Lapua versus Remington Brass

    I bought 100 Lapua 260 brass and rezized another 100 from 243 RP brass.

    I neck size with a Lee Collet die. Both are working very well. Group size very close.

    Chris
     
    Re: 260 Rem - Lapua versus Remington Brass

    Lapua tends to have better dimensional consistency (a plus), and Remington tends to be made from somewhat softer brass (maybe not so plus).

    This is good (necks may get more cycles before hardening), and bad (primer pockets are more vulnerable to expansion with hotter loads).

    Brass quality is an issue, but it' not so easy to define how this will affect the handloader. Generally, all brass fares better when loads are kept out of the hot zone. It's interesting to note that they contract at least some of their brass production out. I know that some has come from companies like Bofors and Kaltron-Pettibone back in the not too recent psat.

    Lapua employs drilled flash holes; Remington (and most eveyone else's, too) punches out the flash holes. Reaming the flash holes levels this end of the playing field.

    I use Lapua for my .30BR FV250 brass, necking up and turning the necks (a friend does mine), and Remington/Winchester for most other applications. Lately, I am trying PPU (Prvi-Partizan, formerly AKA Hansen) with .223 and 7.62x54R with good results.

    Greg
     
    Re: 260 Rem - Lapua versus Remington Brass

    Lakeway pretty much hit it on the head. I started out with 200 rounds of lapau brass for my 260. With 43 grains of h4350 and 142smks i got ejector marks on my brass but switched to remingto brass after talking to chad at dallas reloads. The same load with the remington brass had no signs of pressure. Like chad and lakeway said the thickness of lapua gets 20 or so more fps but you get pressure signs earlier because its thicker. The main question for me is how long is each one gonna last. If you get more fps out of lapua with less powder and you have to run more powder in the remingtons to get more fps well fuck i dont know. I am just going to go shoot and see. Personally if my lapua lasts longer with more loads and like some have already said its more consistant for the benchrest guys i would go with that.
     
    Re: 260 Rem - Lapua versus Remington Brass

    BR folks tend to seek accuracy at any cost, the rest tend to be somewhat more frugal.

    This is pretty much in line with my use of Lapua for my primary imperative application, FV250; and other brands for all my other applications.

    I make an issue of trying to avoid the hotter end of the charge weight spectrum, to conserve on brass and bore life. Some will, some won't.

    Greg
     
    Re: 260 Rem - Lapua versus Remington Brass

    <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Lakeway</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: ShtrRdy</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Lakeway</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I did quite a bit of head to head testing of Remington vs Lapua .260 brass when I first got my TRG .260. I found that both were very accurate but the Lapua consistently averaged groups about 1/10" tighter at 100 yds. For hunting, casual shooting or tactical comps, this won't matter. For F-class shooting, it was enough for me to stick with the Lapua.

    I also have gotten better longevity out of the Lapua. I load pretty warm for f-class and the Remington brass starts to get loose primer pockets after 4 or 5 loads. Lapua lasts about twice as long.

    Another consideration is interior case volume. Since the Lapua brass has thicker walls, you have slightly less case volume. I noticed indentical loads where the Lapua brass produced consistently higher velocity; about 25fps. This also means that you get higher pressure with the Lapua brass, so if you are loading near max you may have to reduce your powder charge slighly as compared to Remington brass.

    Lastly, if you are using Redding S type dies, you will need a different bushing for Lapua brass than Remington to maintain a given neck tention, again because of the difference in case wall thickness. </div></div>

    Thanks for sharing your experiences between the two.

    Regarding the different neck sizing bushing, are the Lapua necks thicker than Remington, or vice versa? Which bushings did you end up using for Lapua and Remington? </div></div>

    The Lapua is thicker by .006". To maintain .002" neck tention for Lapua brass I use a .292" bushing. For Remington, a 286" gives me .002" neck tention. If use the .292" bushing on Remington brass, the bullet literally falls out of the case. </div></div>

    Thanks for the info on the bushing size. I was wondering which to buy for RP brass and Redding Type S dies mix.
     
    Hey guys will I get any more life out of the lapua cases or not, cuz I've noticed that rem cases split at the neck after maybe 10 reloads

    Without annealing at intervals of 3 or 4 loadings, neither one will get much past that. With annealing, Lapua might get you another 5 or 6 loads than the RP, it really depends more on how hot of a load you're running, and sooner or later you'll run into case head separations. In that respect the Lapua should outlast the RP just due to it's thickness.
     
    Yea well in only talkin 223 cases mate so they would last longer I suppose and I'm thinking bout getting a 22-250 would it be worth getting the lapua cases?
     
    I have necked up winchester and lapua 243 to 260, neck down rem 7-08 to 260 and bought 100 lapua 260 brass, can't tell the did between any of them in accuracy but I do like the cost of the win 243 brass.
    Cheers.
     
    I use lapua across the board right now... it last long imo... i had over 25 reloads on my last batch of 65 grendel and prolly coulda got more. Life of brass is what you pay for. Nosler is suppose to be real good too.
     
