Lapua brass

Hey guys what would you consider as acceptable weight and length variation when you get new Lapua brass?

I've just got some new Lapua 7mm08 brass for the first time and after weighing them I've got a range from 172.9 to 175.6gr which is a 2.7gr variation. They are spread evenly over the range with no definitive group.
Also when measuring length they range from 2.022 to 2.030in - oddly one of the shortest was also one of the heaviest.

To me this is no better than the Frontier or Remington that I've been using. Have I just got a dud box???

For the price I would've expected them to be more uniform than this - Yes/No?

Hmmm, that sucks, the weight variation is typical for my 1943 wartime manufactured brass FFS. For the 308w lapua match grade I buy they are < 1gr and when I put them through the Lee delux trimmer to uniform and chamfer them not one was a heavy cut so they must have all been within a few thou. (In fact the 100 Privy 303brit I got was similar, but then they were $140 for 100!). So yes for the price charged for Lapua brass I'd be disappointed.

How much are they per 100?

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Originally Posted by steven

Hmmm, that sucks, the weight variation is typical for my 1943 wartime manufactured brass FFS. For the 308w lapua match grade I buy they are < 1gr and when I put them through the Lee delux trimmer to uniform and chamfer them not one was a heavy cut so they must have all been within a few thou. (In fact the 100 Privy 303brit I got was similar, but then they were $140 for 100!). So yes for the price charged for Lapua brass I'd be disappointed.

How much are they per 100?

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Hi Steven, yeah I thought that's why people rave so much about Lapua being so consistant. Read a guy on snipershide got .6gr variation and I guess that's what I was expecting - maybe his was the match stuff too.

$170-195/100 depending where you get it from.

That's pretty ordinary certainly not what you are lead to expect, especially for the price.

I had some 7-08 RP brass I turned into 308 that all went less than 1 grain different over 60 bits

Had some 308 RP at the same time that was only just under 10 grains for 40 bits.....

Both lots shot sub half moa in my Kimber LPT, go figure.....

Its funny listening to Guys crack on a Lapua brass being so good.

They make out it is perfect, will cook your tea & mow the lawns.

Many times I have found it to be little if at all better than some "normal' brass.

It is harder in most cases, not all, & therefore can take more pressure than say Norma which is arguably better brass, just softer.

Lapua 338 Lapua Magnum brass can be/is all over the place between batches.

Obviously some cases are better than others like the brass for 6PPC etc, maybe its match brass ? & that's where the great reports come from ?

Cheers Greg,
Maybe my expectations were too high and I just bought into all the hype.
There's not many negative reviews on Lapua brass so I guess thats what swayed me to fork out the extra $$$ - oh well live and learn eh?

6.5x47 brass is allgood lol u should try it lol

I agree with above. Lapua brass is definitely harder and handles pressure well, good if you like pushing the limit.

The best brass I have used for accuracy and consistency would have to be Norma.
Remington brass (Really soft) goes surprisingly well in one of my cals as well.

I like lapua brass and have plenty of it in 308. Not that I have one anymore, but I have still managed to get 10mm groups with the crappiest brass you can imagine. Split necks and different types of brass amongst groups shot. Managed to get a 10 shot 10mm group with it. I used Lake City, Denver and Winchester brass and managed to get the group.
Brass quality is important but the rifle I reckon is more important. I thought that the quality and consistency of cases would give good groups. But I was mistaken.

I ended up going away from Lapua brass and used the lake city. Easier to resize and I got about 7 reloads out of the cases as well with limited to no effect on group.

That's what I found with the rifle and cases I used anyway. But as we know, every rifle is different.

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Originally Posted by buzzman

6.5x47 brass is allgood lol u should try it lol

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haha i know where theres a good .284x51:D

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Originally Posted by wsm junkie

haha i know where theres a good .284x51:D

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Tru lol gota be a sako

Its not just the weight and capacity concentricity that you are paying for.
My .308 Lapua brass I had pretty much perfect primer pockets and flash holes, no farting around required to tidy them up.
Also concentric neck thickness. Other branded brass can be shockers with the all of the above.

Saying that, once you do tidy up the likes of Hornady, Winchester, PPU/NNY, PMC and RP etc, its quite good stuff.

Federal (FC) is waaay down my list of being usable straight away, so its kept for my semis where they get chewed out after 6-7 firings.

I have had several batches of 7mm-08 norma brass weight variation was within a grain. I think it was cheaper too about 150 or 160 per 100 that was a while ago so it may have gone up.

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Originally Posted by dogmatix

Its not just the weight and capacity concentricity that you are paying for.
My .308 Lapua brass I had pretty much perfect primer pockets and flash holes, no farting around required to tidy them up.
Also concentric neck thickness. Other branded brass can be shockers with the all of the above.

Saying that, once you do tidy up the likes of Hornady, Winchester, PPU/NNY, PMC and RP etc, its quite good stuff.

Federal (FC) is waaay down my list of being usable straight away, so its kept for my semis where they get chewed out after 6-7 firings.

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I hear what you're saying but if you are paying a premium price, wouldn't you expect a premium product?
Lapua have it on their website that they pride themselves on their tight tolerances case to case, lot to lot. Nearly 3grains variation over 100 cases doesn't match that claim to me.

