Alpha Munitions high end 6.5 and 308 brass. Anyone using yet?

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DanattherockXGunny Sergeant
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Alpha Munitions high end 6.5 and 308 brass. Anyone using yet?
01/03/2017

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Read many reports of how uniform this stuff is, exceptionally so. Curious if anyone here has tried any yet. Read about uniform and thicker necks, all hundred pieces being within a gram. Etc. Curious how its holding up after many firings. Sounds like amazing brass, if half what I read is true. Made in USA also. New company, so maybe too early for many reports. Copper Creek is selling now, fast, and Alpha Munitions site will be selling in a few days. Tom at Alpha said so on phone yesterday.

alphamunitions.com



Dan

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GhengisAhn175XFirst Sergeant
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Re: Alpha Munitions high end 6.5 and 308 brass. Anyone using ...
01/03/2017

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Gonna look into this also and see what's up.

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DanattherockXGunny Sergeant
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Re: Alpha Munitions high end 6.5 and 308 brass. Anyone using ...
01/03/2017

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I read some glowing stuff on FB 6.5 creedmoor. Had never heard of Alpha, but I been out of the loop since spring. Tom of Alpha spoke a while and he made a convincing case, so much technology, uniforming, different process, and monitoring of various parameters during manufacturing. Its impressive I must admit. Most frustrating thing for me is some vertical stringing past 800-900 yards. Read about Alpha neck being consistent and harder, more uniform thickness, and thicker, is what caught my attention.

Dan

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craigosXGunny Sergeant
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Re: Alpha Munitions high end 6.5 and 308 brass. Anyone using ...
01/04/2017

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I looked at the Alpha but given Lapua small primer 6.5CM coming out I passed. I am familiar with Lapua brass in many other calibers, alpha is unknown - hornady is crappy. Sticking to what i know will work.

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DanattherockXGunny Sergeant
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Re: Alpha Munitions high end 6.5 and 308 brass. Anyone using ...
01/04/2017

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I understand that. Was excited to hear about Lapua making 6.5. A known entity and I'm very impressed with my Lapua 223 brass. But I must say, the reports of guys on FB 6.5 creedmoor group makes completing case for Alpha Munitions brass. Sounds extremely consistent and they are using some new technologies to produce it. Mostly over my head, but Tom at Alpha was very helpful on phone. They are all shooters, which was obvious.

Dan

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prcomteX20 MONTHS
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Re: Alpha Munitions high end 6.5 and 308 brass. Anyone using
01/05/2017

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If they used small rifle primers I'd be alllllll over it, but they don't so I'm out.
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TrophyAmmo

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Re: Alpha Munitions high end 6.5 and 308 brass. Anyone using ...
01/05/2017 Last edited 01/05/2017 by TrophyAmmo
(1 vote)

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We've been using Alpha Munitions brass for 2+ months now, and have taken the 6.5 creedmoor brass to 20 firings and 308 brass to 8 firings, with zero issues. It's every bit as tough as Lapua brass and a bit more consistent. You cannot go wrong with it, that's for sure.

I made the switch to 6.5 creedmoor three years ago, but was throwing cases away after 3-4 firings, so I came back to 260 rem in order to utilize the much stronger Lapua brass. Alpha solved that issue and I'm shooting a 6.5 creedmoor again.

Small vs large primer pocket, I think it's a toss up. David Tubb tried both and felt the large primer was better for the 6XC, and he won a pile of national trophies in both XTC and Long Range. Sherri Gallagher still holds the 2400 agg XTC national record with a 260 rem (large primer), and John Whidden just won the 2016 national long range championship with standard 243 (large primer). I think the first 6mm Hagar setup that Bernosky used to win a national championship was actually large rifle primer, as small primer brass wasn't being produced then.

I do get why some of the Palma and FT/R guys like the small primer brass, as they run nuclear loads that require every bit of strength possible. Some have linked some potential shrink in velocity ES/SD and tighter vertical dispersion at long range (1000 yd), but others have found the large primers to work better, especially in cold weather. I'm not real sure there is a perfect answer for the 6.5 creedmoor, but if Lapua is using small rifle primers, then I'm sure it works well.

