Lapua .243 brass

280fan

280fan

New member
Bought my first box of one hundred .243 Lapua brass last week and I have to say I'm very unimpressed. I have bought many boxes of Lapua .308 brass and it was all virtually perfect, this .243 is junk. Straight from the box every neck measures from .004 to .006 off center on my Sinclair gauge. Measuring the neck wall thickness shows .014 to .0165, depending on where you measure. The bodies measure straight but the necks are a mess. Is this a known issue with Lapua .243? Or did I just get lucky and hit a bad lot?

In the past I've used Norma .243 brass and never had an issue. I have a box now and they're all perfect. Thought I'd use Lapua for my new .243 to help keep the brass separate from the Norma I use in my older .243. Bad idea I guess, should have stuck with Norma.
 
I have a few 100 pieces of 243 Lapua and it is all 100% for me. Not sure what happened with yours, but they will make it right.
 
Yeah, that's always been my experience with Lapua, right on the money. Evidently a bad lot snuck by them.

It's not like I found just one bad case, they're apparently all like that, at least the 20 or so I randomly sampled from the box all were. That's a decent sample size. The concentricity of the necks is so bad I can see it with the naked eye, don't even need a gauge.

As for how I measured neck wall thickness, I used calipers. I know a micrometer would be better for the actual pinpoint measurement, but the calipers showed a large variation around the neck, no matter what the actual figures.

By the way, the cases came from Midway in one of those sealed blue boxes, not secondhand from a gunshow or something like that. Lot #0480815
 
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Lucky me! I just ordered my first box of Lapua brass. I've used Win. for many a year but, really having trouble lately with what I term is off center necks, (as 280fan) mentions. The cases run true but the minute I place the feeler on the necks it starts to make me go bug eyed! So I figure I'll try some Lapua cases. Well, we'll see!
 
I wouldn't worry too much NMK. Every other batch of Lapua I've ever had was perfect. I'm sure your's will be fine, unless they're from that same lot anyway.

I know it sounds unbelievable, based on Lapua's reputation, but I'm not dreaming, haven't been smoking anything funny and am not crazy. This particular box (lot?) of brass is way below par for Lapua, more like Win brass. As a sort of baseline measure I have a new box of Norma sitting right next to the Lap, every Norma case is perfect. There's nothing wrong with my gauge, anyway like I said earlier, as the case rotates on the gauge you can see the runout of the necks with your eyeballs.

I'll be calling Midway first thing tomorrow. After everyone gets back to work from the holiday. Would normally just ask for an exchange but I'm afraid I'll just get another box from the same lot. Probably just go with Norma. It's a brand new rifle with no load worked up yet, so I won't be switching brass and ruining my receipe, I'll just work up with Norma. Six of one and half dozen of the other anyway, always had great luck with Norma.
 
Calipers are not worth a darn for what you are measuring. Brown and Sharp, Starrett, and Mitutoyo are close only.

I would suggest that you search ebay and buy a set similar to these for measuring neck thickness:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/0-1-Tube-MICROME...=item2a2ed1e659

and a set like this for general measurement:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Starrett-No-230-...=item464090bd7a

These tools never wear out, just don't drop them. Ebay has some real deals if you shop.

I have starrett, brown and sharp, and mitutoyo calipbers and still do not trust them to measure what you are trying to measure. Also, surface finish, grit of any kind, burs of any kind alter the measurement, not to mention the size of the contact point you are using.

You stated that the necks were straight but off center, this will change on the first firing or when you run them through a die, size the whole neck.

I would be surprised to see much variation in your neck wall thickness measured with a tube mic.

Let us know what you find out.
 
X2 which is why I asked what was used to measure neck thickness.

Calipers work great for measuring certain things but a ball mic or tubing mic is what you should be using to measure neck thickness.

I don't use expander buttons on my decapping rods and instead use K&M caliber specific expander madrels. Even Lapua brass, sometimes, has flat spots so I first run every new piece of brass through my K&M mandrel to ensure the necks are nice and round. Wipe them off, inside and out, then measure thickness with a ball mic.
 
Originally Posted By: HuntContact Kevin Thomas at Lapua. He'll make it right:

Kevin Thomas
660-596-2274
kthomas@nammoinc.com

That's a very good idea! It's been awhile but I've talked to Kevin a few times, he's a great guy to work with and is a wealth of knowledge. He's a no BS straight talk guy that knows his stuff.
 
While you are picking the specks out of the pepper, remember that a good straight chamber in a barrel makes up for a lot of sins. If you don't have a chamber that is concentric with the bore, then you are just chasing your tail...start at the start if you want to go down that road.
 
I am in love with Lapua brass. In fact, I bought the .260 Rem. over the 6.5 Creedmore only because Lapua made brass in the .260 Rem. and not the 6.5 Creedmore. The Lapua brass I have purchased in .243 Win. has been very good to me.
 
I expect you're right Ackleyman, the crooked chamber in my Ruger Precision Rifle caused the Lapua brass to be crooked, right out of the box, brilliant, I never would have considered that.

Try reading the entire post before laying another of your 5,900 jewels of wisdom on us.

Thanks to you guys for Kevin's contact info at Lapua, I called him and he's making it right.

By the way, he pronounces it Lap-wa, not La poo-a, I expect he knows the correct pronunciation, so I've been calling it wrong for years. I learned 2 things today, how to pronounce Lapua and that a crooked chamber in a rifle can bend brass while it's still in the box.
 
Originally Posted By: 280fan I expect you're right Ackleyman, the crooked chamber in my Ruger Precision Rifle caused the Lapua brass to be crooked, right out of the box, brilliant, I never would have considered that.

Try reading the entire post before laying another of your 5,900 jewels of wisdom on us.





Yikes I think you read HIS post wrong brotha, the point he was making is that if your chamber is good it covers up a lot of sins but if it isn't the brass isn't going to matter much anyway. Personally I've found more good info in Ackleyman's posts than from most and he can lay his jewels of wisdom on us anytime!
 
Originally Posted By: 280fan I expect you're right Ackleyman, the crooked chamber in my Ruger Precision Rifle caused the Lapua brass to be crooked, right out of the box, brilliant, I never would have considered that.

Try reading the entire post before laying another of your 5,900 jewels of wisdom on us.

I learned 2 things today, how to pronounce Lapua and that a crooked chamber in a rifle can bend brass while it's still in the box.


Ackleyman knows exactly what he's talking about. You have lousy reading comprehension and don't get what he was talking about.
 
Originally Posted By: 280fan
Thanks to you guys for Kevin's contact info at Lapua, I called him and he's making it right.

As I mentioned earlier, Kevin is a really good guy and if he tells you something you can pretty much take it to the bank.
 
Scrutinizing brass straight out of the box/bag is funny. Lol

Next time FL size, at least, first but best to fire it first, then get technical.

What Ackleyman was saying was, if your chamber is not straight, then when you finally do get some "perfect" Lap-wa brass and fire it, it too will no longer be concentric. Meaning you will be right back where you started.

You could take your own advice and read the whole post, then think about it, before you spill your glittering jewels of wisdom on the rest of us. After all, you were asking the question.

+another for Ackleyman
 
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