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At less than half the price of Lapua brass I am wondering if this PPU stuff is any good. If you have tried it let me know what you think of it.

Not in .338, but 7mm-08, .223, .308, .30-30, 357 and .44 mag, I've found to be really good quality, giving a decent number of reloads. Educated guess would be that .338 would be no different. Decent quality at a good price.

Sim G wrote:Not in .338, but 7mm-08, .223, .308, .30-30, 357 and .44 mag, I've found to be really good quality, giving a decent number of reloads. Educated guess would be that .338 would be no different. Decent quality at a good price.

Thanks Sim. I have used PPU in .308 and .357 but at £111 per 100 for PPU and £250 for Lapua .338 LM one wonders if the price is purely a reflection of different labour costs in Finland and Serbia of if there is a material difference. I think they are certainly worth giving a try.

I always buy Lapua brass where I can; if Lapua don't make the brass then I buy Starline brass (pistol) or PPU (rifle) as my next choice. I find that Lapua brass is extremely consistent in terms of case length and mass and requires little to no prep (maybe resizing if the case mouths have deformed slightly through shipping) when loading.

I had some ppu for my 338. Necks split on second sizing on 50%
Never used the rest again

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Thanks Swamp Donkey, that is pretty conclusive. Always good to hear from someone with first hand experience. My Ruag is starting to show splits in the necks after 5 - 6 loadings, but Lapua has shown no signs of deterioration after the same number of loadings. 6 plus loadings out of Lapua is more economical that 2 loadings from PPU. I am surprised however that given my experience of other PPU cases I would have expected better. Thanks again, you saved me making an expensive mistake.

Like you, Colin, that is a surprise! Three times as many loadings, but only twice as expensive...

Non the less, it's still a cart load of money for brass. What's the military surplus like, if it's available?

Sim G wrote:Like you, Colin, that is a surprise! Three times as many loadings, but only twice as expensive...

Non the less, it's still a cart load of money for brass. What's the military surplus like, if it's available?

I used to buy once fired Ruag which came from Accuracy International, unfortunately can't get it anymore, but that was pretty good in terms of longevity. Heavier than Lapua, but for some reason there was a discrepancy in the rim dimensions which required two different shell holders and even then there were some that didn't fit either. I calculated that given 6 loadings in Lapua brass and a premium bullet like 250 grain Lockbase, Federal Magnum match primers and 88.5 grains of N165 a finished round cost around £1.81 each including the cost of brass divided by 6. Still double the price of commercial .308 but way off the price of commercial .338 LM at approx £6.50 each. Nobody said .338LM is cheap to shoot but reloads do at least make it possible given I go to Orion every couple of months and easily get through a hundred or more in a day, plus a couple of hundred .308 and worth every penny!