Case Forming & Annealing Question

R

Roy Allain

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Case forming R-P 308 Win brass into 6.5x47 Lapua.

I’ve just finished forming 50 pcs. of the 308 brass into a rough 6.5x47 dimension with Butch Lambert’s case forming dies and fire formed them. Everything is fine. Except for a bit of roughness on the shoulder the rounds look o.k. They should be perfect after the 2nd firing.

However, I was wondering if I should anneal the brass since I had to work the brass quite a bit during the forming process.

What do you think? Anyone? Butch?

I have a Woodchuck Den attachment for the annealing process which seems to work ok for my ppc brass.

Roy
 
I see no one has replied. I always anneal after such a large change. I use a torch, and go by color -- a silverish color indicates about 680-700 degrees F.

(I just got one of 4Mesh's tools, so will be giving that a try when the weather improves. It will surely be more consistent than a torch and electric screwdriver, both held in the hand.)
 
Yes, you should anneal. But I can't for the life of me figure out why you would want to use Remington brass when there is Lapua available. If you load to the pressures necessary for accuracy in this cartridge, you'll lose primer pockets in Remington brass relatively quickly where you'll get 20+ firings on Lapua. Not to mention how much Remington brass you'd need to sort to get a lot of brass that was relatively the same.....Buy the best and cry once! (if you're really serious, you'll sort the Lapua too, but you won't see near the variation) ((about 1.5 grains over 1,000 cases))
 
But I can't for the life of me figure out why you would want to use Remington brass when there is Lapua available.
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Well, it is cheaper. And perhaps not as bad as one might think. I don't weigh brass, I do measure case wall variation. To each his own, I suppose.

In the early days, I shot a .30 Hart. I had both Norma match brass and Remington brass. 40 pieces of the Norma was more expensive than 200 pieces of the Remington, and after sorting, you got a higher yield per dollar from the Remington.

Some Lapua bass is junk -- I've never gotten any good .30/06 brass in Lapua, but as with all of us, my sample sizes are pretty small.

* * *

Dave Tooley came up with a 1.75-inch 6BR case -- over the years, I'm sure others have too. Joel Kendrick used it to great success, by reforming .308 brass. When the 6.5x47 came along, Joel gave it a try -- very close to his chamber, much less work. He went back to forming the cases from .308 brass.
 
Had you ever considered that your chamber design is the reason the primer pockets went away? Nope, I guess not...

Measure some of each brass once and my guess is you'll find one fits closer to your chamber than the other.
 
Hmmmmm. For years, long range Benchrest shooters yearned for the day when good brass would became available for all those 47mm to 49mm wildcats that we had been making from 243W and 308W brass. That day finally came with the introduction of the 6x47 RAUG and 6.5x47 LAPUA. So, what happens? We now want to form 6.5x47 brass from 308W! I must be getting old because I no longer understand the thinking of today's shooters.

Ray
 
Ray, I think they call that human nature.

(And if you can just use it out of the box, where's you're "technical edge?" We'd all be thrown back to evaluating our shooting skills . . .)
 
Cheechako said:
Hmmmmm. For years, long range Benchrest shooters yearned for the day when good brass would became available for all those 47mm to 49mm wildcats that we had been making from 243W and 308W brass. That day finally came with the introduction of the 6x47 RAUG and 6.5x47 LAPUA. So, what happens? We now want to form 6.5x47 brass from 308W! I must be getting old because I no longer understand the thinking of today's shooters.

Ray
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I don't have a huge sample set personally, but, from the Lapua cartridge brass I've purchased, mostly in 6br, I'd say it has had the highest failure rate of any brand brass I've ever purchased. About all I could say for it was it looked pretty in the box. I've got boxes of the stuff upstairs now, never opened. Now, lots of people think very highly of the stuff and that's difficult to argue with. But, for my money, I certainly would not pay double for Lapua vs anything else. That's just me. I've paid a premium for Norma brass and been convinced it was money well spent. But that's the only brand I'd do that with, and honestly, only in certain cartridges. Others, I'd get the cheap stuff every time.
 
I was wondering the same thing. I'm building a 6.5 Lapua as soon as my McGowan barrel arrives. Being retired, I'm on a tight budget and look for any way I can to reload and shoot as economical as possible. I'll also be trying 260 Rem brass I have.

Tom
 
Charles E said:
Well, it is cheaper. And perhaps not as bad as one might think. I don't weigh brass, I do measure case wall variation. To each his own, I suppose.

In the early days, I shot a .30 Hart. I had both Norma match brass and Remington brass. 40 pieces of the Norma was more expensive than 200 pieces of the Remington, and after sorting, you got a higher yield per dollar from the Remington.

Some Lapua bass is junk -- I've never gotten any good .30/06 brass in Lapua, but as with all of us, my sample sizes are pretty small.

* * *

Dave Tooley came up with a 1.75-inch 6BR case -- over the years, I'm sure others have too. Joel Kendrick used it to great success, by reforming .308 brass. When the 6.5x47 came along, Joel gave it a try -- very close to his chamber, much less work. He went back to forming the cases from .308 brass.
Click to expand...

I was om board until you said "some Lapua brass is junk".. I've been shooting Lapua brass in many different calibers and have never experienced ANY Lapua brass being "junk". some batches are better than others but cost per piece aside... I will take Lapua brass 100% of the time over any other brand when shooting in a match rifle. don't care in a hunting rifle.
 
C. Jordan said:
I was om board until you said "some Lapua brass is junk".. I've been shooting Lapua brass in many different calibers and have never experienced ANY Lapua brass being "junk". some batches are better than others but cost per piece aside... I will take Lapua brass 100% of the time over any other brand when shooting in a match rifle. don't care in a hunting rifle.
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I was never on board with any of it but feel a need to comment on the "it was cheaper" part!


90% of the reloaders out there will happily buy brass for 10%-20%, even 50% "cheaper" not giving a whit about quality nor caselife!

just weird.


I don't care if Lapua costs 3 times as much, it lasts 10 times as long!
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time now for necro-man to tell us all "this thread is older than my grandma......!!!

 
Given that Charles E. made that post about some Lapua being junk, and the time frame that he wrote it, I'm not certain he was wrong. I'm purely guessing but I don't think anybody clearly remembers the quality of brass they had in 2011.
 
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