85 gn sierra Varminters

[bj139]

BTW.. I found out that the Norma (and Nosler) brass have SMALL flash holes. The Hornady has large. I'm sure it makes a difference... not sure why Norma went with small..

Also, Nosler is made by Norma and is finshed off with a full prep so it's ready to load out of the box (full length sized, trimmed, de-burred, chamfered, flash holes uniformed) . I don't think the Norma is prepped at all. Hence when you see Nosler for sale, its a little more pricey that most other. Fantastic brass, I used to load 204 Ruger with it.

I have read that Lapua brass also has small flash holes and some people love it.
I can't recall that I have ever seen someone show superior accuracy with Lapua brass.
If it was so good I would expect someone would test it.
Maybe someone here knows of such a posting.

[bow shot]

Benchmark but mainly because I like how it measures and I have quite a bit of it from loading for a 204 Ruger upper. Shot absolutely amazing 32 and 40 gn Amax's and 40 gn Bergers. I was hoping it might get me to accuracy fast. My groups are Ok so far, not as impressive as what I was getting from the 204, but some shooting constraints are making it hard to tell whether the so-so groups are the load or the shooter, lol!

[bow shot]

I should mention that I was shooting off a very good bench, with bipod and bags. Slightly loading the 'pod against a big bag in front.

[bow shot]

Yeah, I went with Lapua for a 6.5-284 and I was not impressed. I still had to neck turn ALL the brass which s-cks, its tedious and eats huge amounts of very precious time. I only do that to eliminate variables, and I reall don't know, despite what all the experts say, that it matters. The "worst" brass I ever used was Hornady. downright awful variance in wall thickness and weight. But I got by far the best groups with it. My first 3 rounds of 123gn Amax match @ 300y printed under an inch (JP barrel):
123 gren.PNG