Stepping on Alpha Munitions 308 Winchester brass

[MaxordPRS]

G'day Guys, thought this may be of interest to someone...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXkmcpk7Brc

Ultimate Reloader has pushed a 215 Berger using Alpha Munitions 308 Winchester brass to 2,700 FPS using what looks like (reading from the QuickLoad screen at the start of the video) a 24" barrel.

Tom at Alpha was telling me that they've made an internal geometry change to the 308 Winchester brass allowing it to support significantly higher pressures. I've relayed this to a couple of people, but haven't had anything material to substantiate it with until now. Apparently the US National team is running this stuff now and considers it to be a competitive advantage. Obviously everyone is accountable for their own loading practices and safety.

Keen to understand where the sort of charges they're running in the video sit relative to what you'd normally see on the line - it seems pretty drastic.

[willow]

More importantly do you have any 6GT brass coming soon?

[Tony GRC]

Well, the marketing worked on me I just purchased some. Ive been running 45.5gn of AR2208 pushing Berger 185 Jugs with ADI and RWS Brass for 900/1000 yard load out of a 24” Barrel. In dry conditions reloading (45% relative humidity) I got 2710fps - have some Berger 200.20x I want to try out and thsi brass looks promising, not that I’m going to be trying to get those type of velocities. But if I could get 2530fps that might keep me just above the transonic zone at 1000 yards.

I guess I really do need to put a larger 28-30” barrel on, but this one’s only done 700 odd rounds. I’m only a newcomer but I’ve definitely noticed that once you get into the transonic zone things get pretty ugly. Not that things were all that pretty beforehand, but definitely less ugly.

[MaxordPRS]

More importantly do you have any 6GT brass coming soon?

Certainly do, mate. It cleared Customs in Sydney today, just waiting on last mile through to us in Adelaide. We should see it after the Easter break, if not before. I can't remember exactly how much is there, pretty certain it's at least 10,000 pieces. There's also 5,000 pieces of 6.5x47 Lap on the pallet.

Next will be 6 BRA and the Creedmoor family. The BRA is packed, we're just waiting on Alpha to run out the CM. I reached out to Tom for an update earlier tonight so should hopefully have an ETA in the next day or so.

[MaxordPRS]

Well, the marketing worked on me I just purchased some. Ive been running 45.5gn of AR2208 pushing Berger 185 Jugs with ADI and RWS Brass for 900/1000 yard load out of a 24” Barrel. In dry conditions reloading (45% relative humidity) I got 2710fps - have some Berger 200.20x I want to try out and thsi brass looks promising, not that I’m going to be trying to get those type of velocities. But if I could get 2530fps that might keep me just above the transonic zone at 1000 yards.

I guess I really do need to put a larger 28-30” barrel on, but this one’s only done 700 odd rounds. I’m only a newcomer but I’ve definitely noticed that once you get into the transonic zone things get pretty ugly. Not that things were all that pretty beforehand, but definitely less ugly.

Appreciate your business mate, will get them off tomorrow! I'm really keen for feedback on how people go with this stuff, so please share when you collect some data. I also sent a box off to another member this afternoon who has experience pushing the 308 hard. He's going to collect data with a new barrel and hopefully publish it up here for everyone.

I don't have direct experience in F-Class, but certainly trans/subsonic is where s..t tends to get real in ELR. Given the distances you're shooting at those relatively low velocities I can understand the importance of actively managing it.

[BATattack]

I've been running alpha brass in a 308 for a while now and it's really nice. Did a lot of measuring and found it slightly better than Lapua in all aspects and significantly better than Lapua in the out of the box head space length. The HS length was longer which made it a closer fit to an in spec chamber for the first firing.

Found it very tough and able to run up to a limit which I would call sane maximum. I think people need to be careful of running stupid high pressure loads. Just because the brass will handle it doesn't mean everything else in the equation will.

[Daveh]

I love a challenge. I have a box on it's way so I can do some testing.
Don't think my kahoonas are big enough to go as high with 08 as they did in the video. I actually wondered if there was a different "April Fools" type day in the US..

I'm more interested in their internal volume compared the Lapua Palma brass. If they do the job then I will have a reliable alternative..

Dave

[BATattack]

The batch I have was slightly less volume. About 1/2gr from memory.

A bit of a thread about unexpected things happening.

https://forum.accurateshooter.com/threa ... y.4119672/

[Tim L]

2209 behind 200s

It was a grain less behind 215s

50.5.jpg

[MaxordPRS]

More importantly do you have any 6GT brass coming soon?

Hey Mate, heads up we've just restocked 6 GT, 6.5x47 Lap, and added some 7mm SAW to the website. They'll land here on Monday and we'll be shipping orders from Tuesday. Reach out if you need anything!

[cheech]

2209 behind 200s

It was a grain less behind 215s

50.5.jpg

How many grains is that Tim ?

[Tim L]

2209 behind 200s

It was a grain less behind 215s

50.5.jpg

How many grains is that Tim ?

I don't like to say ,,,, but it looks like I named the pic 50.5, so a bit of a give away

[Frank Green]

Found it very tough and able to run up to a limit which I would call sane maximum. I think people need to be careful of running stupid high pressure loads. Just because the brass will handle it doesn't mean everything else in the equation will.

^^^^ this right here guys! Even if the brass can take it.... doesn't mean the action or other components will handle a steady diet of loads at these type of pressure levels.

I won't name the gun manufacturer but running 80k psi ammo thru different platforms of guns... and they are having serious extraction/function issues.

Running 80k psi ammo on a Remington type action during accuracy testing (different place than from above) they keep a dead blow hammer on the bench. They can open the first part of the bolt lift by hand but need the dead blow hammer to open it all the way and then they have to beat the bolt back to extract the fired case! I asked... have you seen any lug set back on the bolt or the receiver of the Remington actions. I was told no and to date they have fired 30k rounds thru each action (they have two in service).

Also by increasing pressure... your losing your safety margin of the receiver, barrel assy etc...

In order to test 80k psi ammo.... they had to come out with pressure sensors for the P&V test barrels that can handle 100k psi. The standard sensors are only rated for 80k.

That youtube video.... gives me great concern because they really don't know what the pressures are at. Basically guessing! I now see what others will do... as the saying goes.... " monkey see, monkey do!"