I am thinking of trying the legendary Lapua brass in my 7mm-08. Two questions:

1. What brass is the best Lapua source brass (don't think they make Lapua in 7mm-08) .243 or .308?

2. Do you think it is worth the time to make it?

Thanks in advance for the advice.

[ 03-14-2003, 01:05: Message edited by: Burropacker ]

I'm pretty sure commercial 7mm-08 is available. Lots of rifles chambered in it anymore.
If I was going to form, I believe I would go with the .308 case.

Burropacker,
I made 7mm-08s out of .30-06 Winchester cases. Turned out to be the best cases I've had in a long time. First let me say I really don't know what I'm talking about as far as personal experience. I had the same questions that you now have about Lapua brass. I talked to several people who have used Lapua brass as well as calling expert sources. This is the crux of what I found out. If you donot wish too convert cases to your 7mm-08 the lapua .308 cases run through a 7mm-08 sizing die is about as good as it gets. If your willing to do the work, or are retired as I am, and want something to do, converting cases will result in better cases. It is a good deal of work and isn't cheap. The tools I use to do this are a case length gage from Sinclair that let me determine the exact lungth of my rifles chamber. A set of small hole gages that gave me the exact diameter of the chamber neck. Using a RCBS Precision Mic I determined the headspace measurement of a fired case and used this info to adjust my sizing dies to give the exact same headspace to converted cases. Using a Sinclair expander die I expanded the necks so I could get them onto the pilot of the neck turning tool and turned the necks to a thickness so the case neck diameter, with a bullet seated in the case, was .0015" smaller than the chamber neck. This left enough room for the case neck to expand enough to release the bullet and still keep the brass fatigue to a minimum. This fit required sizing to reduce the neck diameter by only .001". The only way I found to size the necks to the diameter I wanted, was too use a Redding Competition sizing die that let me use a bushing of the diameter I wanted. All primer pockets were uniformed and flash holes deburred. In order to get the fifty cases I like to have on hand, it's necessary to do all this to between 150 and 200 cases. With all this done, cases are culled by weight. Starting with 200 cases, I ended up with 63 cases that weighed 168.3 grains +/- .2 grains. In a tuned Remington M-700, handloads shoot into a quater inch and less with five shot groups.

As I said, this is a God awful bunch of work. I don't know if it provides better accuracy than the Lapua cases might. But the confidence obtained from this ammo is worth it's weight in gold. Besides, it keeps me out of the bars and away from wild women.

I don't really know if all this expense and work is worth it to most people. The gain is probably only a half inch, or less. I know its not worth the bragging rights, because everyone I tell this to think I'm crazy. Join the madman, or the easy way, it's up to you. Either way, have fun and good luck.

I`d go with the 308 brass, if the rifle is a custom chamber job you may have to turn the necks if they`re too thick. If the rifle is a everyday Remchester I doubt that the caliber used will matter, although the thicker necks MAY help keep the bullet centered to the rifleing. I`ve been useing Win 708 brass in mine and have been happy with it. I doubt I could gain more than a .10" by customizing other brass in this rifle and it`s a M700 with a fairly tight chamber in a Lothar Walther barrel. I had a M7 in 708 that I used 308 win and 708 headstamped Rem brass in and never saw a difference. I do sort by wgt and deburr pockets on my brass. I don`t know if it helps, but the peace of mind it gives has to make it a bit more accurate.

243, not 308. The necks might be a little thin, and short, but they will not require trimming (after you square them up) for a long time, and the eventual thickening and case "growth" will be delayed.

I was using 708 brass.. then stumbled on 120 rounds of DMW/Speer brass in 243 from the 60s... it's now my highest vel 708 in my striker!!

trust me on this, when it's close on neck diameter, just go UP.
Jeffe
jeffe

I use Lapua brass for my 308 Winchester and I use it for my 358 Winchester.It is some of best braas made and I would go with the 243 brass it is easier to neck you and with the 243 brass being 2.450 and the 7-08 being 2.350 you should not have to trim it down after sizing up it should be just about 2.350 and you will not have to turn the neck they will be the same. I use 308 Winchester Lapua brass being 2.015 to make 358 Winchester brass and the 358 ends up just a little short when I'm done 2.005

[ 03-14-2003, 18:37: Message edited by: Paul Dustin ]

7mm-08 brass is current production for both Winchester and Remington. Why go through all the bother, time and expense of resizing Lapua brass?

If you must use Lapua brass, I recommend .243. I asked your same question about a year ago over in the benchrest room and was told "oh, use the .308 brass by all means. You can get a really good bite when you trim the necks." I guess they're still laughing. I had a custom 7-08 with a bit of a tight neck and after I had choked the .308's down, I had to make TWO passes to get the brass down to size. It was a pain in the ass.
If you want to be really careful, take your depriming stem and resizing ball out of the die. Chuck it in a drill and "stone" a little more taper in the nose of the resizing ball. Be sure and use a little 0000 steel wool to shine the ball before putting the die back together. And use some mica in the case neck when you resize. I don't anneal or anything like that. I have some plain old remington .243 brass that I opened up to 7-08 several years ago and its still has tight primer pockets and good necks.
IMHO if you were to buy rem/winch brass and true up the necks a bit, you would be just as well off.

I rec Lapua Brass or Norma Brass, no difference in the two except cost. Norma being the most expensive.

All of my 7mm08 brass is reformed from LC 308 mil. match cases. The reason for this was a much better price at the gun show for mil. brass over Rem. 7mm08.
Rick

I have the same problem,dont know which lapua cases to get 243 or 308 for my 7mm-08,a friend had problems with his sized down 308 cases,the necks were too thick but someone else told me that 243 necks would be too thin when sized up & could be weakened enough to crack.

I have got some remington 7mm-08 cases but they are dearer than lapua at the moment(dont know why) so think i'll get 100 243 cases & see what happens.

Anyone have anything more to add on this subject.

Thank you

Tumbo

If you don't want to turn necks go with the .243 brass. I use Lapua .308 brass in my Sako. I haven't had to turn necks yet with a .002 release. They will be about .020 short. Best brass i've ever used. Every piece in the box of 100 weighed within .5 grain most within .2.
Thanks, Mike

Burropacker

I ended up buying 75 lapua 243 cases but the force required to run them through my 7m-08 full length die was excessive so I ended up fireforming them & they turned out very good,here is what I did.

I primed the cases then added 10 graines of a fast burning powder(I used some old noble no 60 shotgun powder)then I used a filler(baby cerial,fine grained)that I compacted into the case so that about half the neck was empty,I then sealed the case with some candle wax then I fired it in my rifle & ended up with very well formed 7mm-08 cases.

I was surprised how well the fireforming worked out & how easy it was,it took me about 2 hours including a bit of experimenting with powder charges to do 70 odd cases.

Now i'm about to order another 100 lapua 243 cases & fireform them as well.

Tumbo