Currently using Federal brass (cause I have a ton of it) Looking to switch to Lapua using 45.0 gr Varget with 168 smk for 600 yard. What change in powder weight would you expect to keep same results? Ive heard there will be a small change but unsure of where to start load work up again. Just looking for a starting point. Anyone ?
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F T/R Competition Federal .308 brass to Lapua powder starting point
- Thread starter abadrs
- Start date
I was told to increase my charge .2-.3grains when swapping from fed to Lapua, and .5 from fed to winchester. Testing out the winchester today
Don't increase powder charge to start. Always drop down and work back up until you find the node it likes best. Its not just about velocity its about building rounds consistent in accuracy and velocity and that is found from working up slowly until you find a balance
My findings have been slightly less charge in Federal and slightly larger charges in WW than Lapua brass but it goes gun to gun and lot of powder to lot of powder, especially with Varget
My findings have been slightly less charge in Federal and slightly larger charges in WW than Lapua brass but it goes gun to gun and lot of powder to lot of powder, especially with Varget
I ran some testing 5/2 based off a node on my federal brass(I ended up at the end of the day working in the higher node at 43.8 in fed brass = dime sized groups, better then 42.6 but the data is good either way)
42.6g of Varget in Fed Brass averaged around 2736 FPS
42.6g of Varget in Winchester Brass avg around 2665 FPS
43.6g of Varget in Winchester Brass avg around 2724 FPS
SHOT OCW round robin style. Maybe something 42.4-42.8g, but I didn't go below 42.6g
I will be doing another round of testing with the fire formed brass from 43.8g + (and 42.4-42.8)
43.8g of Varget in Fed Brass averaged around 2800 FPS **favorite load**
That's all I got for now...
Ok I purchased the Lapua and reloaded five each at 45.0 gr, 44.5 and 40.0 gr. I was thinking the lower charges would be closer to being on. But I weighed federal brass and lapua and the federal actually weighed more ? I was certain it would be the other way around. Weight was only 3.5 grams difference. Would that indicate that perhaps the powder charge would need be a little more than my original 45.0 gr ? Also I noticed a few of the lapua brass had significantly less neck tension when inserting the bullet. Most were tighter than my sized federal brass but a few were very easy to seat, pretty much like sized brass. I guess im a little disappointed in the quality so far. Anyone ?
I would measure everyrhing once you fire form the Lapua and the judge it. It should be more consistent
When I get new Lapua brass the first thing I do is run them up on a expander mandrel. I also notice that 1 out of 5 or so goes up on the mandrel allot easier than the others. I've often wondered what caused this.
Ok I agree with the neck sizing before loading it. I will do that before I load any more. (even though I primed them) Ill have to remove decapping pin no biggie. I got pretty good groups with 44.0 varget would you think I would have to start over with load workup since neck tension is going to be less ? My federal reloads had about 2 thousandths tension. Didn't measure Lapua loaded but it was definitely more. I could tell when seating bullets.
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