New brass needs sizing

[Richiew]

Just for info guys and gals .

loaded 100 308 lapua new cases and found them very hard to push the bullet into the case . Even had marks/ deformed bullets with the effort needed. 
Bought a L E Wilson mandrel die and found all the other100 case’ s needed a good amount of re sizing. So the moral of the story is resize lapua brass back to the proper size and save yourself having to fire form  them . The quality ain’t what it used to be . 

[martin_b]

I had the same issue with Lapau 300PRC cases.

[DaveT]

Lapua brass often comes with tighter necks than you mignt want.

A suitable expander mandrel fixes this easily and quickly as well as being useful to fix any dents in the neck from shipping.

Its good practice to include this in post-fired reloading processes.

The above does not imply any need to completely resize new brass unless you are extremely 'picky'.

[Geezedtee]

On 7/12/2023 at 12:00 AM, Richiew said:

Just for info guys and gals .

loaded 100 308 lapua new cases and found them very hard to push the bullet into the case . Even had marks/ deformed bullets with the effort needed. 
Bought a L E Wilson mandrel die and found all the other100 case’ s needed a good amount of re sizing. So the moral of the story is resize lapua brass back to the proper size and save yourself having to fire form  them . The quality ain’t what it used to be . 

Yes, same experience here with Lapua 6.5x55 brass. Also noticed varied primer pocket depths. Your expander mandrel die looks like a lovely piece of engineering compared to my Sinclair LoL.

[Richiew]

Hi all 

The LE Wilson 223 mandrel turned up today from bisleyvshop. Great service from Brian .

 The giraud three way trimmer s are working great too . Got a lot of sizing to do this weekend.

[Richiew]

K and M do some nice stuff also the ARC Dies at wildcat mods look great. 
Might do some neck turning in the future so a k&m set would be worth looking into, probably starting with the 308 . Is it worth the effort if I can already get a 1” group at 300 yards. 

[Richiew]

223 lapua match brass was much easier to size than the 308 . A little wax on the inside of the case neck dabbed on with a finger did the trick . Ready for reloading after a bit extra inside chamfering.