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BRU15XSergeant
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Re: Alpha Munitions high end 6.5 and 308 brass. Anyone using ...
01/05/2017 Last edited 01/05/2017 by BRU15

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I haven't used the Alpha brass but I have used some of the Kinetic brass, it's very heavy and quite uniform the problem with being so thick and heavy is that powder capacity is reduced substantially. I dropped my load down by an entire grain (42.5 -> 41.5gr H4350) and i was already getting a crunch when seating the 140's at 2.83", it was still too much for the brass, ejector marks, the flattest primer I've ever seen and the velocity wasn't even anywhere close to what I was able to get out of Hornady / PRIME brass.

So I think I'm going to pass on Alpha / Kinetic, the brass seems very nice and well made but if I can't even get within 100fps of a load that was stable in Hornady / PRIME brass then I'll just continue using what I've already got even if the Hornady brass only lasts 6-7 reloads.

I'm still going to experiment a bit more with the brass that I do have and it's quite possible that Alpha brass isn't as thick as the Kinetic brass but other than that I think I'm going to wait and see if the Lapua small primer brass will work in my RPR / AR10 and if it doesn't then I'll be right back with the Hornady / PRIME brass.

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TrophyAmmo

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Re: Alpha Munitions high end 6.5 and 308 brass. Anyone using ...
01/05/2017

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BRU15 wrote:
I haven't used the Alpha brass but I have used some of the Kinetic brass, it's very heavy and quite uniform the problem with being so thick and heavy is that powder capacity is reduced substantially. I dropped my load down by an entire grain (42.5 -> 41.5gr H4350) and i was already getting a crunch when seating the 140's at 2.83", it was still too much for the brass, ejector marks, the flattest primer I've ever seen and the velocity wasn't even anywhere close to what I was able to get out of Hornady / PRIME brass.

So I think I'm going to pass on Alpha / Kinetic, the brass seems very nice and well made but if I can't even get within 100fps of a load that was stable in Hornady / PRIME brass then I'll just continue using what I've already got even if the Hornady brass only lasts 6-7 reloads.

I'm still going to experiment a bit more with the brass that I do have and it's quite possible that Alpha brass isn't as thick as the Kinetic brass but other than that I think I'm going to wait and see if the Lapua small primer brass will work in my RPR / AR10 and if it doesn't then I'll be right back with the Hornady / PRIME brass.​

Alpha brass has about 5-6% less case capacity than the current lot of Hornady brass I have on hand. I believe I measured Hornady at ~53gr and Alpha ~50gr (water) but I don't have my notes in front of me to verify. I guess it's up to the shooter to determine if having more consistent and stronger brass is worth the 3 grains less capacity. A similar argument between 6.5x47 and a 6.5 creedmoor / 260 rem can be made I suppose. Historically Lapua has made thick brass too, so I fully expect the 6.5 creedmoor brass from them to come in with less capacity than the Hornady.

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BRU15XSergeant
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Re: Alpha Munitions high end 6.5 and 308 brass. Anyone using ...
01/05/2017

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TrophyAmmo wrote:

BRU15 wrote:

I haven't used the Alpha brass but I have used some of the Kinetic brass, it's very heavy and quite uniform the problem with being so thick and heavy is that powder capacity is reduced substantially. I dropped my load down by an entire grain (42.5 -> 41.5gr H4350) and i was already getting a crunch when seating the 140's at 2.83", it was still too much for the brass, ejector marks, the flattest primer I've ever seen and the velocity wasn't even anywhere close to what I was able to get out of Hornady / PRIME brass.

So I think I'm going to pass on Alpha / Kinetic, the brass seems very nice and well made but if I can't even get within 100fps of a load that was stable in Hornady / PRIME brass then I'll just continue using what I've already got even if the Hornady brass only lasts 6-7 reloads.