    The Nosler 260 Rem. I bought 3 years ago SUCKED! Pitched half away after 1 or 2 firing because the primer pockets enlarged and would not hold a primer. Back then most complained that their brass was to soft.
     
    Does anyone have a feel for the difference in powder charges for remington vs lapua brass? Assume same powder bullet combo, what have you seen as a weight difference for accurate loads
     
    Does anyone have a feel for the difference in powder charges for remington vs lapua brass? Assume same powder bullet combo, what have you seen as a weight difference for accurate loads

    While I haven't loaded remington brass in mine (hasn't been available since I built it) I do load both Lapua and 243 Winchester brass that's necked up and I find with H4350, I have to load about 2/10's more in the Win brass to get the same speed as the Lapua.
     
    My experience with Nosler 260 brass is comparable to Wrongside's. I have shot Remington and Nosler brass out of my 260 (a stock Remington 700 VLS). I found that the Nosler brass was significantly less accurate at 300 yds (longest distance at the local range). I also noticed it began getting hard to chamber after about 5 loadings. I have not tried Lapua brass, but as it is the only brass that is currently readily available I will probably be trying some in the next few months.
     
    All I can find are Lapua and Nosler lately. Surprisingly, the Nosler is running about $15/100ct more. I'd like to get some Remington brass, but until then I'll have to hope that Lapua brass lives up to its reputation.
     
    Originally Posted By: 308sako
    FWIW, the last box of Lapua 6.5/284 brass I have opened is about the worst brass I have ever seen in terms of run out.

    Must be my old eyes lying to me.



    Your old eyes are just fine. I bought a batch of 260 roughly 6 months ago, first Lapua I've ever purchased, and after two firings, many exhibited loose primer pockets that would no longer hold a primer. This was coupled with pressure signs, although I backed the charge off to 42gr 4350 in a Remington throat, nearly a full grain lower than my standard Remington or Winchester match load, after reading that they may have less powder capacity due to thicker walls.

    I've been in contact with them and we're working on sorting it out so this isn't an insult or attack but they ran into some QC issues, I believe they addressed it and they're working on righting the ship.

    On the positive side, the weight is very uniform, the primer pockets are great, they're more consistent, ready to load out of the box, stronger necks, and an overall superior product to the Remington, Winchester, etc. so that's where the price comes from.
    [MENTION=41139]Swift[/MENTION] do you have the lot number? I just purchased 6 boxes and am going to be pissed if they're bad. They definitely have thicker necks, thicker than even their 6.5x47 brass.

    On the plus side, I usually weight sort my brass by percent, culling anything 1% above or 1% below the average weight. I had to close the gap to 0.3% either side on that Lapua in order to cull ANY. I'd say weight sorting Lapua is a simply waste of time.

    For domestic brass, I had the primer pockets on Remington brass get too loose to hold a primer after one or two firings. I had much, much better luck using Winchester 7-08 brass. I bought the basic Hornady sizing die for $15 to neck it down as I was using bushing sizing dies. I also switched to Tula primers, since they are slightly larger and just as consistent as BR2s or 210Ms. With regular annealing and only bumping the shoulders 1-2 thousandths, I have some with 10 firings on them and no split necks or head separations as of yet.

    BUT I expect to get even more firings on the Lapua. Again, you need to anneal to get the high number of reloads you hear about.
     
    All I can find are Lapua and Nosler lately. Surprisingly, the Nosler is running about $15/100ct more. I'd like to get some Remington brass, but until then I'll have to hope that Lapua brass lives up to its reputation.

    My rifle shot RP brass loads very well. With this damn panic buying bullshit, Remington stopped producing components and is using all of their components on loaded ammo. I know this because I sent them an email 5 months before this year's Hide Cup asking why I can't find anymore RP .260 brass, and if I could buy 1000 pieces from them for a one time deal.

    Those of you shooting .243 Win brass, do you have to turn the necks on them?
     
    My rifle shot RP brass loads very well. With this damn panic buying bullshit, Remington stopped producing components and is using all of their components on loaded ammo. I know this because I sent them an email 5 months before this year's Hide Cup asking why I can't find anymore RP .260 brass, and if I could buy 1000 pieces from them for a one time deal.

    Those of you shooting .243 Win brass, do you have to turn the necks on them?

    I turn them just to get them consistent and to avoid doughnuts right out of the gate. They are Thin enough for my chamber to start with but the problems with doughnuts are always more common when necking up than down so it's more insurance than anything. Honestly if you can find 7-08 brass, that's better yet and just neck it down but it's damn near as hard to find as any of the others. I stumbled across 250 pcs of Win 243 brass and snatched it up. It's been good brass so far.
     
    I bought .260 Lapua brass for the first time recently & the quality is noticeably better than other brands.
    I was going to debur the flash hole but wasnt required it was all clear, went to uniform the primer pocket & the same all uniformed.
    The bug advantage is it is all prepped & ready to go!