In the article about tuning with Jack Neary, I stated that the Lapua .220 brass had a flash hole that measured ~ .059 and that it was DRILLED. I received a call from Ken Markel (former K&M owner) saying that I was misstaken about this. He said that Lapua uses a 2-step process to punch the flashhole while forming the brass. The first punch is from the back of the case and does not go completely into the case. The final punch is inserted from the mouth of the case and removes a "blank" and completes the hole. Sorry for any confusion.....James
Correction for recent PS article.
- Thread starter JD Mock
- Start date
G
grog
Guest
You will also note the neck thickness of the new brass has been reduced. So your tight neck may not be so tight now. Price of brass is up so imagine other parts of the brass are bit thinner. Suppose two punches are cheaper than one drill? Flash hole is a little tighter too. Might want to take a look at other brass as the Lapua standard seems not a standard any longer.
Cheers Grog
Cheers Grog
G
Gary Walters
Guest
James, I have found spiral strings of brass inside .220 Russian brass. Looks like they are drilled to me.
GW
The only change was to 6mmBR brass ..the necks were reduced in thickess by .001 for reasons of safety....according to Lapua. I know of no other changes. If you have a vendetta against Lapua that's your problem, but be forewarned the cost of brass is only going to upward. It is rather pinheaded to make further assumptions with no basis in fact.
I agree.
Bought the Sinclair reamer. While prepping my first 100 cases, I was thinking, maybe we should leave the flash holes alone. It's small for a reason. But, I do use the Sinclair PPC primer pocket reamer.
Last edited:
jackie schmidt
New member
They are not the same size
I do not use a regular prepping tool. I simply run a 1/16 drill in the hole, then lightly deburr the inside. One thing this tells you is they are not all the same size. Some, the drill practically falls in, others, it takes quite a lot out. By that, I mean about .002.
I know a lot has been said of late about doing nothing to the flash holes, but I would think there is some benefit in having them all the same size..........jackie
I do not use a regular prepping tool. I simply run a 1/16 drill in the hole, then lightly deburr the inside. One thing this tells you is they are not all the same size. Some, the drill practically falls in, others, it takes quite a lot out. By that, I mean about .002.
I know a lot has been said of late about doing nothing to the flash holes, but I would think there is some benefit in having them all the same size..........jackie
thinner brass and tight necks
Grog - I see how the neck thickness will affect how tight the necks are for the no-neck turning crowd out there. But, the vast majority of us shooting tight neck chambers are neck turning (at least enough to clean up the necks). We expand and then turn the brass to a pre-determined thickness - if we're using brass with a thinner starting neck, we'll just have less to remove. So, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the reduced neck thickness is going to effect how tight the neck is for most of us.
Ryan
Grog - I see how the neck thickness will affect how tight the necks are for the no-neck turning crowd out there. But, the vast majority of us shooting tight neck chambers are neck turning (at least enough to clean up the necks). We expand and then turn the brass to a pre-determined thickness - if we're using brass with a thinner starting neck, we'll just have less to remove. So, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the reduced neck thickness is going to effect how tight the neck is for most of us.
Ryan
I fully agree with Jackie, I prep around 1000pcs a year and I wouldn't ever think of not working over the flash holes and primer pockets. Lots of variations in lapua brass over the last five years or so.
Hovis