Interesting condition with unfired Lapua brass

Interesting condition at the range this morning. Went to load one of my unfired, factory fresh 6mmBR Lapua cases and it would not chamber, bolt would not close. This was a 1 out of 100 situation.

Got home and checked the Ogive and was ok. Next checked the headspace DL and found it .010" longer than my barrels headspace. .012" longer than the factory fresh Lapua.

I only use an expanding mandrel to open up the neck on new Lapua brass before loading. It looks like I will have to begin checking the headspace on new brass as well before loading.

Even the best have a bad one every once in a while
Glad you got the issue figured out
Jack

I had 2 out of 100 Nosler 260 brass that weren't up to snuff. you are not alone rbp

If you stop and think about the thousands of pieces of brass the pump out a few bad or old pieces is to be expected...I've gotten lapua bras with the necks dinged up pretty bad and 2 pieces out of the hundreds I've shot the wouldn't fit in the shell holder.

I guess im just impressed that Lapua doesn't always need to be FL sized before heading to the chamber? That's pretty good luck if 1 of 100 was beyond spec! Always wondered where that extra $ went!

I'm 67yrs old now, been reloading since I was 18. The one thing I've always done is full length resize and trim new brass, no matter the cartridge. Even if it's never resized again, just so I wouldn't risk have what happened to you... What might have happened to you if the round had chambered? Just a thought... Reloading forever!
I just glanced at the bottom of my post, I see that my 6.5x47L is listed, I honestly forgot it was down their, lol. That rifle still has less than 300 rounds including brake in on the rifle, Several months back I had my 4th back fusion, both knees replaced and my right shoulder replaced. Getting over this set of surgeries has been much harder than any of my previous surgery, I simply haven't been able to get out, can I say ****?
Anyway I'm getting out now and hope to get a eye and trigger working again.. That rifle was supposed to be my budget build, lol. I added it up $3800, some budget, huh, lol, glad the wife never saw the total...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Deserthunter

I'm 67yrs old now, been reloading since I was 18. The one thing I've always done is full length resize and trim new brass, no matter the cartridge. Even if it's never resized again, just so I wouldn't risk have what happened to you... What might have happened to you if the round had chambered? Just a thought... Reloading forever!

---

Have been reloading only a few years and resize all my brass to. Going to try fire formed brass this year for the 1st time.

The only round that I fireform is my 22-250AI. The only thing I noted was that fireforming required a pretty good charge to insure that the angles just right and the case blown out fully, I'm not sure if a full charge is needed for most rounds but that has been my two cents worth... Reloading forever!

I much prefer to only neck expand Lapua cases and rely on fireforming to size the new cases to the barrel. Of all the thousands of new lapua brass this is the first encounter with this situation.