Lapua 6.5x47 with 25% of case circumstance annealed

[FatBoy]

Anyone seen this before with Lapua? Four of the cases from this lot came out of the box with blue annealing stain down one "side" of the case. Hard to see in the pic, but they are discolored blue. My gut feeling is they're safe but I'm curious if anyone here has ran across this and what the outcome was.

Next to three normal cases for comparison.

 

[Bradv86]

I have a feeling this is more oxidation from storage or contact with something rather than annealing.

 

[FatBoy]

Maybe. Sealed box. Looks like heat stain to me but if appears like maybe they laid on something hot for a few seconds. They're primed and in the box queue up for 42gr of H4350 now...

 

[Doom]

I’ve seen this discoloration before. I shot them with with no issue. You might want to sacrifice one and take a pair of pliers, crush the neck which should be easy, and just above the extraction groove which should be more difficult.

 

[918v]

Nothing to worry about, it’s not from torch heat.

 

[FatBoy]

Thanks, All.

 

[Steel head]

They’ll 100% blow up!

As a service to the SH community you can send those to me for proper disposal.

 

[FatBoy]

They're loaded and ready to go at this point. If they blow up, they're taking a Tempest with them.

Always a little sad to see this...

 

[spife7980]

I’m convinced it’s from where they are resting against the foam top packing.

 

[Cascade Hemi]

As much as everyone seems to love Lapua brass I have found their annealing lacking at best. My last batch of Lapua brass I ended up reannealing and sizing all of it because of how inconsistent neck tension was. Frankly OP, I'd tumble off the annealing line and reanneal it before doing anything. That's just me though, I'm sure some will disagree.

 

[Steel head]

As much as everyone seems to love Lapua brass I have found their annealing lacking at best. My last batch of Lapua brass I ended up reannealing and sizing all of it because of how inconsistent neck tension was. Frankly OP, I'd tumble off the annealing line and reanneal it before doing anything. That's just me though, I'm sure some will disagree.

I haven’t seen a piece of new brass yet the doesn’t need some work on the neck.
Always way too much tension and once you run a mandrel through it it’s neck tension becomes a lot more consistent.

 

[Cascade Hemi]

I haven’t seen a piece of new brass yet the doesn’t need some work on the neck.
Always way too much tension and once you run a mandrel through it it’s neck tension becomes a lot more consistent.

I mandrel size everything, even after that seating pressure is inconsistent.

 

[FatBoy]

I mandrel it first time. There is some inconsistencies but I attribute that to the lube. After first firing it's very good.

I have my issues with Lapua brass for sure but for 6.5x47 they only game in town.

 

[Dthomas3523]

I mandrel size everything, even after that seating pressure is inconsistent.

If it’s actual seating pressure, that’s from friction. Not the tension (assuming mandrel is run).

The answer to that is lube or graphite or anything else to even out the friction.

 

[Cascade Hemi]

If it’s actual seating pressure, that’s from friction. Not the tension (assuming mandrel is run).

The answer to that is lube or graphite or anything else to even out the friction.

No, it was inconsistent annealing or hardness of the necks. The cases were properly chamfered, mandrel neck sized, and lubed with graphite and seating pressure was still inconsistent. That wasn't the first time either with this issue either. At any rate, I'm an advocate of treating new brass as if none of it is clean, annealed, chamfered, or trimmed. Don't assume that just because you bought high end brass it is prepared correctly. In other words, OP's pictures don't matter, tumble off the marks and get to work.

 

[FatBoy]

6BR and 6.5x284 is(was) notorious for having split necks or rolls in the shoulder. I can't remember a gold box that I got 100 out of. Always had to toss 2-6 per box. Blue box seems to be a bit better for QC but I don't think the brass is as good.

This kind of stuff, as well as huge shortages for several months per year, drove Alpha, Peterson, AFG, etc to start making high quality US brass so ultimately I thank them for being complacent.

 

[Cascade Hemi]

From said Lapua lot with questionable annealing.

 

[FatBoy]

From said Lapua lot with questionable annealing.

Exactly. Man that shit pisses me off. It's not the $1.05. Its staring at a new box of brass with 90~some thing pieces in it. They should be better than this. I have about 500-600 sticks if Peterson and a hundred ADG and the QC of each piece is certainly better.