Bought some 260 rem. Lapua brass. loaded up some yesterday, did a little shooting, so far i am very pleased with this brass..

any thoughts on Lapua Brass vs. remington, winchester or any other brass.?

Lapua brass generally comes in a form that is closer to "ready to load" than most American brands. It also tends to be more consistent in weight, flash hole diameter, and hardness.

The benchrest crowd likes these qualities, but then they go to extraordinary additional lengths to assure that their brass is as near perfect as possible, anyway. That said, if you are loading for a hunting rifle, or even a precision varmint rifle, then it has little to no advantage over Remchester brass and your money would best be spent elsewhere.

Stonecreek
one of us


That said, if you are loading for a hunting rifle, or even a precision varmint rifle, then it has little to no advantage over Remchester brass and your money would best be spent elsewhere.

well, right now i have been looking for 260 remington brass for quiet awhile, and no one has it

Yes, here is my thought; it is way too expensive and offers, me, no advantage. I do have some in 338 Lap and it is much heavier than the Norma brass in that caliber so I don't mix the loads.

Lapua Brass is great; as Stonecreek mentioned- it needs nearly no prep prior to loading.
I wouldn't have bought it if there was other brass in 9.3 x 62 available at the time I needed it. Have had just as good luck with Win, Rem, Fed, Hornady and even Mil Surp 06.

Lapua and RWS, if they make it in the caliber I need or close to it that is all I like to use.

Lapua brass rocks! It's worth the extra price for long range hunting loads (300-400+ yds). If you're just looking at 200 yd and under, then any old brass will do.

Norma sucks as it's way too soft in the case head area.

quote:

Originally posted by vines:

well, right now i have been looking for 260 remington brass for quiet awhile, and no one has it

You can easily make .260 Rem from .243 Win, 7mm-08, or .308. Surely you can find a supply in one of those calibers.

Also, don't overlook Nosler brass. Have been very impressed with it as well. Nearly as good a Lapua brass.

I just ordered 100 rounds of Lapua brass Monday for my .260 I am building. Hoping it's as good as it's reputation is.

quote:

Originally posted by DPollard:
I just ordered 100 rounds of Lapua brass Monday for my .260 I am building. Hoping it's as good as it's reputation is.

If it's anything like the Lapua brass I got in 260, you should be.

The real question is does your intended application require brass that is considerably more expensive than the everyday stuff? (putting availability and ego aside for a moment) With a bit of prep, remchester can be made as precise as Lapua. Especially considering that you can cull half the cases before you start your serious case prep. While I shoot a lot of Lapua in match rifles, I would never think to use it in a hunting rifle.

quote:

The real question is does your intended application require brass that is considerably more expensive than the everyday stuff? (putting availability and ego aside for a moment) With a bit of prep, remchester can be made as precise as Lapua

well, what i have read about Lupua Brass you can load it more times than you can rem/win/fed bras, if that is so, is it not worth the extra $40.00 per 100... None of those are in stock. and i like to keep all my head stamp the same. i want my .260 brass to say .260 rem. when you load .243/260/7-08/308/ it helps..

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Originally posted by McKay:
Lapua and RWS, if they make it in the caliber I need or close to it that is all I like to use.

100% correct. I wouldn't put Remington, Federal or Winchester even close to Lapua or RWS in quality, with Norma slightly less in quality.

There is no comparison.

I have found Lapua brass to be the best out of common brass. I used it for 6.5X55, 9.3X62 & 308. I have heard that their brass is often Bench Rest standard - not sure if this is true.

Norma would be next in quality - I have used them in 222 Rem, 6.5X55, 6.5X54, 9.3X62, 416 Rigby and a few others.

Winchester is the best of the American brass in my experience. Their chrome plated brass is very good.

Remington, Federal, Hornady, PMC etc. are no where near the quality of Lapua brass.

I've had only one issue with Lapua Brass, and that's in my 338 Lapua, oddly. It isn't the rifle, HS HTR. What has happened, repeatedly, is that I get a long crease on the shoulder, almost like a hydroform dent from sizing. Every, single Lapua case was the same way. I've had zero issue with the Hornady.
I've found Nosler to be pretty excellent brass in small bore stuff. I've converted an awful lot of my 223 and 243, Bob +P and ALL of my 280AI to Nosler.
It's worth it for hunting rounds, and it isn't terribly expensive. Is it Lapua? No, but it's very consistent for certain.

quote:

Originally posted by vines:

quote:

The real question is does your intended application require brass that is considerably more expensive than the everyday stuff? (putting availability and ego aside for a moment) With a bit of prep, remchester can be made as precise as Lapua

well, what i have read about Lupua Brass you can load it more times than you can rem/win/fed bras, if that is so, is it not worth the extra $40.00 per 100... None of those are in stock. and i like to keep all my head stamp the same. i want my .260 brass to say .260 rem. when you load .243/260/7-08/308/ it helps..

I haven't found that Lapua last any longer than Remington brass however I do agree about the headstamps. Especially when one has several different .308 based rifles.

I just use Winchester where I can. At least it used to be the best and even had match capabilities if you sorted and prepped it.

But I have started using, and just tonight loaded some , 223 Lapuas in the blue box. This run of Lapua has more case volume than the older ones I tried some years ago. I can say it was nicely put together with the lengths the same, great round and on center flash holes, and pretty consistent weights and necks for the 50 I measured. It is indeed more expensive and I don't have experience with its life yet.

But lots of my buds say the newer Winchester QC isn't what it used to be - so I am trying some other possibilities where I can.

The 260 and the 416 Rem Mag were 2 exceptions where we have to use Remington brass. The 260 lasts a long time at moderate loads. The 416 doesn't as it has hunting level loads, but you aren't shooting it as much either. At least not from the bench .

By the time I get through culling my Rem brass, Lapua isn't really any more expensive. Then again, I am very fussy about sorting brass. Bad habit I picked up from my 1000 yd BR days.

When sorted, Rem brass is excellent. Win brass is on the thin side and Norma a little soft. At least that is what I have seen.

I am trying some Nosler brass as we speak. It has very good neck concentricity and weights are decently matched. Out of 100 pieces I sorted into two weight groups and only had to cull a couple rounds. This is for my 338 Edge so I am being benchrest fussy.

BTW, for hunting inside of 400 yds for sure, maybe even 600 yds, my level of brass prep is not needed. However, I just can't pull the trigger on a case that might not meet my specs. On the other hand, I have an M70 that weighs 7.75 lbs with scope and it frequently shoots 1/2" groups.