quote:

Originally posted by 416Tanzan:
So what does 2.75" basic "Rigby/Lapua" cylindrical brass cost?

Hornady ought to start distributing some, since they already produce Rigby stuff.

416Tanzan,
Last year I scarfed up some left-over .338 Lapua blank-basic-cylindrical (BBC) at Captech, International.

IIRC, it was $1.70/piece.
Captech sells the fully formed .338LM brass for $2.23/piece if you buy 100.

They will be doing another run of .338 Lapua Magnum brass by the end of this year.
Prices are subject to change with material costs.
But the BBC will be cheaper than fully formed ... unless demand drives up the price.

I am on a wish list for more of the .338LM BBC from Captech.

Kathy Greenhaw is the lady with the plan at Captech International.
Call her and express an interest and she will put you on the wish list too, give her your phone number and email address:

(605) 791-1974

http://www.captechintl.com/











One easy pass through the reloading dies reduces the 2.750" long Captech basic cylindrical (for .338 Lapua Magnum) to 2.697" long 500 Bateleur brass:



Then you just trim a little to square the case mouth and uniform. You can stop at 2.695", 2.690", or 2.687" minimum.



Those with 500 AR rifles will have a bit more work to do to get them trimmed to 2.650" or 2.640" (minimum),
but that first pass through your 500 AR dies will be just as easy.
Size, trim, and go shoot the fullhouse loads. It is that easy.

thanks for the head's up, RIP.

I'm interested, but mildly.
The Dakota stuff was $.44/piece, which makes for inexpensive plinking. If I have a choice between 100 pieces of Jamieson Basic or fully formed Quality 500AccRel for $1 or so more, I would probably go with the Quality for overall ease of loading. On the other hand, if Quality is not available, then I would definitely be interested in the no-head-stamp basic.

I am learning to engrave, or get my own bunter and a hydraulic press ...

I had excellent luck with a batch of QualCart 500 Mbogo brass for about $3 a pop, questionable softness of .395 Tatanka brass at same price,
and the 400 Whelen brass was so screwed up it had to be sent back:
Seemed to have soft heads, huge extractor groove cutout, and had a big internal donut for the last 1/4" of the properly headstamped cylindrical.

Here is hoping Peter Cardona gets it together and always makes good 500 AR brass ... and gets my 400 Whelen brass sorted out soon!

From the 1980's, the 500 Van Horn Express has 2.575" case length and has the same head diameter as the 450 Dakota,
supposedly made by turning the belts off of 460 Weatherby cases:

600-grainers of .510-caliber at 2300 fps, another Mighty Mite!

Say "Hi" to Gil.

And thanks to Dr. Ken Howell for his wonderful book.