Noob Question - New Lapua Brass Dented

[spladi]

Hi all,

Thanks for dealing with my noob question. I hate starting threads like this, but I am new to reloading and learning how to reload with the help of forums like this. When I googled the only threads I found on this subject were from forums I have never seen, and the threads were ~10 years old and inconclusive.

Is this normal? This is brand new 300 PRC Lapua brass. This is from one case of 100 pieces. So 25/100 pieces of brass seem out of round, and 12 of those are dented.

The top pic is the most dented brass.
The second pics is brass that is definitely out of round, but not as bad.
The third pic is a closer representation of the what the brass in the top picture looks like.

From what I have seen from various ammo making videos the finished case comes down a ramp and is dumped from a distance of a couple feet or so into a container and as this happens they collide with each other and the soft annealed necks can easily be dented then...........no worries!.....normal.

 

[Oldtime Shooter13]

Personally I have always either necked sized or full length sized new brass all the years I have been reloading. I have found new brass that was tight in my chamber and deformed from factory. I run all of my new brass through the same reloading process as fired brass other than the cleaning. You need to check all of your brass for imperfections and I check all of my case OAL and trim. Tedious process that you may not think you need to do, but I don't load up new brass trusting that the factory has checked every piece of brass before it goes out their door!

 

[Ucsdryder]

I used to just mandrel new Lapua brass. The last batch of 6.5 Creedmoor brass I got wasn't neck sized properly. Bullets would slide into the cases with finger pressure! Now I full length size all before loading. Jm2cw

The last set of lapua 6.5 was so tight it damaged some case necks inserting bullets even after running through the expanding ball. I think it was so tight the bounce back made it tight. I know everyone love lapua but I haven't been impressed.

 

[Carolinadx]

I Concur.... However FedEx is leading the charge in my woods--- DUMP and run....

Probably happened when UPS pushed it out of the cargo hold over your house.

 

[Alberta Wexit]

I have always run mandrel through any brass regardless of manufacture before first load. They do get slight dents probably as stated by others during packaging or shipping.

 

[orkan]

Just one of the reasons why Alpha Munitions now has owns the "Best Brass in the World" title. I don't care how many cases you order, Alpha never shows up like that.




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[LM056]

Resize and use mandrel, trim, chamfer, deburr, address primer pocket if that is your normal practice, to ensure initial consistency for initial use, IMHO.

 

[rogerstv]

For the cost of this brass, it is unacceptable in my opinion.

I received a few cases like that. I was able to fix 1 or 2 myself. I wrote them to complain. After several messages back and forth, I convinced a US distributor to replace the really bad ones.

 

[milo-2]

I'd run the tip of a mandrel in the bad one, use bullets as your mandrel. Load them and seat a bullet.
Shoot those 13 first. Run a mandrel in the bad and not the rest, now you have uneven neck tension across the board.

 

[Beluebow]

Just one of the reasons why Alpha Munitions now has owns the "Best Brass in the World" title. I don't care how many cases you order, Alpha never shows up like that.




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I've heard good things about the OCD brass. To bad they don't make anything for big boy cartridges.

 

[QuietTexan]

I usually do unless I really don't care about accuracy. Bent brass isn't very conducive to accuracy; running them through a die usually bends things straight and adjusts neck tension.

That's basically the same logic behind using a mandrel. If I used a die I would set it so that it doesn't contact anything but the neck. IMO the last step should be an up-sizing operation so brass springs inwards and not away. I don't use sizing buttons up through the neck, so to make the final step an outward sizing of the neck a mandrel is the best option for me.

YMMV, I'm not proclaiming one way is better or not. Do you run the die down tight to try to resize the shoulders on the initial sizing? I'm generally in the "let the case grow" camp and won't bump shoulders until cases won't chamber any more.

Recently I got a box of Norma 338 LM brass, one case wouldn't drop into my LE Wilson case gage (which is sized to hold fired cases) so I ran that one through a body die and marked it as most likely a fouler/sighter.

I used to just mandrel new Lapua brass. The last batch of 6.5 Creedmoor brass I got wasn't neck sized properly. Bullets would slide into the cases with finger pressure! Now I full length size all before loading. Jm2cw

That would tick me off really bad, that's shoddy QC plain and simple. I'd probably shoot them to see what happens because why not learn what you can from them, but still new cases should come in some semblance the functionally correct dimensions.

Just one of the reasons why Alpha Munitions now has owns the "Best Brass in the World" title.

I wish they had more offerings, but the ones I've gotten from them have been awesome. Time will tell on how they stack up against Lapua in my rifle - but I beat the Lapua up pretty hard (dumb of me) so the Alpha doesn't have to do much to come out ahead. I'm fully expecting to need a new barrel before these cases are done, especially since I'm not going to beat up on this brass.

 

[Rflshootr]

Don't forget to lube the inside of the neck before expanding it.

 

[Rocketeer77]

Hi all,

Thanks for dealing with my noob question. I hate starting threads like this, but I am new to reloading and learning how to reload with the help of forums like this. When I googled the only threads I found on this subject were from forums I have never seen, and the threads were ~10 years old and inconclusive.

Is this normal? This is brand new 300 PRC Lapua brass. This is from one case of 100 pieces. So 25/100 pieces of brass seem out of round, and 12 of those are dented.

The top pic is the most dented brass.
The second pics is brass that is definitely out of round, but not as bad.
The third pic is a closer representation of the what the brass in the top picture looks like.

I would resize them, if they're looking good albeit cases are dented then fire them with a light load. I got a load of bad 9.3 x 62 cases and managed to recover all but one doing this.

 

[Decap]

I saw this in the last couple of boxes of lapua's I used. I have a feeling there annealing the necks more than they used to.