Lapua 243 cases cheaper than Remington in Australia

B

bjld

Guest
Hi all

I posted about Norma 300 RSAUM cases being cheaper than Remington cases in Australia a few months ago.

About the same time I got Norma 7x57 and RWS 6.5x57 cases for only a little more than Remington 6mm cases - they all formed 6AI just fine, although there were some noticeable differences in case head diameter.

I've had a 22-250AI before and recently I decided I wanted another overbore 224 calibre rifle without the foreforming so I bought some 22-243 dies with the intention of forming the cases and then specifying the reamer dimensions from them.

On the weekend I went to buy 243 cases presuming that Remchester would be the cheapest.

Nope - Lapua was cheaper!

I'd intended to run Remchester cases through my FL die, load them, shoot them and even lose them while out hunting without being bothered.

But it just doesn't seem right to do that with Lapua cases, even if they're cheaper.

The owner of the gun shop said that Lapua prices have fallen but the Remington importer is deluded for not realising that his customer base is shrinking rapidly.

Regards
Ben
 
Another Aussie shooter

As far as I know Lapua in Oz is imported by DW Custer who runs a tile import business and does the Lapua and Vihtavuori thing as a side line. They sell direct to the public at the same price a dealer can buy those products for. So no point in dealers getting involved. So if the wholesale price for the Remchester was close to the Lapua price by the time the dealer made a small profit on them that would explain the difference.
Andy.
 
Out of the Norma 7X57, and the RWS 6.5X57, which formed "best" in the 6 Imp chamber?

In other words, which did you like best/gave you best service??
 
IIRC, the 6.5x57 case has the same body length as the 8x57, so is different than the 7x57, which is the parent for the 6 Ackley. You had to push the shoulder back on the 6.5x57, didn't you?

As a point of information only, I got some RWS 7x57 cases to make into 6 Ackley, and the extractor groove was so short, a BAT extractor wouldn't entirely slip over it. Required thinning down the extractor to fit. Worked fine in a Remington. Don't know if this is true of the 6.5x57 cases.

I do wish we could get those Lapua cases in the States. One thing, at least, where materials are easier to get in Oz!
 
You are correct Charles - I pushed the shoulder on the 6.5x57 back with a 257 Roberts FL die (no expander) followed by a 6mm FL die and then neck turned (I got this advice from CH&4D - cheaper than form dies).

I could not use the same shell holder for the 6.5x57 RWS cases as I could with the other makes - it was too tight a fit for a 308W shell holder so I used a 6.5x55 shell holder instead, although it was a little too loose for my liking.

All makes of case extract fine from my fire-forming rifle, a 243W Howa 1500 rechambered to 6AI, although I haven't tried them in the Rem 700 varmint rifle yet that I've only just got back from the smith (I won't fireform this cartridge with a new Krieger).

It has a Wyatt extended magazine that lets me load 87 gr VMAX bullets to a COAL of 2.9" to suit the throat of my reamer - this reamer also suits 107 gr MKs in my light gun.

The fireformed Norma and Remington cases best fit my 6AI chamber - the RWS cases are narrower across the case head and I suspect that will cause case head separation with repeated firing and sizing.

Something else: the Lapua and Remington 243W cases were the only ones in stock at the gun shop on the weekend, but I could have ordered Norma cases for less than the Remington too.

The gun shop I refer to is the South Australian Rifle Association store - it's Krieger's single biggest customer - we like our Kriegers in Oz!

They try hard to give their members good service and although the general public can buy Lapua direct from the importer the SARA store buys in sufficient volume to keep their delivery costs down.

Regards
Ben
 
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