New brass chambers fine, need to FL size?

[dcnyli]

Just got in some Lapua .308brass and after measuring a bunch to check headspace they are pretty much good to go. I chambered a few and they fit beautifully. Question is, do I need to FL size them, or just neck size/trim/shoot?


I fl size all my 6.5-.284 Lapua as per my gunsmith, but am new to Lapua in my .308

 

[EOD350]

I only neck size my new Lapua brass. Never had a problem. Running a .260 Remmy.
Mike

 

[FCS]

I prefer to FL size before first loading. Others do not.
You'll get tighter groups, noticeable at longer ranges, with FL sized virgin brass. If you can't see the difference in accuracy, then skip the FL sizing of virgin brass step.

 

[dcnyli]

the neck size is aprox .3355 +/- .0005, i have been using a .338 bushing with my fed brass and getting great results so I may have to expand the necks and then size down.

oddly i decided to measure some of my loaded rounds and the neck size is .338!!, at this point should I kick down the bushing size to .336 or just keep proceeding as is? Seems odd, but apparently my rifle likes very minimal neck tension

 

[Steve1]

Minimal neck tension may shoot well, but I don't want to take a chance of a bullet moving forward or back, or getting stuck in the chamber.

 

[dcnyli]

I'm going to test some with the increased tension this weekend..

 

[Expert684]

I FL size new Lapua brass. Found a bunch of the necks to be dented, also chamfer the case mouth before loading. It made a big improvement on my FT/R loads. Also de-burr the flash hole inside the case seems to help.

 

[Sig Marine]

I find the advantage of sizing (FL or neck) and setting neck tension with new brass to be that now I have brass that's basically what I'll be using, except for chamber expansion, to work my loads from. Lapua is good brass but neck tensions can vary out of the box so I just eliminate the variable.

 

[dcnyli]

makes sense. Also is it worth reassessing neck tension with the brass change?

i just took out some rounds and beat the heck out of them, the bullets don't move for nothing. Needs three huge whacks to remove with the kinetic puller, like huge whacks.

 

[Sig Marine]

I've never had a bullet move using .002 neck tension. I use Redding dies with bushings so tension can be whatever I want just by changing the bushing, however since .002 has worked so well, I've never changed. The loaded .308 ammunition in the particular lots of Lapua brass I have, measure .337 so I use a .335 bushing in my die. I also let my brass sit at least a week after sizing and before loading, something an "F" class shooter taught me, to let the brass relax. I don't know if it really makes a difference but I've done ever since I started reloading so I don't know any different.

 

[gstaylorg]

With virgin Lapua .223 Rem and .308 Win brass, I usually only use the Sinclair oversized expander mandrel to open up the necks prior to loading. You will definitely see more variation in neck tension within a given lot of brass, or between different lots of brass, than you will once it is full-length resized. However, for me the variance has not been huge and hasn't interfered with load development in any significant way. The expander mandrels are approximately .001" less than the caliber and do a pretty good job of consistently opening up the necks. I have found that the neck tension is usually very close to .0015" using this approach, whereas it will be .002" after the first full brass prep using the FL resizing die and the appropriate bushing. The only thing I have really noticed prepping virgin brass in this way is that the vertical will generally tighten up a bit at 300 yd and beyond after fire-forming and the first full brass prep. I have not had an optimized load change in any way between virgin (neck expanded) brass and fire-formed fully prepped brass. YMMV.

 

[Bradu]

I load Lapua brass straight out of the box and it shoots good enough that I can't see spending the time to mess with them unless one is dented pretty bad.

 

[Graham]

It's .308. Just load it and shoot it.

 

[djarecke]

On new brass, does it need to be lubed if using a Forster neck sizer or can you do it dry?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk