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Alvaro Piqueras Alonso-Lamberti

Hi all, folks!

I think it´s a good idea to open a post about brass preparation for long range hand loads. When you hand load, a now world of opportunities is open for you, but at the same time, you start to fall to a hell of troubles and money waste!

It´s nearly easy to get into reloading, and with no much effort or inversion you can get cheap and good ammo to fed your rifles. But squeeze the last possibilities of a reloaded round (get the best accuracy and little extreme spread) could be more difficult (and expensive).

I have use mostly LEE equipment, rem or WW brass, CCI primers, etc… as it´s the most affordable here in Spain, and I have many rifles to reload for. But now, I have just a few time, and with that quantity of rifles, I can´t develop charges, get them feeded, sighted in, etc. So I´m selling rifles, dies, etc and want to get just one longe range rifle, and dedicate it more money and time.

After take a look to the factory offers (a custom built it´s far out of my budget), I will buy a 300 win mag Remington 700 Sendero. I will open another post talking about this rig.

But now I want to know what´s the best way to prepare the cases to reload it. Wich ones will be the best option and wich dies will serve me better.

BRASS CHOICE: As Lapua discontinued the 300 WM, I have take a serious look to the Norma brasses. Have read sometimes that Norma was the one who makes the Lapúa brasses (didn´t know if it was the same as the norma brand, or if norma make it under Lapúa´s specifications). The other brand I would consider was the RWS brass. Both choices are more or less at the same price, so I will go with the best one.

DIES SELECTION: I need to choose the dies before talk about case preparation. I think that a bushing neck sizing die will probably be consider when preparing the case. So… What kind of dies will be the best choice? I have consider FORSTER neck sizing and micrometer seating. There are other options as redding or RCBS. Which one is better? Why? I´m sure a neck sizing die will work better in that case.

BRASS PREPARATION: I usually clean the case, primer pocket and inside/outside of the neck. Sizing (usually neck sizing), trimming, chamfer and deburring, and re-clean the neck after polishing the case mouth with steel wool. For the first time I use rem or WW cases, I deburr the flash hole. That was all I do, with cases sorted by weight. But now I want to go a step forward, and i´m thinking in neck turner. So I want to know wich neck turner is good (maybe forster?) and when a how this operation should be done. Before/after neck sizing? How can I determine what bushing is the better to use in my chamber? I have no idea of how use a bushing die and a neck turner separately, so in conjunction this seem to be a real headache.

I want to get mi cartridges to headspace on the shoulder instead of the belt. Don´t know if 338 win mag cases necked down will be a good idea (it will blown a big part of the case body) or going with 300 WM cases, neck it up (323 or 338) and then neck it down. Again… before or after neck turning?

How do you clean and/or polish the inside of the neck? I usually use a brass cleaning tip or steel wool. I do it in inside-outside strokes. One day I used steel wool, making the case roll in a lee zip trim (that mean “circular movement” instead of inside-out movement). I get horrible results, but that was a new load, so i´m not sure what was the problem. Do you recommend some kind of coat inside the neck to reduce friction with the bullet?

The last question I can remember now (I will ask later for sure) is what is the best case trim length. I can determine my chamber real length (using a dummy with half neck of the brass cutted, a bullet seated and a small piece of case neck in the bullet. After chambering it, the neck ring moves down the bullet determining the real chamber length). Once I know that, how much short should be the case? I mean, what´s the ideal distance between the case mouth and the end of the chamber?

I really apologize for that loooooong (We can call this a 1000 yd post!) and boring post (even for my English mistakes), but I think that’s a good idea to talk about that and know the tips and tricks of all folks here.

Thank you very much for the help!!