In the end it's a mute point as I have them and I'll use them but I was just curious to know if this is what people who use Lapua alot find as normal as I have never had Lapua before.

Cheers

I,ve been using Lapua 308 brass necked to .260. No complaints as yet even though it appears to be slightly thicker than most and the price of course is up there, pressures seem fine.
I am not into reloading myself any more so don't get too wound up about it, like many do nowadays.

how many of them were significantly heavier/lighter?

I find , you might get 5 or so with wacky case weights out of a 100. lets get real here theyre made on machines in mass you cant expect them to be batch weighed/sorted without substantially more cost

with lapua, Im not too worried whether 5 cases might be out, I buy it because of the brass quality, and yes I have cut a lot of the primer pockets to spec, and de burred the flash holes on lapua cases too

ive got some Remington 308 cases, and ive measured some of the neck thicknesses to vary between .014 - 0.17 ,so Id hate to batch weigh and sort them!

never new lapua were making 7mm08 cases?

I use Lapua brass in 6mmBR, 6.5x47L, 6.5x55, 284W (6.5/284 necked up) and 308W. The most spread I would expect for the larger calibre cases is 1.5 max. In fact the 284's came in at <1 grain per 100. As scoped said were the ones out just a few or were they all contained within a flat bell curve? If I bought a box where there was a predominance of 2.5 grains spread I would be taking them back. I did exactly that with 100 6mmBR cases where there were 4 with split shoulders. The seller wasn't happy but did exchange them. When paying a premium price I don't expect to get Federal quality.

I had 7 @ 173.0 or less(172.9-lowest) and 9 @ 175.0 and greater(175.6-heaviest), the rest falling in between. The average was 173.9 for the whole box.
7mm08 is new line for this year.
As I said earlier, I guess my expectations were high considering the price and reputation Lapua brass has.

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Originally Posted by wsm junkie

I had 7 @ 173.0 or less(172.9-lowest) and 9 @ 175.0 and greater(175.6-heaviest), the rest falling in between. The average was 173.9 for the whole box.
7mm08 is new line for this year.
As I said earlier, I guess my expectations were high considering the price and reputation Lapua brass has.

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Not good, would make me upset or words to that effect.... how much did they cost per 100? Being a new line you would not expect them to initially produce crap though.

$170
Maybe I got the box that had its quality check at 4.45 on a friday afternoon:oh noes:

With them being so evenly spread ive batched into 1grain below and 1grain above the average and will put the 9 heaviest aside

1 grain of brass by volume is next to nothing, but I agree you would think they would be better than that.

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Originally Posted by wsm junkie

$170
Maybe I got the box that had its quality check at 4.45 on a friday afternoon:oh noes:

With them being so evenly spread ive batched into 1grain below and 1grain above the average and will put the 9 heaviest aside

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if you wanted to be real anal, make a note of which ones are heavier and see how differently they shoot to the other more uniformly weighted cases

Pretty normal compared to my 308 Lapua cases.

3 to 4 grain spread, fairly even

Have you turned the necks ? I found the Lapua brass had quite significant variation in neck thickness.

In comparison, Norma brass (7mm08) had slightly less weight variation (2 gr), and much more uniform neck thickness.

That's just my experience, your milage may vary...

How does Nosler Brass compare @ebf? Is it decent quality?

Don't have any experience with Nosler brass, so can't comment.

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Originally Posted by Danny

How does Nosler Brass compare @ebf? Is it decent quality?

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It appears some/most/all of the Nosler base brass is made from/by Norma.

The 300 Rum I sectioned, weighed, measured, analysed was exactly the same between Nosler & Norma except for the head stamp.

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Originally Posted by Kiwi Greg

It appears some/most/all of the Nosler base brass is made from/by Norma.

The 300 Rum I sectioned, weighed, measured, analysed was exactly the same between Nosler & Norma except for the head stamp.

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That was my understanding as well.

Has anyone actually taken the time to get two different pieces of brass that weigh 2 grains different and then measured the volume of each to see what the difference actually is?
Brass has a density of 8.73grams/cm3. 2 grains is 0.1295978 grams, so 2 grain difference is 0.0148cm3 difference in volume.
According to wikipedia the 308 has a case volume of 3.64mls which is 3.64cm3. So one will have a volume of 3.6400cm3 and the other will have a volume of 3.6548cm3. Enough volume difference to make a pressure difference? Who knows.

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Originally Posted by stug

That was my understanding as well.

Has anyone actually taken the time to get two different pieces of brass that weigh 2 grains different and then measured the volume of each to see what the difference actually is?
Brass has a density of 8.73grams/cm3. 2 grains is 0.1295978 grams, so 2 grain difference is 0.0148cm3 difference in volume.
According to wikipedia the 308 has a case volume of 3.64mls which is 3.64cm3. So one will have a volume of 3.6400cm3 and the other will have a volume of 3.6548cm3. Enough volume difference to make a pressure difference? Who knows.

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You lost me at 308 :)

Variations in neck tension or seating depth will make more difference.