I'm still going to experiment a bit more with the brass that I do have and it's quite possible that Alpha brass isn't as thick as the Kinetic brass but other than that I think I'm going to wait and see if the Lapua small primer brass will work in my RPR / AR10 and if it doesn't then I'll be right back with the Hornady / PRIME brass.​

Alpha brass has about 5-6% less case capacity than the current lot of Hornady brass I have on hand. I believe I measured Hornady at ~53gr and Alpha ~50gr (water) but I don't have my notes in front of me to verify. I guess it's up to the shooter to determine if having more consistent and stronger brass is worth the 3 grains less capacity. A similar argument between 6.5x47 and a 6.5 creedmoor / 260 rem can be made I suppose. Historically Lapua has made thick brass too, so I fully expect the 6.5 creedmoor brass from them to come in with less capacity than the Hornady.​

It's quite possible that the Kinetic brass is thicker than both of them. I remember thinking damn these are heavy when I picked a couple up. And personally, I would rather have higher velocity than longer case life, I've never had a problem getting consistent results out of Hornady brass when I spend the time prepping it.

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axel314XCorporal
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Re: Alpha Munitions high end 6.5 and 308 brass. Anyone using ...
01/06/2017

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Just ordered 200 alpha 6.5 creedmoor. Hopefully its alot better than the hornady

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agr490XPrivate
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Re: Alpha Munitions high end 6.5 and 308 brass. Anyone using ...
01/07/2017

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I have been using the alpha brass for several months. I have hundreds of rounds down range with it. It's very consistent weight and volume. It comes out 3gr less than hornady brass. Which doesn't concern me. I have some converted lapua brass and they have identical volume. The alpha is .3 heavier.

It is thick and heavy brass but I'm sure lapua will be to go in there history of other brass.

I was able to achieve the same velocity with alpha using 1.4gr less h4350. And have single digit SD with virgin brass. It holds up well. Primers are nice and tight after 8 loadings.

Not creedmoor but I have used and compared their 260 brass directly to lapua and it was more consistent and a tad heavier. The SD for weight was .3gr and the extremes spread was 1.5 gr.
It's good brass and the guys are very receptive to criticism to make their brass better. I have spoke with them in the phone at 10pm several times and was treated like an old friend.

They are new but I expect they will be around if they keep up this type of CS and quality product

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SilverjayXSergeant
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Re: Alpha Munitions high end 6.5 and 308 brass. Anyone using ...
01/07/2017

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What it the neck thickness on the 6.5 brass? Trying to figure out if I would need different bushings.

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NGCSUGrad09

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Re: Alpha Munitions high end 6.5 and 308 brass. Anyone using ...
01/07/2017

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I just got a 100 pieces to start working with. Will get some shot and data gathered if the weather breaks and I can get to the range.

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agr490XPrivate
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Re: Alpha Munitions high end 6.5 and 308 brass. Anyone using ...
01/07/2017

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.015 neck thickness it is very consistent. I have 700 pcs and pulled 5 from each lot of 100 and that's what it all was.

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agr490XPrivate
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Re: Alpha Munitions high end 6.5 and 308 brass. Anyone using
01/08/2017

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Loaded and fired neck diameters

• 
• 

Posted with the Scout iOS app. Get it!
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padom

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Re: Alpha Munitions high end 6.5 and 308 brass. Anyone using
01/08/2017

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agr490 wrote: Loaded and fired neck diameters​

Its hard to make out the measurements in your pics.. Whats the measurements??

 

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agr490XPrivate
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Re: Alpha Munitions high end 6.5 and 308 brass. Anyone using
01/08/2017

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Loaded neck is .294
Fired neck is .296

pics look clear on my phone.
Should have put this in that post as well

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SilverjayXSergeant
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Re: Alpha Munitions high end 6.5 and 308 brass. Anyone using ...
01/11/2017

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Received a box of 100 today and did some initial measurements. Weight ranged from 172.9-175.5 grains and volume came in at 49.8 gr h2o across 5 cases.

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iShermanXPrivate
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Re: Alpha Munitions high end 6.5 and 308 brass. Anyone using ...
01/11/2017

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They have been out since November. I even gave some away in thanksgiving.



This brass is a game changer. It feels different on the your hand in a way. You can tell the how strong and rigid the Rim and is. Not too mention the beefy but precise shoulder and headstamp. They come perfectly pre annealed. The bottom is so strong that your first primer will feel harder to push in if you use a hand tool.




I tested a few of my first ones it as they came, and a few just using the Redding Body Die With the Competition neck die and button kit into a 2.91" bushing. Both shot amazingly for new baby brass and no prep.

