Blue Box 220 Russian

H

HovisKM

NRA Life Member
I just turned some blue box 220 russian for the first time last night. Was something changed? This stuff turned liked crap. Very inconsistant feel in expanding and that carried though on the cutting. I was turning for a .268 NK.

74 pcs
Pumpkin expander and turner

1. After expanding, four pieces wouldn't go on the turning mandrel. Even those that fit, several felt a lot different.

2. The cut felt inconsistant also. There were places in the brass that felt like steel and would grab the tuner so hard, it would spin in my hand.


I thought I was losing my mind so I got out some gold box and it expanded and cut just fine. This really bothers me as I will be needing to order brass for next year.

Hovis
 
They must have fired the whole plant. I just turned 200br brass and each box had some with holes in the shoulders. Never seen such junk. Glad im still diggin in gold boxes for the ppc brass.
 
Humm, wass up..?

Dusty Stevens said:
They must have fired the whole plant. I just turned 200br brass and each box had some with holes in the shoulders. Never seen such junk. Glad im still diggin in gold boxes for the ppc brass.
Click to expand...

UNnerving for sure.... Dusty, I have seen and heard the same from several prepping Lapua brass that is recent production....
.308 brass that started to split at the shoulder with first or second firing and seemed to me to have a "hole" where the split started..
Have two boxes .220Russian (blue) bought this Spring that I have not touched..... Hummm concerning.. Need to try prepping
an see what happens...
I too have a GOOD portion of gold boxes .220Rus from 2003-2008 rat holed and KNOW they are GOOD.

But Man this looks, not good...
Thinking Norma.... Tried ppc and like what I'm seeing...

Still....:-(

cale
 
Blue Box Lapua...

I sell "tons" of Lapua brass, (220 Russian, 6BR, 308, 6.5x46,) both weighed and totally prepared. While I personally don't do the turning, my "guy" hasn't said anything about having a problem with the quality, hardness, or softness of the brass. I am at a loss as to what you guys are having a problem with.
Ron
 
Ive got a fistfull with holes thru the shoulders. Untouched right out of the box. It would be different if they came apart being fired or sized
 
I'm going to look some of this over with a loop and see if I can get some idea of what happened. I have gotten a few emails from people stating the same thing I did. I was really hoping, and still am, that this is an isolated problem.

Hovis
 
Same problem

Kevin ran into the same thing. Be turning ok and totally lock up. Very hard spots.

Ron, turning on a lathe it may not be noticed.
 
HovisKM said:
I just turned some blue box 220 Russian for the first time last night. Was something changed? This stuff turned liked crap. Very inconsistent feel in expanding and that carried though on the cutting. I was turning for a .268 NK.

74 pcs
Pumpkin expander and turner

1. After expanding, four pieces wouldn't go on the turning mandrel. Even those that fit, several felt a lot different.

2. The cut felt inconsistent also. There were places in the brass that felt like steel and would grab the tuner so hard, it would spin in my hand.


I thought I was losing my mind so I got out some gold box and it expanded and cut just fine. This really bothers me as I will be needing to order brass for next year.

Hovis
Click to expand...

I turned 50 pieces about 3 weeks ago from the Blue Box and experienced the same thing. Each neck seem to take on a characteristic of its own. Hard in some places, softer in others. Sometimes it was so hard the turner didn't want to advance even though I was using a new cutter blade.

It was like it hit a wall. It took a long long long time to complete a neck. I usually go slow but this was inordinately slow. No consistency in the batch. And, this wasn't the first time its happened. Other boxes weren't as bad. Sounds like a metallurgy QC problem. :)
 
I have four boxes of recent run Lapua 220. Inspected the shoulders and haven't seen weak spots. I plan to turn mine on a lathe so I'll probably not notice the hard sections though. Curious what this does for consistent neck tension (if anything)

-Lee
www.singleactions.com
 
I just opened a box of new 6br brass and found one case with a hole in the shoulder. It looked kinda like the slug from the primer being punched got ppressed into the shoulder somehow.
 
Dusty Stevens said:
Heres a sample of mine
Click to expand...

Wow... That is nasty..! Years ago, I had a box of 100 Remington 6BR that had wrinkled sections at the shoulder, about 70% of the brass.. No holes but bad still.. Got that box replaced by Sinclairs.

My PPC brass >Blue box< checks out fine on visual inspection.... But have not had time to expand or turn. Hope I don't have the erratic metallurgy...!

Dusty, do you think the supplier will help you getting a replacment, refund or.....?

cale
 
687401 was not a good lot

687401 in 6br brass was not a good lot #. 402 and 403 were much better. I turn lots of brass (mostly 30br), and I tend to cull 2-3 per 100 out, but that lot # I culled out 86 pieces over 2 cases (that over 8%). I have started really checking all my lapua brass (both 220 and 6br) as they all will have a few pieces with small indentions in the shoulder. Below you will see an pic of some I have culled out. You can easily see the big punches, but you have to look REALLY close for the slight cuts. I mostly make 30br brass, and those little cuts not only tend to split necks upon expanding, but also on shooting.

As far as the turning is concerned, I have noticed no difference at all in the material or the turning consistancy. I only turn .0015 - .0020 at a time, so there is not a lot of material being removed in each turn.

0a86510807b72a16ab3e75afc2832a2a_avp9.jpg
 
Last edited:
I seriously doubt it. Im just a small fish. I buy a lot of all the calibers they make esp 6.5x284. I only use ppc brass one match. Norma brass now fits my 6.5x284 chambers so maybe there is hope

caroby said:
Wow... That is nasty..! Years ago, I had a box of 100 Remington 6BR that had wrinkled sections at the shoulder, about 70% of the brass.. No holes but bad still.. Got that box replaced by Sinclairs.

My PPC brass >Blue box< checks out fine on visual inspection.... But have not had time to expand or turn. Hope I don't have the erratic metallurgy...!

Dusty, do you think the supplier will help you getting a replacment, refund or.....?

cale
Click to expand...
 
Let's Test Your Cases...

HovisKM said:
I just turned some blue box 220 russian for the first time last night. Was something changed? This stuff turned liked crap. Very inconsistant feel in expanding and that carried though on the cutting. I was turning for a .268 NK.

74 pcs
Pumpkin expander and turner

1. After expanding, four pieces wouldn't go on the turning mandrel. Even those that fit, several felt a lot different.

2. The cut felt inconsistant also. There were places in the brass that felt like steel and would grab the tuner so hard, it would spin in my hand.


I thought I was losing my mind so I got out some gold box and it expanded and cut just fine. This really bothers me as I will be needing to order brass for next year.

Hovis
Click to expand...

Kevin,

Very sorry to hear you are having issues with the new lot of Lapua .220 Russian cases...

I neck-turn and use more Lapua .220 Cases than anyone in the game and have experienced zero problems with the new "blue box" lot of cases. As such, would be more than glad to swap a new box of brand new cases for your remaining un-turned cases for my own testing/use.

Actually, I will plan to bring my neck-turning equipment to the East-West match, if you're coming, where we could test your cases that you're having issues by neck-turning them with my turners and methods.

Please let me know if you will be attending the East-West match where we can put your cases to the test?

Jack Neary ~ Team Lapua
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top