My 308 lapua brass won't fl size....help/advice needed

[Black Beard]

Okay, maybe either a over-stressed rifle with a bad bolt or the loads have been excessive and the cartidge head has bulged (measure the cartridge dimensions)?

To get an idea of headspace, get a precisely made cup shaped object (pistol cartridge or Lee powder scoops work well) and put it over the neck of the case. Then measure the cartridge base to the top of the cup with a vernier. Then compare to a fired case from your rifle. The size of the cup doesn't matter as you are only after + or - relative to each other. The cup shape should be 0.4" internal diameter but it doen't have to be exact as long as you are away from the curves where the taper changes.

The difference between your rifle's fired case and the lapua brass should give you an idea of whether the shoulder on the lapua brass is forwards

If you compare a fired and sized case, this method also lets you quickly dial your sizing die in towards your chamber dimensions (so less unnecessary working of brass). Each 5 degrees of turn on a standard reloading die is almost exactly 1 thou of an inch of movement.

BB

[vbull]

Okay, maybe either a over-stressed rifle with a bad bolt or the loads have been excessive and the cartidge head has bulged (measure the cartridge dimensions)?

To get an idea of headspace, get a precisely made cup shaped object (pistol cartridge or Lee powder scoops work well) and put it over the neck of the case. Then measure the cartridge base to the top of the cup with a vernier. Then compare to a fired case from your rifle. The size of the cup doesn't matter as you are only after + or - relative to each other. The cup shape should be 0.4" internal diameter but it doen't have to be exact as long as you are away from the curves where the taper changes.

The difference between your rifle's fired case and the lapua brass should give you an idea of whether the shoulder on the lapua brass is forwards

If you compare a fired and sized case, this method also lets you quickly dial your sizing die in towards your chamber dimensions (so less unnecessary working of brass). Each 5 degrees of turn on a standard reloading die is almost exactly 1 thou of an inch of movement.

BB

Done the above and it seems I've had to bump the shoulder back almost 2 thou for the brass to fit the AW. Shouldn't think this would have anything to do with the fact the brass won't FL size..

[223AI]

Is your die set up correctly?

With lee dies at least if you set the die so it just touches the case holder then try and close on a fired case you will generally find that the case will not FL size and there will be a gap between the holder and bottom of the die. If you then screw in the die the further 1.5 (or thereabouts) turns stated in the instructions the case will FL size and you'll be able to push the case holder right up to the bottom of the die.

[vbull]

Yep, all set up correctly as per usual, just a slight amount of cam over. First tried to size with my Redding Turret press, realised something was not right, thought maybe I'm going senile or something so went away had a cuppa came back and then placed the die in a Forster coaxial press, same thing so changed the FL die from RCBS to Redding with the same thing, so tight that to pull further than I have done will cause a stuck case. I've looked around on the net but cannot find anyone else who's experienced this so although I can now fit the brass in the AW after bumping the shoulder I feel the brass must be unusually thick/hard so may just bin the lot. All very strange as I watched the guy fire these in his Steyr, they were factory Lapua 168 grain Scenar and he had no drama's at all, they appeared to extract etc all OK. I really don't think it's worth all the grief for the sake of 100 brass but I don't like re-loading mysteries, they worry me, especially at my age when I can't remember what I had for dinner last night.

[tacfoley]

Very odd, that. I use the same set-up, exactly, to shoot the same 155gr Lapua Scenar-bulleted rounds in four different .308Win rifles. Nothing changes from one rifle to another. All four rifles, from four different makers, take every round I've ever loaded and all four shoot more or less the same.

Me, I be's checking that Steyr of his'n, although one of the rifles I shoot is an SSG69 from the mid-70's.

tac

[vbull]

Very odd, that. I use the same set-up, exactly, to shoot the same 155gr Lapua Scenar-bulleted rounds in four different .308Win rifles. Nothing changes from one rifle to another. All four rifles, from four different makers, take every round I've ever loaded and all four shoot more or less the same.

Me, I be's checking that Steyr of his'n, although one of the rifles I shoot is an SSG69 from the mid-70's.

tac

I agree with you tac, don't know the bloke but will see him later this week so I'll let him know about all this and suggest he checks his chamber out. Something's not right here. Anyway, thanks again for all the replies.

[223AI]

Yep, all set up correctly as per usual, just a slight amount of cam over. First tried to size with my Redding Turret press, realised something was not right, thought maybe I'm going senile or something so went away had a cuppa came back and then placed the die in a Forster coaxial press, same thing so changed the FL die from RCBS to Redding with the same thing, so tight that to pull further than I have done will cause a stuck case. I've looked around on the net but cannot find anyone else who's experienced this so although I can now fit the brass in the AW after bumping the shoulder I feel the brass must be unusually thick/hard so may just bin the lot. All very strange as I watched the guy fire these in his Steyr, they were factory Lapua 168 grain Scenar and he had no drama's at all, they appeared to extract etc all OK. I really don't think it's worth all the grief for the sake of 100 brass but I don't like re-loading mysteries, they worry me, especially at my age when I can't remember what I had for dinner last night.

Most odd! Well if you do decide to bin them can I be cheeky and say I'll take them off your hands and cover postage? I'm intrigued and hate to see 'good' brass going in the bin

[Black Beard]

Lapua say their brass is really hard:

http://www.lapua.com/en/reloading-components/cases.html

Anneal them and they will go softer.

[vbull]

Yes, thanks for that but as you know it shouldn't be necessary with once fired brass.

[PhatMan]

vbull,

Have you tried a small base body die ?

The SSG, IIRC, has rear-locking lugs, and so you would get greater case expansion than you would from a forward locking-lug action.

If your other rifle has a near min-spec. chamber, then the body die would help re-szie the cartridges to fit - Redding make an excellent small base body die.

Have fun & a good Sunday,

Best regards

Russs

[Treebone]

vbull,

Have you tried a small base body die ?

The SSG, IIRC, has rear-locking lugs, and so you would get greater case expansion than you would from a forward locking-lug action.

If your other rifle has a near min-spec. chamber, then the body die would help re-szie the cartridges to fit - Redding make an excellent small base body die.

Have fun & a good Sunday,

Best regards

Russs

Im with PhatMan, can you see a visible crease/line around the circumference about 3-4mm above the extractor groove?

TB.

[MikB]

vbull,

Have you tried a small base body die ?

The SSG, IIRC, has rear-locking lugs, and so you would get greater case expansion than you would from a forward locking-lug action.

If your other rifle has a near min-spec. chamber, then the body die would help re-szie the cartridges to fit - Redding make an excellent small base body die.

Have fun & a good Sunday,

Best regards

Russs

That's clearly true, but I'm amazed that anyone would still design an action like that. The advantages of it are mainly to shorten bolt-stroke and ease turnover for manual rapid fire, as in the Lee-Enfield.

I doubt that factor alone could cause the OP's issue. Treebone's recent comment matches the experience I noted earlier with an over-deep 303 chambering. If incipient separation lines are present, it seems certain to me there has to be a problem with the SSG's chamber as well.