I still neck turn with a Lathe and Chafer +Debu r+ FlashDebur+ PocketUniforme with good tools still. Call it OCD. However, my first 100 still look new and theyve been fired 6 times... 20 of them 7 times. They also appear to not stretch as much somehow... I mean, not as much as Hornady. I was using Nosler Custom Competition Brass before cuz I think Lapua has always been over-rated in some calibers. This is a Game Changer for sure!

Btw, you all can quote me on the, Alpha is better than Lapua and i have no association with them what so ever.

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Mike402XSergeant
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Re: Alpha Munitions high end 6.5 and 308 brass. Anyone using ...
01/11/2017 Last edited 01/11/2017 by Mike402

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Based on what I'm reading in this thread, I decided to go check them out at:
https://alphamunitions.com/
or

alphamunitions.com/alpha-grade-brass



But I keep getting this message and can't access the site:



There is a problem with this website’s security certificate.

This organization's certificate has been revoked.

Security certificate problems may indicate an attempt to fool you or intercept any data you send to the server.

We recommend that you close this webpage and do not continue to this website.

Recommended iconClick here to close this webpage.



Edit - disregard, able to access using Ipad

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padom

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Re: Alpha Munitions high end 6.5 and 308 brass. Anyone using ...
01/11/2017

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iSherman wrote:

They have been out since November. I even gave some away in thanksgiving.

This brass is a game changer. It feels different on the your hand in a way. You can tell the how strong and rigid the Rim and is. Not too mention the beefy but precise shoulder and headstamp. They come perfectly pre annealed. The bottom is so strong that your first primer will feel harder to push in if you use a hand tool.

I tested a few of my first ones it as they came, and a few just using the Redding Body Die With the Competition neck die and button kit into a 2.91" bushing. Both shot amazingly for new baby brass and no prep.

I still neck turn with a Lathe and Chafer +Debu r+ FlashDebur+ PocketUniforme with good tools still. Call it OCD. However, my first 100 still look new and theyve been fired 6 times... 20 of them 7 times. They also appear to not stretch as much somehow... I mean, not as much as Hornady. I was using Nosler Custom Competition Brass before cuz I think Lapua has always been over-rated in some calibers. This is a Game Changer for sure!

Btw, you all can quote me on the, Alpha is better than Lapua and i have no association with them what so ever.​

2.91" bushing?? I think you mean .291 bushing.... Its amazing, just feels perfect in your hand, better than lapua brass but you neck turn, flash hole debur, pocket uniform and everything else under the sun prep this brass??? If its made like lapua the flash holes are drilled, not punched which means there shouldnt be any burs... For claiming in the other thread to write gun articles your writing is very hard to read, terrible english and grammer and full of inaccurate information. I find none of this type of prep required for this brass or lapua for that matter.

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iShermanXPrivate
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Re: Alpha Munitions high end 6.5 and 308 brass. Anyone using ...
01/11/2017

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padom wrote:

iSherman wrote:

They have been out since November. I even gave some away in thanksgiving.

This brass is a game changer. It feels different on the your hand in a way. You can tell the how strong and rigid the Rim and is. Not too mention the beefy but precise shoulder and headstamp. They come perfectly pre annealed. The bottom is so strong that your first primer will feel harder to push in if you use a hand tool.

I tested a few of my first ones it as they came, and a few just using the Redding Body Die With the Competition neck die and button kit into a 2.91" bushing. Both shot amazingly for new baby brass and no prep.

I still neck turn with a Lathe and Chafer +Debu r+ FlashDebur+ PocketUniforme with good tools still. Call it OCD. However, my first 100 still look new and theyve been fired 6 times... 20 of them 7 times. They also appear to not stretch as much somehow... I mean, not as much as Hornady. I was using Nosler Custom Competition Brass before cuz I think Lapua has always been over-rated in some calibers. This is a Game Changer for sure!

