What brass are you using for your 7-08 ?

[VaniB]

What brand case do you use for your 7-08 bench rifle?

I can buy standard Winchester brass and cull out about half of it to be left with only the most uniform cases. But the idea of doing a lot of prep including neck turning, only to have the primer pockets last about 2 or 3 firings is not appealing......never mind that buying 200 Win cases to discard about half of them costs about the same as starting with 100 good Lapua cases.

Anybody useing Lapua 260 brass sized up to the 7-08 neck?

 

[jimfinn]

I use Lapua 308 brass and neck it down. Seems to work well. This is on a light weight hunting rifle.
Jim

 

[Larry Elliott]

Necking up or down is likely to mess with the uniformity of the neck thickness no matter how good the brass was to start with, but necking down seems to me to be the least unsettling to the brass. You'll likely end up having to do something with the necks either way, and making them thinner is a lot easier than making them thicker. JMHO though.

 

[jimfinn]

I just clean the necks up a little after doing this. But I do just have a SAAMI chamber. No tight necks on my rifle.
Jim

 

[david dumas]

only to have the primer pockets last about 2 or 3 firings is not appealing......

Ya think about backing off that load a little, my 7mm-08 brass has 15-20 loading's (and it's loaded hot but not to the max) and the primer pockets are still ok, I do anneal every 3rd loading,,,,,,,,,,,,,R-P cases,

the wind is my friend,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

DD

 

[Charles E]

Necking up or down is likely to mess with the uniformity of the neck thickness no matter how good the brass was to start with...

How? When you neck down, less of the old neck is in the new neck, unlike necking up. You're not going to lose uniformity of wall thickness in necking down.

It is necking up where part of the old neck/shoulder junction is moved into the new neck (if you keep neck length the same).

Edit:

Just curious ... in what benchrest sport does anyone use a 7mm/08? Don't believe I've ever seen one used in group, score, or long range.

 

[Larry Elliott]

How? When you neck down, less of the old neck is in the new neck, unlike necking up. You're not going to lose uniformity of wall thickness in necking down.

It is necking up where part of the old neck/shoulder junction is moved into the new neck (if you keep neck length the same).


Necking up is likely to cause more non-uniformity than necking down, but I'd think that some would likely occur with either. The brass in a necked down cases neck gets thicker, but I've never measured cases that I've necked down because they're going to need turning anyway so sure wouldn't swear to any non-uniformity before turning.

 

[Dwight]

How? When you neck down, less of the old neck is in the new neck, unlike necking up. You're not going to lose uniformity of wall thickness in necking down.

It is necking up where part of the old neck/shoulder junction is moved into the new neck (if you keep neck length the same).


Necking up is likely to cause more non-uniformity than necking down, but I'd think that some would likely occur with either. The brass in a necked down cases neck gets thicker, but I've never measured cases that I've necked down because they're going to need turning anyway so sure wouldn't swear to any non-uniformity before turning.

I use 260 lapua and neck it up and my 708 has a tight chamber so I turn and get rid of the doughnut. They shoot great for me.

 

[VaniB]

Thanks gents for the helpful input....especially you Mr. Elliot. Whenever I see your name on a post in my thread, I've come to expect your input to be objective and detailed.....and polite too. Sometimes when I visit BRCentral as the lone none-competing paper puncher that I am, I get subtle reminders how I'm one awkward turkey busting in on an Eagles nest.