Lapua Brass

[Hippie Farmer]

I bought 100 pieces of Lapua brass for 22-250 Rem, when they were on sale, maybe a year ago. Well, finally last week I got around to finding a use for them. I've been receiving daily reminders that turkeys in South Texas aren't going to let a little Covid slow them down any on their seasonal mingling activities. I can't blame them. Driving on these country roads around here I've been seeing solitary hens in the fence lines almost every day. In fact, a couple of days ago we had a new event at the Hippie Farm. My dog brought me a turkey egg. Well, she really didn't bring it to me, it's more like I was standing in her way when she was traveling from where she found it to where she was going to find a shady spot to get more familiar with this new treasure she had found. She's so funny when she has something large like that in her mouth and she tries to look like her mouth is empty.

"Whatcha got, Kaki?"

"Mmmm, mmm, mmm. Rut, row. Rothing. Mmmmm."

Anyway, the egg is in my refrigerator now. So where was I....? Oh, yeah, I ordered some Hornady 55 grain FMJBT and planned on developing a load for turkeys using that Lapua brass. The way things have been going around here hopefully I can get the load worked up before the season ends. The Fall season.

When I started sorting the brass out I noticed a lot of the cases were short. My book says the case trim length for 22-250 Rem is 1.902". I fudged on that a little and I put all the cases that measured 1.900" or longer into one group. I had 22 cases left over that measured anywhere from 1.899" to 1.884". So my question is, What can I do with those cases? My initial assumption is that too much time has transpired to return them, but I guess it wouldn't be too much trouble to email or phone Lapua just to verify. But beyond that what can I do ... load 'em up a couple of times and see if they stretch out? I'm serious. What do you guys do with brass that's shorter than the spec's?

 

[TEXAS "All or nothing"]

Wire stretchers or tug of war? Primers are to valuable too waste. That's bad on their part! Separate all and use them for testing loads. Pressures won't be as high with the shorter case, so 2/3 to 3/4 loads is what I've done before with short cases. BA I'm guessing, not AR? I've had more gas to the face with AR short cases. If the neck hits right you should be ok?

 

[TEXAS "All or nothing"]

.018" is seems to short! I haven't tested any less than .006" shorter than trim length (308win).

 

[Lonesome Dove]

I would load to a mid level and shoot them in fact I’ve done it with other brands. I’ve never had messed up Lapuas.

 

[Dawico]

I'd load them up as normal and use them. You'll be trimming them all soon enough.

I am surprised you are finding this with Lapua brass even though it won't hurt anything.

I'm more concerned you are hunting Turkeys with a rifle and fmj bullets. I thought both of those things were illegal. I could be wrong though.

 

[deemus]

I'd load them up as normal and use them. You'll be trimming them all soon enough.

this here. Shoot em. They will stretch out and then will require a trim.

 

[Deavis]

SAAMI spec says 1.912 -.20" so anything over 1.892 is with spec. Regardless, unless you are shooting those turkeys at hundreds upon hundreds yards I seriously doubt the trim length will matter for your application compared to the many other variables inherent to reloading.

Trim length doesnt affect case volume of the casing as long as you are seating to a set OAL and the casings have been sized the same. In other words the case volume under the bullet doesnt change unless your neck length differences are due to shoulder position.

We tend to sweat small stuff for no real reason. Load them and take those turkeys, if you miss it won't be because the trim is off a few thousandths.

 

[TEXAS "All or nothing"]

SAAMI spec says 1.912 -.20" so anything over 1.892 is with spec. Regardless, unless you are shooting those turkeys at hundreds upon hundreds yards I seriously doubt the trim length will matter for your application compared to the many other variables inherent to reloading.

Trim length doesnt affect case volume of the casing as long as you are seating to a set OAL and the casings have been sized the same. In other words the case volume under the bullet doesnt change unless your neck length differences are due to shoulder position.

We tend to sweat small stuff for no real reason. Load them and take those turkeys, if you miss it won't be because the trim is off a few thousandths.

I 2nd that! Pressure changes as velocity will change also, so zeroing in and longer than 200 yard shots might be difficult.

 

[Hippie Farmer]

I'm more concerned you are hunting Turkeys with a rifle and fmj bullets. I thought both of those things were illegal. I could be wrong though.

You're not wrong, Dawico. You're probably just geographically inaccurate.

SAAMI spec says 1.912 -.20" so anything over 1.892 is with spec. Regardless, unless you are shooting those turkeys at hundreds upon hundreds yards I seriously doubt the trim length will matter for your application compared to the many other variables inherent to reloading.

Trim length doesnt affect case volume of the casing as long as you are seating to a set OAL and the casings have been sized the same. In other words the case volume under the bullet doesnt change unless your neck length differences are due to shoulder position.

I follow you on the case volume under the bullet, Deavis, but your math has me perplexed. My first interpretation would be "SAAMI spec says 1.912"-1.920"" as the range of acceptable lengths because 1.912 minus .20 equals 1.712, unless there's supposed to be another digit like .020" but that seems like an odd way to show a range of numbers. Why not 1.892 + .020"?

I 2nd that! Pressure changes as velocity will change also, so zeroing in and longer than 200 yard shots might be difficult.

It's 220 yards from the kitchen window to the feeder. I'm zero'd at that distance and still have rounds left that are the right length, so all is good.

I was really hoping to get a response like "Wind Chimes," and what other cartridges to include to create an F minor chord. Or maybe something like,"Hammer them into the soil in your garden and you won't get those big green caterpillars on your tomato plants." I guess I'll just have to lower my expectations next time. Kinda like dating.

 

[Mowingmaniac 24/7]

H.F.

Do you grow 'wacky terbaccy' - thus the name?

 

[Hippie Farmer]

Do you grow 'wacky terbaccy' - thus the name?

You're asking for a friend. Right?

 

[Deavis]

You're not wrong, Dawico. You're probably just geographically inaccurate.


I follow you on the case volume under the bullet, Deavis, but your math has me perplexed. My first interpretation would be "SAAMI spec says 1.912"-1.920"" as the range of acceptable lengths because 1.912 minus .20 equals 1.712, unless there's supposed to be another digit like .020" but that seems like an odd way to show a range of numbers. Why not 1.892 + .020"?

I was missing a zero. 1.912-.020 is the spec. It is written that way because that is the proper way to specify something that can not be bigger than its paired part (the chamber). So ammunition is almost always spec'd with negative tolerance. The ammunition maximum is usually chamber minimum and chambers can be bigger but not smaller. Otherwise things wouldnt work together. Look at a few of the drawings and it will make sense.

 

[Hippie Farmer]

I was missing a zero. 1.912-.020 is the spec. It is written that way because that is the proper way to specify something that can not be bigger than its paired part (the chamber). So ammunition is almost always spec'd with negative tolerance. The ammunition maximum is usually chamber minimum and chambers can be bigger but not smaller. Otherwise things wouldnt work together. Look at a few of the drawings and it will make sense.

I don't need to review any drawings. Your explanation cleared everything up for me. Thanks!