Btw, you all can quote me on the, Alpha is better than Lapua and i have no association with them what so ever.​

2.91" bushing?? I think you mean .291 bushing.... Its amazing, just feels perfect in your hand, better than lapua brass but you neck turn, flash hole debur, pocket uniform and everything else under the sun prep this brass??? If its made like lapua the flash holes are drilled, not punched which means there shouldnt be any burs... For claiming in the other thread to write gun articles your writing is very hard to read, terrible english and grammer and full of inaccurate information. I find none of this type of prep required for this brass or lapua for that matter.​

Like I said.... I didnt need to at all. They shot just like a fully prepped Norma. However, I own two Lyman prep Stations switched on by 1 foodswitch. Once I started just removing a little of the "military crimp", I just kept going on all 10 steps. Then, all my quality bushings my bushing are .286", 287", and .288"... so I neck turned to use the best. They still show to case uniformity, I just got them to .288" without having to use the button expander or anything. I own plenty of Lapua brass and stand by it. They are better.Prep and Lapua to perfection and shoot one Alpha factory new with no prep whatsoever, youll see.

You do know they built and reinvented their case making machines from scratch right? With lasers and shit. Not like Lapua using a better WWII brass manufacturing than others.

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iShermanXPrivate
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Re: Alpha Munitions high end 6.5 and 308 brass. Anyone using ...
01/11/2017

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Copper Creek has them and you can just "add to cart" and check out. Btw, In November and December, you needed a VIP code and enter through an email invitation to buy straight from them. Now, its just Copper Creek and a few others. I have a little store and sell Lapua too. Alpha is not as arrogant and they dont need to build a preamble before launch then have people wait months so the hype grows.

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jrd426XPrivate
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Re: Alpha Munitions high end 6.5 and 308 brass. Anyone using ...
01/12/2017

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Looks promising...and then I added 100 to my shopping cart with copper creek....$18 to ship to MD, seems ridiculously high for a 3 lb, non hazmat package

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jhayesvwXGunny Sergeant
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Re: Alpha Munitions high end 6.5 and 308 brass. Anyone using ...
01/14/2017

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I have 40 cases and will be working a load up soon.

 

[MikeSierra]

I've got 300 on the way. I'll post back when I get some loaded up and shot.


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[Danattherock]

Bought 200 cases a few days back directly from Alpha Munitions site. Eager to try.

 

[Silverjay]

I had to turn the necks for my chamber and was surprised how uniform they were prior to turning. The cutter contacted consistently all the way around on most cases.

 

[onlyhedge]

I'm particularly interested on how many reloads people are getting out of these AND ES numbers. I run an AI AXMC so larger primer brass is required. I read that Area419 did some tests and got around 17 reloads w/o any brass prep but sizing, just one fire after another. The issue was primer pockets, necks were fine w/o annealing etc. I'd like to see if its better with other brass prep etc. Then would like to see how consistent the primer pockets are, consistency of primer seating, etc to reduce ES. I hope to be running my own tests sometime soon but like to read more from everyone else too.

 

[flyer1a]

I'm particularly interested on how many reloads people are getting out of these AND ES numbers. I run an AI AXMC so larger primer brass is required. I read that Area419 did some tests and got around 17 reloads w/o any brass prep but sizing, just one fire after another. The issue was primer pockets, necks were fine w/o annealing etc. I'd like to see if its better with other brass prep etc. Then would like to see how consistent the primer pockets are, consistency of primer seating, etc to reduce ES. I hope to be running my own tests sometime soon but like to read more from everyone else too.

I'm a Team 419 guy, we also have (and will post soon) some really detailed measurements for consistency, concentricity, thickness, etc. It's super impressive stuff. Hell, we took it all the way to a CMM for some of the measurements, trying to get the most specific measurements we could. I'm sure Thrusty will be here soon to chime in.

 

[thrusty]

Hey guys. Alpha brass is legit and it's very consistent stuff. We're (Team Area 419) extremely excited that it's home grown and out there competing with the "blue box".

For the neck thickness, it's about 0.015" thick with an ES of about 0.001" --- This is the 6.5 Creed brass.

When sizing it down to 6mm Creed...Possibly, increase that neck thickness about 0.0015" - 0.002". If I recall correctly, a 110SMK seated in necked-down Alpha brass measured about 0.274". Right now, we're planning on turning the necks due to only having about 0.001" of neck clearance in the chamber.

We have a lot of measurement data on the 6.5 Creedmoor brass and we'll release it on our Team Area 419 Facebook soon.

