Lapua .308 Win Priming Issues

[RAAOC]

Gday everyone.

I've just opened a new box of Lapua .308 Win (not Palma) and found that I could not seat a primer in many of the cases. It didn't matter which primer I tried (Remington, Winchester, Federal or CCI). I use a Sinclair priming tool and have been using Lapua brass for years without issue.

It turned out that the primer pockets had a very small sharp lip that was preventing the primer entering the pocket. I used a crimp removing tool to lightly chamfer the edge and the primers then seated - albeit still with some difficulty.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has had this issue with Lapua brass? I've always found it excellent quality and with the exception of some .223 about 5 years ago that split necks on the 2ns firing I've never had a problem with it.

Here in Australia it is cheaper then Winchester or Remington brass!

 

[gamestalker]

That's really not all that unusual these days. With the massive increase in production, many component manufactures have encountered a few more flawed components. And I don't really think they are producing a higher rate of flawed components, just that more is being produced, so we are going to hear about more problems.

But at least you were able to identify and resolve the problem without any major work involved. It's just a bummer to have to do the additional work in the first place, especially when your working with top shelf brass.

BTW, did you check to make sure you were using the correct priming tip. I remember once when I inadvertently grabbed a small tip to prime large primers, it acted similar to what your experiencing. What I think happened, is since I was priming new brass that already had super tight pockets, the small tip was pushing just inside of the edge of the primer, instead of pushing on the edge of it. And with the additional resistance, it was slightly caving the primer inward, which caused the bottom edge of the primer cup to flex outward, thus creating an even tighter start into the pocket. I ended up destroying a few primers before I realized I was using the wrong tip.

GS

 

[RAAOC]

You are no doubt right about the increase in production resulting in things slipping through that otherwise would not.

I did have the correct priming stem. Easy to get mixed up though - especially when using both the small primer Palma .308 brass and normal .308 Win.