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I have just been given a load of once fired + new Lapua Palma brass in .308 from a chap who has given up shooting. I have never used the small primer pocket stuff before, so is there anything I need to know about the brass apart from having to make a new decapping pin (or 3!) of a smaller diameter. It has all been neck turned and prepped to a high standard and chambers fine in both of my .308's
There was a load of complete rounds in the batch as well that were made for one of the league long range comps year before last but didnt get used (about 80 in all) but these are going to have to be pulled as the powder load is 46.1grns of N140 (Berger 155.5 bullets) which I feel is a bit stiff for my rifles-my max load is 45.4grns of N140 with a 170grn lockbase.
What do you folks reckon?

46.1gn of N140 with a 155.5 bullet shouldn't be a problem - fire one at least before you pull 'em all. Also the loaded rounds could be a bit 'long' in your chamber so check that as well.

If the pressure looks OK, try a few groups - it may not be accurate in your rifle - especially if you're running a standard chamber-neck and the brass is neck-turned, you could end up with a massive neck clearance which will not enhance accuracy.

You could always neck size without the decapping rod present. Some dies such as the Redding neck bushing die allow you to keep the stem in place and remove the decapping rod so it shouldn't affect the different primer hole size. You could decap using the Lee Universal decapping die which I use for all my brass (I prefer to resize after cleaning brass so that I don't contaminate/damage my dies with dirt, grit etc.).

It's up to you whether you want to pull them or not, check the Vihtavuori load data to see if it's in specification and take note of the overall length. If the actual overall length is lower than the recommended OAL and the powder charge is near enough maximum then I'd recommend not using them since loads should be worked up.

Something else to keep in mind for re-loading these small rifle primer cases, you may want to use a magnum primer if you can get them as there is a lot of powder for the regular small rifle primers to ignite. You'll get better extreme spread in velocity and a more consistent burn - I found this to be true for 6,5x47 Lapua which has a large case capacity for a small rifle primer cartridge.

I use the same brass. Had to show the decapping pin to the grinder...very lightly. Working a treat ever since.
I use BR4 primers after starting briefly with CCI 400.
As per Welsh Shooter, I deprime then clean before neck sizing.
Seems to work well for my FTR rifle.


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