Best deal on Lapua brass??

[LRRPF52]

That makes a lot of sense to me that it was safe in your 19.5" (right?), and then the significant dwell time in the 28" was putting pressure on the case as it was being extracted. And people wonder why ammo makers go mild on the loads. This is good info for all to look at as an example of that. Thanks for the detailed photo and further explanation.

As I was just decapping/resizing, and polishing brass after posting above, I noticed that several of my Grendel brass pieces have some soot on the necks. I don't know what load they were, but I've only been shooting the 100gr NBT's the past 2 times. They could have been some 123gr Scenar or 120gr SMK loads from last year though. I don't plan to shoot any 120's or above in my 16" Grendel anymore really. I'll try the 107 SMK's and 108 Scenars for a target load later on, running fast, and use the 100 NBT's as a testbed for jug destruction.

[StoneTower]

Sometimes...but unlikely in this case, a sooted neck can also be caused by not having hot enough load. In the case of too little powder (or the wrong type for the application), the case neck does not expand fast enough to seal off the chamber.

Do you have an adjustable gas block on that 28" stick? If the round is truly safe in a 19.5" upper, it should be able to work in a 28"

Do you think that you could post the days you will be doing load development at the range with that upper? I would like to stay home those days Be careful... we like you and want to keep you in one piece.

Take care,

David

The 28" it was. And it WAS a load that had been run safely in my old Grendel, without issues, for hundreds of rounds. I considered it warm, but not hot in that rifle. I didn't think about checking each piece, which I am very conscientious about with a new load, because I had used it in the past so successfully.

Nope, not resizing that one! It sits on my reloading bench as a reminder!!

[RStewart]

29 grains of TAC. The 3 shots were all touching, but there was case head expansion and loose primer pockets after just the second reload.

I also loaded a few with 30 grains, in Lapua brass, (I wasn't sure I could trust the Hornady) big mistake. Brass looked like a belted magnum after just 1 firing. AND....3 shots inside .5" at 100 yards. I didn't check the brass until I had shot all three shots, also a big mistake. I didn't see or feel any significant difference in the recoil, noise, etc.:



This is a very bad thing!

The scary thing is that the primers looked normal, there were no real ejection swipes. I am 100 percent convinced that what we consider to be traditional signs of pressure are very difficult to trust in AR's. If you are seeing flattened primers, ejector swipes, etc. then you are WAY past safe!

Yikes! And there are people that make fun of us who choose to wear eye protection when shooting.

[bwaites]

Stonetower,

It really wasn't load development...I was just shooting some ammo and had these loaded up and thought I'd give them a try. It was a good load in my old upper, so I thought... "What the heck, lets give it a try!" The group was really tight, the recoil felt normal, no real change on my end of the gun.

This 28" was put together with the intent of shooting F Class out to 600 yards, to keep the wear and tear off my 7mm WSM F Class rifle at shorter ranges. I realized I would be running loads a tad warmer than standard if I wanted to be competitive, but had no intent of creating belted cases!

I'm not loading much TAC anymore, 8208 XBR has become my "go to" powder now, so I don't expect repeats!

And yes, I wear eye protection! LOL!!!