L-R: .458 Winchester Magnum, 45/.338 Lapua Magnum, 460 Weatherby Magnum

Note the circumferential line on the 45 Lapua neck. This is where the .338 Lapua neck-shoulder juncture was before fireforming or necking up with tapered expander, whichever method of "brass making" is chosen. This one came from simply fire forming a .338 Lapua Magnum load in the 45/.338 Lapua rifle. It will polish away easily with steel wool. The necks are smooth and uniform internally. The fire formed length is quite uniformly 2.694". Trim to 2.690". Nominal length of the 45 Lapua is 2.700", by decree of King Rigby.

The .338 Lapua and 45 Lapua are the ravens that sit on the shoulders of King Rigby. Odin called his Hugin and Munin, if you will recall.

[ 06-17-2003, 19:49: Message edited by: DagaRon ]

OK, I am having trouble with the ISP here making my access to the web hit and miss.

Just to add a few things more about reviving this grand wildcat:

I made my own loading dies with a cutoff tool, bench grinder, and a Dremel tool to polish the ends of the dies at the cuts.

1. Take one of the old 460 Weatherby sizer dies lying fallow, cut off 0.25" of the bottom of it, then grind square and polish the bottom and corner of the hole of the die until it de-primes and neck sizes the fireformed 45 Lapua perfectly.

2. Get a $49 dollar set of RCBS .338 Lapua dies.
cut the resizing die off at the neck-shoulder juncture, then grind it down until the 45 Lapua neck will pass through the hole. Be square and precise. Polish the edge of the hole in the top of the die. This will resize the case body and maintain the original .338 Lapua Magnum shoulder. You now have a spare .338 Lapua seater die left over to go with another set.

3. Use a 460 Weatherby seater die to seat the bullet in the 45 Lapua, without crimp.

4. Cut off a 460 Wby seater/crimping die by 0.25" and grind it down, polishing the bottom surface and entrance hole corner (a slight bevel on the edge is good) until you have a die that crimps the seated bullet perfectly. The 460 Weatherby neck IS shorter than the neck of the perfect 45 Lapua, so you WILL stay off the Lapua shoulder when you do this.

Further thought:

The common bullet canneluring tools from Corbin and CH4D only handle bullets up to .458 caliber. So, one could cannelure the X-Bullets to seat the bullets out further with a crimp.

Or if one is just going for ballistics, the long bullets can be seated out to fill the magazine, throat allowing, and have the base of the bullet at the neck-shoulder juncture in the case.

Loads ought to be similar to the:

460 Short A-Square
460 G&A
450 Vincent Long

Sounds like another job for RL-15 to me.

Surely a no-sweat cartridge delivering 2400 fps with 500 grain bullets of any kind, and hyper-velocity light bullet loads for plains game.

THIS IS THE 6MM PPC OF BIG BORES. AND THE MOST PERFECTLY POSITIVE FUNCTIONING .458 DGR OF ALL TIME.

No flies on this cartridge. It is faultless.

If the .416 Rigby is the King of the Hill, then this one will just have to be a hilltopper, standing beside The King.

The 45 Hilltopper.

No special reamers or dies needed. Just some very special brass, the best there is.

See the previous 45 Lapua Revisited thread.

It is a very sexy .45 indeed. Very nice work DagaRon.

I am still prone to thinking that the 470 Mbogo is the 6mm PPC of the big bore world, but will happily concede that the 45 Lapua could very well be "THE MOST PERFECTLY POSITIVE FUNCTIONING .458 DGR OF ALL TIME.".

IMHO, a name like 45 Hilltopper or some such thing is not worthy of a cartridge of this magnitude. I think something more personal is in order, like 450 DagaRon or 450 RAB. Even just 458 Dagaboy would be cool. Too bad it probably has to stay the 45 Lapua.

Cheers,
Canuck

[ 06-18-2003, 00:02: Message edited by: Canuck ]

Canuck,
I see you understand. It will always be the "45 Lapua." Not so charming as the "470 Mbogo" in the nomenclature department and "whomp" department, but more charming in the brass department.

Hopefully the weather, my reloading, and other distractions will finally allow some range time with warmer loads for both the 45 Lapua and 470 Mbogo this weekend.

Cheers!

It'll never work...it needs long sloping H&H shoulders, or a belt.

I am sorry, I had to! Good job! Very cool.

Roger,
I let myself into the rifle range after sundown and fireformed 69 more cases tonight. I did not extend my pinky fingers while doing this. Though such pinky finger technique is de rigueur for the 400 H&H shooter, it is not recommended for the 45 Lapua.