Brand new Lapua brass looks like this???

SoCalFun

SoCalFun

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Minuteman
Nov 27, 2011
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CA, USA
#1
I recently had a rather lenghtly transaction purchasing 338 lapua magnum brass from a fellow named "Ouch!!" He posted 45 brand lapua brass and 50 once fired, after 3 painful weeks, it finally got to my house. I found 45 pieces of brand new disappointments and anger in that box, the reason is pictured below. Lapua brand brass is highly valued for their quality, but are brand new brass supposed to look like these pictures? Most of the alledgedly New brass looked like they were stomped on, the neck has markings like it missed the die going up. I read that lapua brass does not need preps, its good to load out of the box. Does those look like they are good to go? Would anyone here even load these if you bought it brand new and they look like this?
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#3
Re: Brand new Lapua brass looks like this???

The brand new 338 brass I've bought new has had dented necks. I've had to run them through a neck sizer or Sinclair mandrel to straighten them out, but by no stretch of the imagination is any new 338 Lapua brass that I've received been ready to load out of the box.
 
#5
Re: Brand new Lapua brass looks like this???

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Jig Stick</div><div class="ubbcode-body">that brass is not on par with typical lapua quality out of the box. id be pissed </div></div>

Wholeheartedly and respectfully disagree.

I've got between 2k and 3k pieces of Lapua brass. Sometimes it looks super sweet, other times it looks beat up like the stuff pictured.

OP: Sorry your transaction went slowly. Those cases are UNFIRED. While the dented case mouths is unsightly, it poses zero functional issue whatsoever.
 
#7
Re: Brand new Lapua brass looks like this???

I had about 8 like that out 50 new brass in a sealed bag of 338 lapua recently. Just run them through the sizing die and load.
 
#8
Re: Brand new Lapua brass looks like this???

I have purchased .338 Lapua brass in smaller lots (50 pcs) that came in a cardboard box and the necks looked like that. I had to run it all thru my NS die, and clean up the nicks in case mouths.

I just got 100 pcs from Midway in the "sealed blue Lapua" box, and all 100 were MINT-PERFECT condition. I trimmed it all to same length, chamferred/deburred, and loaded it. I will buy it in the sealed blue boxes from now on, in lots of 100.
 
#9
Re: Brand new Lapua brass looks like this???

I bought lapua in .243 and at least 1/3rd of them looked like crud. I was not happy, but ran them in the die and cleaned them up. I wont buy any more lapua brass no matter what these days, lapua quality control is not there any longer IMO.
 
#10
Re: Brand new Lapua brass looks like this???

Most of the new brass that came was in unsightly shape, I've never bought lapua brass before, I read of great quality but never thought it would turn out this way. Well into the sizing die and we will see, but good to know it doesn't effect anything.
 
#11
Re: Brand new Lapua brass looks like this???

I've got a few hundred Lapua cases... All bought from respectable dealers and all came in the blue plastic box.

I found that about 1-2 in every hundred had a dented neck. They were also a little dinged up around the mouth of the cartridge, but none of mine looked that bad.

I could see where they could get that bad, though... especially after they've been shipped around a few times. The rounds are just loose in the box and rattling around. If they get shaken up, they're gonna get a little beat up.

Shouldn't be a big deal though... resize them and chamfer the necks, then you're good to go.
 
#13
Re: Brand new Lapua brass looks like this???

Run them through a die and they with straighten up. They are not the "ready to load" brass that everyone always wants but they ARE brand new just a little rough.

No reason to be upset except for the timely manner it took to get them.

Good luck
 
#16
Re: Brand new Lapua brass looks like this???

I bought a bunch of other brands of brass ans never had such a problem, first time experience with Lapua brass and not what you would expect for $2 a piece. Doesn't matter if I know better or not, why would that pass QC?
 
#18
Re: Brand new Lapua brass looks like this???

Really? Nearly all the brass i've ever bought needed a trim and a quick run up the die, even if they looked perfect, i'd still do it for peace of mind.
 
#19
Re: Brand new Lapua brass looks like this???

I didn't mean that other brass are ready to load, that reference was what I read for the lapua brass, which seems like false info. Other brass I bought didn't looked this ridiculous, but I do trim an run them through the dies.
I just disagree that over $2 a piece, they shouldn't look so shabby.
 
#20
Re: Brand new Lapua brass looks like this???

It's not a pass QC issue. The new blue boxes have way too much air space and room for brass to move during shipping. That's when I and others started seeing more of these issues starting to crop up with Lapua brass.
 
#21
Re: Brand new Lapua brass looks like this???

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: mavrick10_2000</div><div class="ubbcode-body">It's not a pass QC issue. The new blue boxes have way too much air space and room for brass to move during shipping. That's when I and others started seeing more of these issues starting to crop up with Lapua brass.</div></div>

This. Isnt Lapua Brass made in Sweden? I cant imagine the trip across the ocean being an easy one.
 
#22
Re: Brand new Lapua brass looks like this???

Do you really expect that the necks would be perfect? C'mon... Think about it...

