Lapua Brass

[jlopez]

Ok guys I have read many post and just wanted to confirm. I am starting to reload for a custom .308 that is due in any day now. I received my Lapua Brass and opened one box I measured head space and neck size and found it to be very consistent as every one had told me it would be. Since I have never bought new brass before is there anything I need to prep. Neck size is .337 right out of the box. When I purchased my Redding dies they suggest .335 for the the neck size. Should I just try the factory neck size or should I resize it to .335? So far it looks like I may need to buy additional neck bushings.

Thanks in advance,
Juan

 

[Dave-O]

Re: Lapua Brass

For me, I load them and shoot them the first time around.. No problems.. YMMV...

 

[H5N1]

Re: Lapua Brass

I had to prep the flash hole and resize all the Lapua brass I've used. Never tried to load without resizing it before.

 

[308sako]

Re: Lapua Brass

.

 

[gtofan]

Re: Lapua Brass

Call your smith and see if they can give you the neck dia from the reamer they used. Chances are they can even give you the max neck dia you want to have since they are cutting the chamber.

The first firing is going to give you the formed case, take measurements from that. If you plan to F/L size take case measurements before and after and see how much the brass is getting worked, you may even want to have a custom F/L die made.

I personally neck size only until I received my custom F/L die, still neck size until the bolt is hard to close.

Don't worry too much about the headspace of the new cases, that will all change after you fire it.

 

[Victor N TN]

Re: Lapua Brass

Before you do anything try chambering a piece of the new brass. If the smith made the bolt face tight you might have a slight glitch. The Lapua are known to be tight in the case head area if the chamber & bolt face are tight.

Not meaning to spread bad news or rumors. Just check it before you get a bunch loaded and it won't fit.

 

[rmcc]

Re: Lapua Brass

Good to know, I was just getting ready to order some.


Thanks,
Rich

 

[dmgreene]

Re: Lapua Brass

Make sure that you chamfer the inside of the necks before loading. Some of the shoulders may be very soft. I have collapsed some case shoulders before because I didn't chamfer them first.

David

 

[jlopez]

Re: Lapua Brass

Thanks for all the suggestions gentlemen. Looks like I did not have the problem with the brass being all messed up as the other poster did. I did not think of chambering the brass to determine if sizing was required. All other aspects length, neck size and flash holes look good but I will double check. Thanks for the reminder on Chamfering.

Juan