So I got a new 338 Lapua built for me early this spring by PCR. Now that the weather has warmed up I have finally had a chance to get out and break in the barrel and get this thing sighted in.
I bought some of the cheaper Herter's 338 Lapua loaded with the 250 gr SMK from Cabelas. The accuracy was just under 1" at 100 yards, so not terrible. The problem is with the brass. Every round except for 1 out of the box of 10 required and insane amount of hand force, and some even need a rubber mallet on the bolt handle, to get the brass out of the chamber.
I saw slightly better reviews on the Sellior and Bellot 338 Lapua loaded with the 300 gr SMK (seems to be a more recent one they started loading). Threw that in my gun and the same exact thing happened; 5/5 rounds that I fired had to be hammered out.
I started getting a little concerned that perhaps my chamber somehow got reamed too tight so I grabbed some of my nice Norma ammo loaded with 300 gr SMKs. Luckily these cycled just fine with only a slight hangup on the very first round.
I also heard that Hornady has a huge problem with their brass being too thin and getting stuck in chambers as well, so I have been wary to even buy a box to try out.
So my question is:
Why can no one seem to make decent brass for the Lapua with the exception of Norma and Lapua? I realize that when I got into this caliber that I would be forking over the big bucks to shoot it, but I thought I could at least get away with some of the cheaper loads to do more plinking and sighting in (or at least getting close). I was also hoping to use the brass for my first set of reloads, but now I fear that I will be hammering those out of my chamber as well.
I might just shoot the rest and never look back. I heard that factory Savages seem to be able to handle this stuff a bit easier than Remington's. If that is the case and you have a Savage that will eat this stuff, I will be happy to sell you my brass at a discounted price or perhaps do a 2:1 trade for Norma or Lapua brass.
Rant done.
I bought some of the cheaper Herter's 338 Lapua loaded with the 250 gr SMK from Cabelas. The accuracy was just under 1" at 100 yards, so not terrible. The problem is with the brass. Every round except for 1 out of the box of 10 required and insane amount of hand force, and some even need a rubber mallet on the bolt handle, to get the brass out of the chamber.
I saw slightly better reviews on the Sellior and Bellot 338 Lapua loaded with the 300 gr SMK (seems to be a more recent one they started loading). Threw that in my gun and the same exact thing happened; 5/5 rounds that I fired had to be hammered out.
I started getting a little concerned that perhaps my chamber somehow got reamed too tight so I grabbed some of my nice Norma ammo loaded with 300 gr SMKs. Luckily these cycled just fine with only a slight hangup on the very first round.
I also heard that Hornady has a huge problem with their brass being too thin and getting stuck in chambers as well, so I have been wary to even buy a box to try out.
So my question is:
Why can no one seem to make decent brass for the Lapua with the exception of Norma and Lapua? I realize that when I got into this caliber that I would be forking over the big bucks to shoot it, but I thought I could at least get away with some of the cheaper loads to do more plinking and sighting in (or at least getting close). I was also hoping to use the brass for my first set of reloads, but now I fear that I will be hammering those out of my chamber as well.
I might just shoot the rest and never look back. I heard that factory Savages seem to be able to handle this stuff a bit easier than Remington's. If that is the case and you have a Savage that will eat this stuff, I will be happy to sell you my brass at a discounted price or perhaps do a 2:1 trade for Norma or Lapua brass.
Rant done.
