Brass prep

Joefrazell said:
In your experience how important is new brass prep. Particularly 300 win mag and Winchester brass. The rifle is a long range precious build. Will I ever see great consistent accuracy without volume sorting, neck turning, on this less than perfect brass?

What I do now is debur the flash hole and run it through a Lee collet die when new just to be sure the necks are sized consistently.

Here's my process after firing.
1. Push out primers
2. Clean in stainless steel and soap for 1.5 hr, rinse
3. Dry brass
4. Anneal (usually every 3 firings)
5. Bump shoulder .002 and size body
6. Size neck .002" neck tension
7. trim
8. Clean again for 30 min. Rinse
9. Dry

This is what I do but I don't know if I'm doing enough for the consistency I'm looking for. I've never weighed out cases by their volume or turned necks. Should I be doing this or anything else? Or should I be using a higher end brass? Accuracy needed is under .5" thanks in advance
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Looks good to me. We all do things a bit different, but you should go shoot and see if it meets the expectations of your "long range precious" build :)
 
Since I started prepping all my brass it has made a big difference. Here's my method:
  1. Inspect the brass looking for split necks/casings.
  2. If new not necessary, deprime brass with a Lee universal decapping die.
  3. Once all of brass is deprimed I anneal the brass.
  4. After annealing blow out the casings with compressed air (100-120PSI).
  5. Tumble the brass in nut shell media with a brass polish added.
  6. Full-length resize cases with the decapping plug out.
  7. Neck size cases with a Sinclair mandrel.
  8. Measure casings to find the shortest casing and trim all the casings to length.
  9. I haven't been turning necks as of yet, but intend to start skim turning necks if necessary.
  10. Deburr case mouths and necks.
  11. Ream primer pockets and deburr flash holes.
 
FatOldMIHunter said:
Any particular reason that you tumble after annealing. I tumble first.
Click to expand...

I like to tumble first to take the discoloration off of the casings, to remove any possible dirt/debris from the brass to keep my dies in good shape and also to help remove any excess/missed water from the quenching process of annealing. After tumbling I also blow the casings out again to help remove any water and media residue. 100-120psi does a pretty good job of getting anything left behind out of the casings.
 
You guys are a lot better than me. I just collet size them and take them to the range. I only bump/neck size my brass after it's been fired. It's takes 2-3 firings to get the shoulder moved forward, so I wait until that point for the real work to begin.
I'd suggest getting better brass if you're going through all the work. Cheap brass almost always costs more in the end, ask me how I know;)
 
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Wolf76 said:
You guys are a lot better than me. I just collet size them and take them to the range. I only bump/neck size my brass after it's been fired. It's takes 2-3 firings to get the shoulder moved forward, so I wait until that point for the real work to begin.
If suggest getting better brass if you're going through all the work. Cheap brass almost always costs more in the end, ask me how I know;)
Click to expand...

I bought the highly rated Lapua brass for my Swede and every one was well below the minimum SAAMI spec for length. I complained to the factory rep and sent him several cases including some that were full length sized. The letter I got back basically said, "They're within spec on my micrometer." So I bought a 3-2-1 block to confirm that my micrometer is within +-.001 and now I won't buy Lapua brass again for anything. They are slowly growing with each firing, but still below the minimum. The Hornady brass that I bought for it actually seems better so far.
 
FatOldMIHunter said:
I bought the highly rated Lapua brass for my Swede and every one was well below the minimum SAAMI spec for length. I complained to the factory rep and sent him several cases including some that were full length sized. The letter I got back basically said, "They're within spec on my micrometer." So I bought a 3-2-1 block to confirm that my micrometer is within +-.001 and now I won't buy Lapua brass again for anything. They are slowly growing with each firing, but still below the minimum. The Hornady brass that I bought for it actually seems better so far.
Click to expand...

You'd be in a fairly small crowd that would take Hornady over Lapua. I understand your experience with the Swede, it would make me frustrated too. Your experience is rather uncommon from Lapua- that's why they have such a great reputation. I use nosler and Norma the most because they make belted brass and its good quality. My 308 has more than 15 reloads on hot loaded Lapua brass. Not sure if I'll ever have to replace my original 100.
 
Wolf76 said:
You'd be in a fairly small crowd that would take Hornady over Lapua. I understand your experience with the Swede, it would make me frustrated too. Your experience is rather uncommon from Lapua- that's why they have such a great reputation. I use nosler and Norma the most because they make belted brass and its good quality. My 308 has more than 15 reloads on hot loaded Lapua brass. Not sure if I'll ever have to replace my original 100.
Click to expand...

I could not find any other brass for the Swede (besides Remington) when I was looking. The Hornady was rated between the two but close to the Lapua. Maybe there are better sources than my gotos.
 
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