Brass question

Big Sky Redneck

When it comes to brass for the good shooters where cheap brass will not do what do y'all reccomend? Norma, Lapua, Remington, Winchester?

Big Sky Redneck

Looking for 308 or 30.06 brass that hasn't been bottlenecked or formed yet, any ideas where to find some?

Love them Beavers

Big Sky Redneck

How long can you save brass without cleaning it? I have milsurp once fired brass (7.62x39mm Yugo 1970 or so manufactured ammo). Probably corrosive primers. Do I have to clean it before storage, or can I put it away exactly how I picked it up off the floor and clean them out when I get around to reloading years from now?

FrancF

Lapua IMOP is the best you can buy. [:)]


"If you aim at nothing,
you will be sure to hit it"


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temblor

I agree with franc..... Laupa. It and Norma are both good. Depends on what you are doing to justify the cost.Keep in mind when loading laupa & norma that the brass is usually thicker and sometimes your loads will show high pressure even with charges you have using safely in other cases.--- To save money just weigh your cases and separate by weight for consistency. -- Best quality for the dollar in my book is Federal Match Brass.[8D]

buddyb

I agree Lapua,but I get good results with Winchester too.

whiteclouder

Find some military match brass if you shoot an '06 or a wildcat based on the case. Lake City (LC59) is real good stuff. Same with the 308 only you won't find many made in 59[:)].

Clouder..

Highball

As stated..military brass can be good.

Winchester is pretty good stuff.

Get enough brass to be able to "lot" it out..the closer the weight the better.Different weights indicate thicker or thinner brass..thus different pressures.

Military brass requires a reduction in powder charge..it tends to run thicker then commercial.

The top brass is probably Norma or Lapua...

old06

Number 1. Lapua 2.Norma would my first picks to try but just like everything in handloading I have guns that like one over the other just have to try them.

psalms 16

cletus85

I've never used anything more expensive than Federal Match, which is no longer sold in bulk, except old stock. I've fired impressive groups with Remington, Federal and Winchester. I've tried everything to shrink groups at one time or another and I believe the bullet is the main variable responsible for wringing out a rifle's accuracy potential. I once was dead set on using a particular bullet in a .260 Remington and changed every other variable with very little improvement. I finally changed bullets and achieved a substantially smaller group. You can weigh cases, powder charges and even primers to your hearts content and often see little improvement in a sporting grade rifle. That said I still always weigh powder charges and sort brass. I recently started rolling my loaded ammo on a flat surface and watching carefully for bullet runout. This doesn't sound precise, but try rolling several you'll easily be able to pick out the non concentric rounds.

dheffley

I only load Lapua for match rounds![;)]

How you doin'!

JustC

Lapua and Norma are about the same as far as concentricity goes,..but the Norma is softer. For a high pressure round,..I'd say Lapua First,..Norma second,..hornady third probably tied with winchester. The Winchester stuff has more defects per lot,..I had to throw away about 6 cases out of my last 100rnd lot.

If you have the proper tools to do the prep work,..(neck turner,..primer pocket uniformer, flash hole deburring tool, holland chamfering tool) then all brass will be basicaly the same after being match prepped,..other than internal capacity differences. The lapua and Norma just save a lot of time in the prep work due to their uniformity.

why chase the game when the bullet can get em from here?....
Got Balistics?

Big Sky Redneck

JustC, what do you use as a guideline for weeding out brass?

JustC

I start with weight. I measure all cases in the lot,..and seperate it into 2 lots of 50 cases ( you are looking for no more than 1% deviation in weight for match brass). You may check also,..th see if the lightest or heaviest cases in the lot are taht way due to being the shortest or the longest cases,.which is OK!! If I have to discard some,..then I go with the first lot of 50rnds,..and the second lot at whatever number of cases that are left. I look at the necks first. Lots of time,..they have this funny looking mark that resembles a verticle split from the machining process. These are tossed or used as a fouler round. Then,..if you are using american brass,...look at the primer flash holes. many of the american cases will be off center to a degree. I think some is OK,..but when they are way off,..then same thing,..fouler round.

First I load and fire them all in any lot during load workup or fireforming. This allows them all to fireform to your chamber and grow,..stretch,... or pull back to your inside dimensions. THEN trim them,..after they are all the same size as the chamber. Now you can deburr flash holes if you havn;t done so,..and uniform primer pockets after the first major expansion took place. Size the necks,...then expand the necks,..then turn the necks,..then resize the necks,..and load them up for the 2nd firing (in a match or custom chamber). The neck turning will take runout down to almost nill!!

why chase the game when the bullet can get em from here?....
Got Balistics?

FrancF

quote:Size the necks,...then expand the necks,..then turn the necks,..then resize the necks,..and load them up for the 2nd firing (in a match or custom chamber). The neck turning will take runout down to almost nill!!



7mm nut- Words to live buy [:D]

JustC -I might try that, I turn mine ("Lightly kiss") after the first firing to expose the high/low spots. Then do above. If I can do the same and cut out a step! I am still learning the hard school BR Stuff [:)]

forgot to add, I keep about .005/.006 off the shoulder/neck, I see some take it to 0. That has been a mystery to me! Think 0 is A cut to deep?




"If you aim at nothing,
you will be sure to hit it"


[img][/img]

JustC

most of the guys I know cut up into the shoulder,...just a kiss but enough to see it.

The advantage of tight neck chambers is that you can turn THE WHOLE neck and have less than .0002" variance in thickness at any 4 corners of the neck,..which when coupled with the appropriate bushing,..makes perfect neck tension and under .001" runout.

The only reason I size,..then expand, is because the expander mandrel for the K&M turner expands the case so close to the exact size of the inside reamer,..the fit is perfect and requires a little imperial die wax to get it to slide on. This makes for a great cut the first time around,..and subsequent turning SHOULD be unecessary. Then,..I can choose the right bushing,..size 1/3-1/2 the neck,..and do the load work with match prepped cases. This way,...no suprises on shooting day when the necks are different than during work-up.

why chase the game when the bullet can get em from here?....
Got Balistics?