As some of the guys above stated. The brass is dumped in that nifty blue box, loaded in a truck, bounced down a highway, shipped overseas, loaded into another truck, another highway, unloaded, etc...

All that and who knows how buddy handled them.

I've purchased 2 boxes of Lapua Brass for my .338 and every one of them has some kind of dent especially in the neck.

Also, just FYI. The HQ is in Lapua, Finland. The main factory is 5km outside of town (moved due to an explosion in 1976 that killed 40 people). They also have a cartridge factory in Germany.
 
#23
Re: Brand new Lapua brass looks like this???

Dinged necks on brass eh?

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#24
Re: Brand new Lapua brass looks like this???

I got a new box recently from Powder Valley. Maybe 25% of my box was like that. I called Kevin at Lapua and he told me to get the expander mandrel from Sinclair and run them through.

All in all, not what I was expecting for over $2.50 a piece NEW. And definitely worse than any other box of Lapua that I have purchased thus far.
 
#25
Re: Brand new Lapua brass looks like this???

run them through a sizer, chamfer the edges in and out, load and go shoot them, if they don't shoot then you can complain, it is not jewelry bud.
cheers.
 
#26
Re: Brand new Lapua brass looks like this???

that is a symptom of the annealed /softer necks - it goes along with the advantages

win brass for example shows no discoloration from annealing and a dented neck is rare

that being said - for what you pay better packaging may be in order
 
#27
Re: Brand new Lapua brass looks like this???

I guess I've been lucky? I have no complaints about Lapua brass but I only buy 243. One more point, I always run new brass through a sizing die anyway, but I would be a little peeved if I had a bunch of dents, as they say, you pay a premium, you expect quality. BB
 
#28
Re: Brand new Lapua brass looks like this???

Size, debur inside and outside necks and roll. You will love the brass and nothing will serve you better. It will far outlast any other brass.
You will have forgotten about it long before it wears out.
RTH
 
#29
Re: Brand new Lapua brass looks like this???

I think it is new Lapua brass. The inside of the cases are nice and shiny, indicating that they haven't been fired. If the cases had been fired, and tumbled with the stainless pins, the pins would also remove the annealing discoloration around the neck/shoulder.

Most of the 6.5 Grendel brass I get from Lapua has dinged up case mouths. They are either bent, or a bit buggered requiring me to run them through at least an expander ball to round out the mouth, then I use a VLD de-burring tool.

Also, you might want to check the size of the flash holes. In the Grendel cases I buy, I use a one sixteenth size drill bit. The drill bit fits about 60-70% of the cases, but about 30-40% of the cases have undersized flash holes. I make sure that all the cases accept the one sixteenth size drill bit. I have no idea if this tiny variance makes any true difference in the extreme spread of my loads, but uniforming the flash hole size sure can't hurt anything.

Lapua cases are great, but they sure aren't perfect from the factory. They do last longer than any other cases I have used. The biggest thing I notice is that the primer pockets stay tighter longer than any other cases. Annealing case necks makes the necks on any brass last longer.
 
#30
Re: Brand new Lapua brass looks like this???

Lapua brass is great stuff, I have a metric crap load of it and load and shoot the heck out of it. In the 1000+ 338LM cases that I have were some dinged up fresh from the box? Yep. In the 1000+ 308 cases were some dinged up right out of the box? Yep. Did it make any real difference given that I prep all my brass new or otherwise? Nope.

Dinged necks on any new brass is like finding broken chips in a can of Pringles - no big deal.
 
#31
Re: Brand new Lapua brass looks like this???

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: CEGA</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
Dinged necks on any new brass is like finding broken chips in a can of Pringles - no big deal.
</div></div>

Cega is right, no biggie.
But for the price, you'd think they could put the top piece that makes an ammo box, over the cases and then put the foam on top.
No dinged anything.
Just a thought.
 
#32
Re: Brand new Lapua brass looks like this???

In my opinion, and what I do to each new lot of brass, is to "roundify" the mouth of the necks with a Craftsman punch (hand pressure only: making them too big but at lest round)
and then size the necks with my standard reloading regimen.

The punch only has the parameter that it is round, and will widen the mouth retaining roundness, allowing the neck part of the sizing process to give perfect neck diameters. Any similar tool will work just fine.
 
#33
Re: Brand new Lapua brass looks like this???

Will agree with those above. Bought the blue box of 338 and a good many had dinged cases mouths. After running them through the mandrel and a little chamfer they cleaned up fine and shot well. If it was me I would just load it up and shoot it.
 
#35
Re: Brand new Lapua brass looks like this???

I've never bought any 338 Lapua that didn't have some cases with flat spots on the necks. To me, it's not a big deal because I run all my new cases thru a KM expander mandrel first. Now my new 223 Lapua brass is a different story. In over 2000 cases of new 223 Lapua I've never had a single case that didn't look perfect. I still run them thru my expander die though. I also went thru 400 243 cases and 600 30-06 cases all Lapua and the also came out of the box with no flat spots. For me, it's always only been their 338 cases.
 
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