Essentially, the first major test was of the primer pocket -- I'm comfortable saying that you have the potential to get 17 reloads on this brass with a medium load (140-class bullet at ~2800FPS). Anything hotter and you're going to be in that 10-12 reload range...which is still damn good. You can see the video and the results on our Facebook as well.

 

[thrusty]

I'm particularly interested on how many reloads people are getting out of these AND ES numbers. I run an AI AXMC so larger primer brass is required. I read that Area419 did some tests and got around 17 reloads w/o any brass prep but sizing, just one fire after another. The issue was primer pockets, necks were fine w/o annealing etc. I'd like to see if its better with other brass prep etc. Then would like to see how consistent the primer pockets are, consistency of primer seating, etc to reduce ES. I hope to be running my own tests sometime soon but like to read more from everyone else too.

I'd like to think that results would be better with correct and consistent brass prep.
For the 10 random pieces that I measured, the pocket depth measurements ranged from 0.123" - 0.125" and diameter was 0.2065" - 0.2075". Would be interested in the numbers you see as well.

 

[onlyhedge]

I'd like to think that results would be better with correct and consistent brass prep.
For the 10 random pieces that I measured, the pocket depth measurements ranged from 0.123" - 0.125" and diameter was 0.2065" - 0.2075". Would be interested in the numbers you see as well.

That's some good info guys!

 

[onlyhedge]

I'm just doing reasearch into this part. Isn't the spec from 0.125 to .132?

 

[prcomte]

What's the water weight of the alpha brass?


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[Jimmy31593]

I'd like to see you do the same primer pocket test with lapua brass

 

[thrusty]

I'm just doing reasearch into this part. Isn't the spec from 0.125 to .132?

Who's spec are you referring to?

Edit:
Just a quick google...Maybe this one? https://ballistictools.com/articles/...d-diameter.php

I would venture to guess that 0.125" is the depth that Alpha is trying to achieve and there's about 0.002" of variance...likely with my measuring. Looking at my notes...Out of 10 pcs of brass there were only 2 that were 0.123" and 1 that was 0.1235". The rest were 0.124"-0.125".....with an overall average of 0.12415" out of 10 measured pcs. Hopefully that clears it up.

 

[thrusty]

What's the water weight of the alpha brass?


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I'm seeing about an average of 48.67gn

 

[Milo 2.5]

I'm seeing about an average of 48.67gn

That is 6.5x47 capacities, are you still actually shooting a 6.5 creed at this point?

 

[thrusty]

That is 6.5x47 capacities, are you still actually shooting a 6.5 creed at this point?

Yes... Matter of fact velocities produced from the Alpha brass have been higher with less powder than what you'd see with the same powder charge in Hornady brass. You should at least try it out and see how it works for you.

 

[canezach]

The number of firings being reported is impressive. I have 200 pieces waiting on a new 6.5 Creedmoor barrel for my DTA SRS. Like everyone else, I've used Hornady and Prime with good results, but I've found I'm culling Hornady brass in 6 or 7 firings when the primer pockets started getting too loose. How much have y'all reduced your Hornady charge weight when using Alpha?

 

[Milo 2.5]

Yes... Matter of fact velocities produced from the Alpha brass have been higher with less powder than what you'd see with the same powder charge in Hornady brass. You should at least try it out and see how it works for you.

I don't have a creed right now, but if you think about it, if indeed higher velocities with less capacity, pressures have to be higher also, that's how shit works. If I build a creed, I will try, looks promising from a durability standpoint.

 

[thrusty]

I don't have a creed right now, but if you think about it, if indeed higher velocities with less capacity, pressures have to be higher also, that's how shit works. If I build a creed, I will try, looks promising from a durability standpoint.

You're right. (If your powder charge never changed from what you've always been using) Less capacity = More pressure = Often more velocity.

Thus, less powder required to achieve the same velocity that you saw in another brand. So, if you're considering Alpha (or even Lapua) you should always lower your starting charge and work up.

 

[3rd shooter]

So what size bushing are you Redding guys using for Alpha 6.5 Creedmoor Brass? Have to place an order to get started and need a starting point. .290 or .291 or larger? Shooting bolt gun.
Thanks for your help.

 

[Silverjay]

.291 with neck turning.

 

[3rd shooter]

Thanks! I will order the .291. I like the Titanium one and it is expensive so I don't want to buy several. Thanks