Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Split necks in Lapua 9.3X62 Brass

I went to shoot today and noticed a split in the neck of one of my loads. I checked the remained of my brass and quickly found 11 cases out of 100 with splits in the neck. This brass in only on it�s second loading and loads are under book max and velocity measured as expected for the powder charges. The empty brass below has only been fired once. The Rifle is a CZ 550 and the die set is from RCBS. I am assuming brittle brass from improper heat treat. I was about to order some Lapua 243 brass but think I am going with Norma; this is supposed to be the good stuff. Anyone had this issue with 9.3X62 Lapua brass?

A friend uses my loading equipment for his 9.3x62 and here in Sweden Norman and Lapua are cheapest, so that is what his cases are (the mix is about 50/50).

Of perhaps 400 loads on about 100 cases, I don't think we've had a single case neck split, period.

I think you may have just got a bad batch... Lapua really does have a good reputation here in Scandinavia.

John

Only bad thing about Lapua is there are no bad things about Lapua. Interested to see what the scoop is.

I submitted an inquiry on their website. I am not sure if it was the right way to contact them about the issue.

Lapua brass is hard, much harder than Winchester.

I anneal mine each time before I load it.

Great brass - Yes

Way to hard - Heck YES...

My Lapua 9.3x62 is on it's 3-4th firing with 65gr Biggame and 286 Partitions, still looks like new.

Out of curiosity, when did you buy the brass?

Meanwhile my Norma and Hornady brass just keep on ticking...

It has been several years since I bought the brass. I haven't shot the rifle much.

Same brass in same cartridge in same rifle and I find no cracks or other problems in 60 rounds of loaded and fired rounds.

Lapua is high quality brass, but those necks likely arrived too hard for some reason.

I generally don't expect to have to anneal new factory brass before loading it for the first time, but every batch might be a little different.

Anneal those case necks before reloading them and every few firings for longer life.

Had the same issue with 7mm Dakota brass; 2nd firing on most all of it. Bought another bag with the same results.Think the stuff is made by Norma.

Since there is no other brass for the Dakota, I sold the rifle.

Interesting thread to read; I look forward to possible reasons for the split necks beyond "a bad lot".

I have been using Lapua brass since 1997 in 308 and 9.3x62 since 1999 when I bought my CZ 550 Lux; all I can say that it has given excellent service through the years, one lot of 9.3x62 was reloaded 10X (per my notes trimmed once)before I started getting neck splits and then I junked the entire lot.

I use Lapua where I can, currently I use it in 222,6.5x55,308, 30-06 and 9.3x62.

SC

Does anyway have a good contact point for Lapua? I haven�t heard anything back from them, but I has been the holiday season.

I was 90% sure this brass was too hard when I started this thread but wanted to get the opinions of some of the experienced members here. No company is perfect, but as TopCat stated, I don�t think premium brass should need annealing before being used.

If Lapua won't replace them, once you've culled the bad cases, if you anneal the rest you should get good service from them.

Norma brass is softer, but in spite of your experience here with the 9.3x62 brass, I would still go with the Lapua 243 brass as it's a proven performer.