Use my Hornady and federal or wait for Lapua?

[Swampcrawler65]

6.5 Creedmoor. I have close to 300 Hornady and Federal once fired from factory ammo. I’m finally getting my Dies and such together.

Money for components and such isn’t endless, so I’m trying to decide if I should even bother with burning up bullets and powder on load development on the lower quality brass, or just wait a bit and get the Lapua. I know I want Lapua anyway. As someone new to precision rifle reloading I’d like to eliminate as many variables as possible. Thoughts?

 

[Kopfjager1]

Just get Peterson Brass. I have 800 peices of 6.5 CM and 1000 of 308 from them. Just as consistent specs as Lapua, without the dinged necks. When I bought the 1000 308 bagged cases they sent me 5 extra just in case some were damaged during shipping which only 1 was.

The only brass prep I have done for all 1000 is chamfer and debur the necks and run a neck expanding mandrel through them. The worst ES I've had was 34 or 35 during load development. My virgin brass with the developed load was an SD of 5.5 and an ES OF 22, 85 rounds tested.

Federal and Hornady will work fine may have to do a little bit more brass prep and may have to sort them, but if you're willing to spend money on Lapua, by all means spend the money on Peterson.

 

[spife7980]

Different beast but my 223 shoots crap RP brass with .003 neck thickness variation better than Lapua with its .001. Just because its expensive and measures really nicely doesnt necessarily make it the most accurate. I say, since it sounds like youre a new reloader, that shooting what you have might not be a bad choice. Maybe just prep a batch of 50 from matching head stamp and weight to get your feet wet. If you find something that shoots 1/2 moa you just saved a bunch on brass and didnt chew up that expensive brass either as a new reloader who will likely push some shoulders back too far or something else that will compromise brass life with your first amateur mistake. If Im wrong and youre seasoned and know you want the lapua then get it just for the peace of mind.

Edit: plus the cost of fireforming the new brass to your chamber. Some people dont bother but I like to develop with brass thats consistent out of my chamber.

 

[Silverjay]

The Hornady brass is fairly decent and delivered sub 1/2 moa for me, SD’s were 10-15 if memory serves. Alpha brass delivered better SD’s in the 4-6 range.

 

[JoeBUtah]

Load them. Shoot them. Repeat as needed. Why bother waiting? Especially if you're a little thin for cash.

 

[L.R.Novice]

Absolutely shoot what you have. When you need to buy, invest in good brass. Till then wear out whatever is on the shelf. I think you’ll be surprised at the results.

 

[davidb187]

People were shooting the Creedmoor before Lapua came with their brass. Just saying..
You'll be good with the hornady.. when they're done buy some Peterson's.

 

[dannySH]

Use them, learn to reload with them. You'll be surprised how many reloads you will get from them. 300 cases of 6.5CM well reloaded will outlast your barrel life.

 

[JSTARSZ]

^^^what he said.

 

[mi223]

Different beast but my 223 shoots crap RP brass with .003 neck thickness variation better than Lapua with its .001. Just because its expensive and measures really nicely doesnt necessarily make it the most accurate. I say, since it sounds like youre a new reloader, that shooting what you have might not be a bad choice. Maybe just prep a batch of 50 from matching head stamp and weight to get your feet wet. If you find something that shoots 1/2 moa you just saved a bunch on brass and didnt chew up that expensive brass either as a new reloader who will likely push some shoulders back too far or something else that will compromise brass life with your first amateur mistake. If Im wrong and youre seasoned and know you want the lapua then get it just for the peace of mind.

Edit: plus the cost of fireforming the new brass to your chamber. Some people dont bother but I like to develop with brass thats consistent out of my chamber.

This is good info. I messed up a lot of brass when i was first getting started. Learn with what you have and move on to better brass when you get things figured out a little better

 

[Tjfarmer]

Use the hornady to learn about reloading, I found hornadys brass to be pretty decent stuff in 6.5cm, other cartridges not so much...

 

[SWThomas]

I say wait for the Lapua. Work up the load you want with the components you're going to use.

 

[Swampcrawler65]

Thanks for the info guys. I’ll be using the stuff I have on hand as, though I’ve done a metric crap ton of straight wall high volume stuff, this is my first crack at trying to do good bottleneck rounds so I’ll almost certainly mangle a few cases.

 

[rduckwor]

Shoot the Hornady. It will get it done.

RMD