Current 30-06 Brass, Consistent Necks?

[DocB]

Good day,

Building a .30-06 SAMMI minimum spec. bolt gun and looking for brass. Tried new current Winchester and Nosler, both have problems with necks not cleaning up at 0.011", much less 0.013" or greater which is where I would like the necks to finish.

I've tried Greek CMP, unfired and deprimed LC from 43 and 54, Remington and Federal which all ended up being given to the Garand guys. I haven't tried RWS, Norma, or the new Lapua. I've heard Norma makes the Nosler brass and used to make the old Lapua .30-06 brass, so I haven't gone there yet. RWS is available for about $2/case, but I'm looking for 400-500 cases which would be about what I have in the barrel and gunsmithing.

Any folks with recent experience using and turning current .30-06 brass care to share their thoughts and/or sources for brass?

TIA,
DocB

 

[dbateman]

Re: Current 30-06 Brass, Consistent Necks?

I am very interested in this.


I was just going to buy Lapua brass.

 

[armorpl8chikn]

Re: Current 30-06 Brass, Consistent Necks?

Buy Lapua, mine has been fantastic. Leave the LC from the 60's alone please. That leaves more of this increasingly scarce commodity for me

I really would't worry about cleaning up the necks unless I was shooting a BR gun. My loads with both LC69 and Lapua will easily shoot sub MOA out past 1000yds. That is all you will ever need unless you want to win a BR match.

 

[jwp6114]

Re: Current 30-06 Brass, Consistent Necks?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: armorpl8chikn</div><div class="ubbcode-body">That is all you will ever need unless you want to win a BR match.</div></div>

I'd bet you a shiny nickel that's what doc is trying to do.

 

[armorpl8chikn]

Re: Current 30-06 Brass, Consistent Necks?

The old 06 is certainly capable. I would stick with Lapua if that is the case.

 

[DocB]

Re: Current 30-06 Brass, Consistent Necks?

APC & JWP,

It's just a bag match with no sighters and no wind flags.... I clean the MOA bullseye on occasions, sometimes more than one ;-).

APC,

Have you measured the Lapua necks? What were the results? I'd like some hard data obtained with the correct tools to go with opinions. Also, the brass mentioned above is way before the 60s. It's weak from mercury primers if fired and definitely hasn't been annealed.

Thanks,
DocB

 

[armorpl8chikn]

Re: Current 30-06 Brass, Consistent Necks?

Ok Doc I don't have a high end mic but I do have a decent set of dial calipers. I went round and roung the neck several times and measured just about .100" in on the mouth and got .014"to .015". I have no idea what vintage this Lapua is. This IS a fired case now, and I did debur the mouth to get an accurate reading. I have a Serengeti chamber so its not real tight but it is a match chamber. Hope this helps.

 

[oldfatguy]

Re: Current 30-06 Brass, Consistent Necks?

Not 30-06, but maybe useful just the same. I had 200 Lapua 260 Rem cases measure 0.015" to 0.017" neck thickness. Some more consistant then others, but some went to those measurements on the same case. Bottom line is they all had a minimum 0.015" thickness. Good if you are going to turn the necks anyway.

OFG

 

[DocB]

Re: Current 30-06 Brass, Consistent Necks?

APC & OFG,

Thanks for the information.

DocB

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: Current 30-06 Brass, Consistent Necks?

I use Rem. I also leave a portion of the neck unsized, which centers the cartridge neck better in the chamber neck.

It only gets sized full length when the shoulders need a bump.

I can also adjust the amount of neck length that gets resized, and this can allow some variance in neck tension, i.e., more resized length means more neck tension.

Light tension and jamming bullets do not combine well; as extracting a loaded cartridge can stick a bullet in the rifling.

I've found that neck length resizing adjustment is easier to do than trying to get a uniform neck wall thickness; and that with SAAMI chambers, maintaining an even neck wall thickness is not really as big an issue as it could be with tight neck chambers.

Greg

 

[ctsmith]

Re: Current 30-06 Brass, Consistent Necks?

Lapua or bust in 30-06.

FWIW, I've tried two different calibers in the Nosler. The neck wall variance was horrific in both.

 

[rusty815]

Re: Current 30-06 Brass, Consistent Necks?

Lapua is great, but I have stuck with Norma since they make brass for all the rifle calibers I reload, and Norma for me has been just as consistent and durable as Lapua and a bit cheaper.