Brass

[Simon C]

Hi all,

I am interested to get peoples opinion on brass life and prep for F-Std. I use Lapua and they are now into their 2nd loading....none have required any trimming. How long do u keep loading the batch of brass and what indicators do u use for junking them? (eg loose primer pkts etc..) Also how do u select or sort your brass within the batch?

The reason I have used Lapua is for their reputation for consistency and durability.

[Tony Q]

Simon, i use 1 lot of Lapua cases per 4kg powder. About 1100 rounds.

Thats 11 loadings then i put them to one side. Some load them 10, 15 even 20 times.

Brass life can be shortend by using hot loads, abusing the empty cases or excessive re-sizing or trimming. I know of some shooters who mark their case life by 3 length trimmings then toss them away.

Some in open class use 100 cases per barell (about 1000 rds)

I always check the brass between each loading, splits (internal and external) primer pockets and length.

I have never needed to re size my brass.

[RAVEN]

case head separation is always a good 1

[Simon C]

Raven, comedy is a wonderful thing isnt it?

Whilst we r stating the obvious, I'd rather avoid case head separations. Fortunately, I have never had one although I've had the beginnings of one in my 22-250Rem....saw that tell tale, pale ring beginnning to form above the web!

In retrospect, I guess what I'm asking is what do people base their decision to change or rotate their brass on? Is it an arbitrary number of reloadings, period of time or supertitious phenomenon?

I try to rotate mine right thru before reloading them again.

[RAVEN]

When I see the ring I chuck em
Cheers
RB

[Simon C]

Richard,

Just out of interest, which caliber, brass & how many reloads (average) do u get before that happens?

[RAVEN]

in my 7 mm rem mag WW Brass about 10 reloads I don’t really keep count I tumble it between reloads so the telltale ring shows you can measure the brass wall thickness with RCBS case master gauging tool http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.e ... mid=310955
but never have bothered it will depend on what pressure you run your loads and the chamber dimensions tight chamber should give increased life for most brass
Cheers
RB

[Simon C]

Thanks mate,

I have a custom chamber on my 308 and havent run enough thru it to get any signs of brass stretching. I have not even had to trim yet after about 3 reloads all up which is a good sign. I guess I'll look out for the ring!!

[RAVEN]

Hi Simon after about a second trim U need to watch out for the telltale ring the brass comes from somewhere and thats the head of the cartridge the more U have to trim the less down there.
Its just one of those precision reloading things U should inspect your cases every time they are reloaded each cartridge cal combo is different
U will eventually get a feel for when they need ousting.
Cheers
RB

[littlebang556]

When I have to cull more than 5% of a batch for any reason at all I give them to a mate to melt down for molding plaques.

Regards

Rob Alman

[daj]

Good question Simon. I've been wondering the same thing.

I necksized my Lapua .308 brass for years and recently decided to try partial full length sizing (shoulder bumping).

Results: Same velocities, same accuracy.

However, I have been shaving approx. 3-5 thou from the case mouth after every firing to keep the length at 2.005" This translates to removing approx. 0.1gn brass every reload.

My loads are 'moderate' - 154gn Scenars over 46.2gn #2208 -> 2900fps, and on their eighth reload there are no bad indicators. Necks are good, fired primers are rounded, primer pockets are tight, no internal step precursor to case head separation etc.

Obviously there is a limit to how much brass can be safely removed so I thought I would limit the reload number to ten and then buy new cases.

I can't help wondering if I am already in the danger zone.

Regards,
David

[Richard]

I trim all cases from new to get the case mouth square to the rest of the case.
Set the trimmer up so you only just remove the least ammount of matterial possible then trim to length when needed.

[ned kelly]

G'Day all,
to illustrate an example of case performance..............
1. in BR with a 6ppc, I have 20-25 cases, a custom chamber and will use those same cases in the same barrel for about 2500-3000 rounds = max 150 reloads. I have used those same cases in practice barrels over and over again.............Just keep them trimmed to length. So they will easily last quite possibly well in excess of 200 firings. Now this is due to minimum chamber dimensions and minimum resizing each time with semi custom dies. This means minimum work hardening of the brass = long life................
2. The only time I actually lost cases was due to FLS the cases too much. I had set the FLS die incorrectly with about 5 thou head space and not the usual 2 thou head space and they all failed within approx 25 firings on the same day due to cracked heads. Mind you they still shot well at 200 yds as they failed during a match............I finished the weekend with 10 borrowed cases from another shooter
3. Lapua 220 russian brass work hardens after 3 firings and minimal FLS of the cases ensures long life and consistent dimensions every sizing. That is size just enough for the bolt body [no firing pin assembly] to fall closed will little or no effort.
4. keep the length consistent and dont worry about quality brass.......it will do its job. Chuck it if it fails and as mentioned if 5% fail ditch the lot for safety's sake

WHETHER THIS IS THE SAME FOR OTHER LAPUA BRASS remains to be seen however, it has been reliably reported that the 220 russian brass is a better brass than the 6BR brass. That is the Russian stuff can deliver nearly the same velocities as the 6BR brass for the same bullet as you reach the max pressures with less powder.

The point of this is good brass will easily last the life of a barrel if looked after it. And use fresh brass for every new barrel fitted and then only worry about the wind.........................

Food for thought eh!
Cheerio Ned

[RDavies]

I have had 1 lot of 308 Lapua cases (100) which I bought second hand with my rifle 15 years ago. Since then I have fired approx 7-8000 rounds, totaly worn out 1 barrel (had a rechamber in between) with the same cases and now am using them on another barrel. Some of my loads have been a bit hot but I try not to shoot hot loads all the time.
I think that the reason I have got such a good run out of the brass is that I mainly neck size only, and then only full length resize every 5-6 shots or so. In the first barrel ,the neck area of the chamber was fairly big so the neck still got a fair bit of sizing.
I weighed them all a few years ago ,but there wasnt enough variation in weight to make me want to segragate them. Maybe I go a good batch.

[balcom]

Simon
Another way to tell if your case is ready to seperate without the ring sighting is to flatten a piece of wire on the end and bend the flat end over 90 deg, then put the wire in the case and push it to the head of the case rubbing on the inside, if case has started to seperate you will feel a slight groove in it near the head, when I find a groove in mine with no ring indication I only load once more then discard shell.
PeterH