Lapua Brass / How many firings is too much?

Gentlemen; I have a small lot (26 cases) of Lapua 220 Russian, that i have fired 12 times in my Cooper Varmint rifle in 22 PPC. I have dusted off my reloading gear and found a box of 300 52 grain Ed Watson match bullets that i'd like to load. My question; should i use the cases that have been fired 12 times or start using the 74 new cases that I still have? Thanks
 
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should i use the cases that have been fired 12 times or start using the 74 new cases that I still have?


Unless there is an obvious issue with the 12... Go ahead, load'em.

12 loading is nothing for these cases.

cale
 
Use them all in rotation (while looking for any that might throw fliers consistently and discard those) and you should have enough brass to last the life of several barrels assuming your dies are setup right and you're not running mucho grande pressures.
 
I have only lost 2 cases in 10 years of BR competition, but both were after shooting 2 matches with the same set of cases. Depends on your load, of course, but after a 2 gun with the same rifle, I pitch 'um.
Bryan
 
if the pockets are still tight, anneal them and keep going.
 
Thanks for the help gentlemen, I really appreciate it. I've been using right at 28 grains of H322 in these cases and this is a bit above the charges listed in my old Nosler manual. However I've never had a primer pocket to stretch, or a shiny mark on the case head. Am I wrong in going a bit over the published data? I've shot Berger and Watson 52 grain match bullets with this load. The velocity runs about 3475 fsp with a 55 grain Vmax and 27.9 grains of H322 seated -.010 from touching the lands.
 
Thanks for the help gentlemen, I really appreciate it. I've been using right at 28 grains of H322 in these cases and this is a bit above the charges listed in my old Nosler manual. However I've never had a primer pocket to stretch, or a shiny mark on the case head. Am I wrong in going a bit over the published data? I've shot Berger and Watson 52 grain match bullets with this load. The velocity runs about 3475 fsp with a 55 grain Vmax and 27.9 grains of H322 seated -.010 from touching the lands.

Coopers are a little wimpy, I wouldn't take pressures up to the horrendous heights commonly discussed for Bench Rest shooting but IMO 28gr is a super load for your setup. Brass should last literally forever.

al
 
If you will notice most if not all loading data for any round based on the 220 Russian case is based on a Sako or Norma case, can't remember right off hand, but think it is the Sako. Whichever, it is a weaker case than the Lapua case and therefore the maximum pressures are lower. More in the range of 48,000 to 54,000 psi., not CUP. Which is a different animal. I am quite sure some BR shooters are probably running over 65,000 psi on a regular basis. Some I would bet are bumping 70,000 psi. I certainly don't recommend this but I am quite sure it is being done with no problems. However these people watch their head space and case condition very close. The Lapua case is probably the strongest case made, except possibly for some military cases. As a side note several factory rounds like the 270 Winchester operate at 65,000 psi. I think the 243 Winchester is listed at something like 63,000 psi. So high operating pressures are nothing new. What you can run into problems with is rechambering some of the actions designed for lower pressure rounds to a round that normally operates at the higher pressures. The Cooper should stand the pressures with no problems if it has the smaller diameter firing pin. Hope this helps.

Donald
 
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