New Lapua 220 Russian Thicker Necks

jackie schmidt

jackie schmidt

New member
I have not made any new PPC cases in a while, I finally used up all of my older 220 Russian, and just bought 500 new cases, in the Blue Box.

The necks are thicker. By at least .0008. That is right at .0015 on diameter. I am getting .0142 on the old cases, .0150 on the new cases.

I blew two out, and seated a Flat Base Ultra bullet in each. The old case, with a seated bullet and non neck turned case, measures .2708 average, and the new case measures .2722 average. That is, on average, about .0015 difference in the diameter of a seated round.

The new brass is a tad better in overall wall thickness variation.

Anybody else notice this. I guess the main reason I did is I am thinking of having a "no-neck turn" reamer ground. With this new brass, .0274 would be the minimum.......jackie
 
I'm new to short-range BR and awaiting my first 6PPC from Jim Borden. In preparation for its arrival, I have been turning 200 cases, from two 100-case Lapua blue boxes, same lot. The first 100 turned with no difficulty at all; the second 100 were much harder turning, with obviously heavier curls peeling back. I just grabbed six at random and measured neck thickness - quite a bit of variability, between .0143 and .0152. Would seem something went out of tolerance during the run ...
 
Shipbuilder
How are you measuring these necks? What kind of tool are you using? Measuring in tenths isnt as easy as it sounds, and it usually takes experience to measure repeatably. I am not necessarily doubting what you say, but i dont find it all that likely. There again, i haven't measured any new lapua blue box 220 russian cases, so the truth is, I wouldn't know! What lot number is on that box of lapua brass? thanks for sharing. Lee
 
Skeetlee - I'm using a Sinclair Digital Neck Micrometer. Lot no. on both blue boxes is P00447102. While new to BR, I have worked most of my career in/around ships and rigs as an engineer, production manager and consultant. All that by way of understanding the importance of accuracy, precision and tight tolerances. The sampling in my earlier post was not meant to be scientific - just a quick set of measurements on a few cases to respond to Jackie. But the figures cited were the extreme ends of the range, after measuring several points on each of the six cases. For what its worth, I turned the rest of the second hundred yesterday afternoon and encountered approximately a dozen cases (out of the final 50) that showed obviously thicker necks than the rest of the batch.
 
Shipbuilder,

We would be pleased to have you join us in Maine at our IBS Score shoots. We will be hosting the 100-200 Score Nationals in August and should prove to be an enjoyable weekend.

Pete Wass
 
What is it Hovis:confused:
They charge for it like its made of copper:eek:
Is it copper?
 
Vern. Isn't brass made of copper and zinc........????
Then ya got to pay for that First Class ticket from the E.U.
 
Yes zippy it is. Just exercising a little humor.

I do wonder though why there are such great variations in price from the same manufacturer.

I know some cases use more brass and some have an extra step or two but some are simple, so that leaves me to think its based on volume and demand.
 
I would like everyone to sit down with two hundreds pieces (two seperate lots) of 220 russian lapua and do some measuring.

1. Web Thickness (very hard to measure)
2. Wall thinkness (neck and column)
3. Head squareness
4. extractor grooves
5. primer pocket squareness
6. primer pocket depth
7. Flashhole centering
8. Flashhole burr (inside)
9. Flashhole size

Most people will sit down and measure a few here and there and feel comfortable with that but in reality, it's just not enough.

Have you ever shot some PPC brass that the primer pockets tightened up on? Concave heads. How about primer pockets seemed to loosen up faster? Convex Heads.

I never seen this problem in the 90's with the brass being so incosistant. Does it make a difference on the target. Some do, some don't but it really depends on how far out it is. The Concave and Convex heads I have seen cause the biggest problems on target with the extractor groove variations causing the next.

Lapua brass is kind of like VV N133, it's just not the same it used to be in the 90's. I know many will say " look at the agg's, look at the records" but there is more to the story than just that.

Hovis
 
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