All of the cases in the pix in this thread were sized with an unhardened FL die made from a reamer which is about .002 smaller than the chamber. This entire thread is devoted to my development of my version of the "6X47 Lapua" made from 6.5X47L brass. Notice that the cases maintained with this unhardened die all have scratches.
I've lately been using a different barrel and a Neil Jones hardened resizer.
The second pic below shows cases sized 46 times using the Jones die.
Both resizers work well, in both sets of pictures the cases have been fired fairly hot and sized 40-50 times, never trimmed to length....... the difference is in the finish. By "fairly hot" I mean that I'm pushing 108gr 6mm bullets to 3150fps.
Beyond 3200fps one must be very careful of temperature swings and 3350fps is about the top end for these bullets using this case. By seasoning the cases I can run 3350 which IMO is pressure equivalent to running the same bullet through a 6BR @ 2950fps. Also, when running 3350 I lose a few cases due to primer pocket failure even WITH seasoning..... I'm in agreement with Lynn here that newer Lapua cases may be a little less consistent and most certainly a little softer than older brass. Running "gentle" 3150fps loads allows this setup to exhibit nearly infinite case life, I can make 100 cases and wear out several barrels if I so choose.
A hardened die just shines the sized portions of the cases whereas an unhardened die dies not. In both pictures the cases were sized using die wax as lubricant.
These cases have never been annealed or touched in any way except to resize between firings. All are set up such that the bolt falls closed with no pressure and very little (ounces) of feel.
al
I've lately been using a different barrel and a Neil Jones hardened resizer.
The second pic below shows cases sized 46 times using the Jones die.
Both resizers work well, in both sets of pictures the cases have been fired fairly hot and sized 40-50 times, never trimmed to length....... the difference is in the finish. By "fairly hot" I mean that I'm pushing 108gr 6mm bullets to 3150fps.
Beyond 3200fps one must be very careful of temperature swings and 3350fps is about the top end for these bullets using this case. By seasoning the cases I can run 3350 which IMO is pressure equivalent to running the same bullet through a 6BR @ 2950fps. Also, when running 3350 I lose a few cases due to primer pocket failure even WITH seasoning..... I'm in agreement with Lynn here that newer Lapua cases may be a little less consistent and most certainly a little softer than older brass. Running "gentle" 3150fps loads allows this setup to exhibit nearly infinite case life, I can make 100 cases and wear out several barrels if I so choose.
A hardened die just shines the sized portions of the cases whereas an unhardened die dies not. In both pictures the cases were sized using die wax as lubricant.
These cases have never been annealed or touched in any way except to resize between firings. All are set up such that the bolt falls closed with no pressure and very little (ounces) of feel.
al
) is spec'd to be .007 oversized at the base. A serendipitous benefit of this choice is that I can cull my cases for casewall runout by observing the swelling at the base/web junction.