Friday, May 13, 2011

New Brass!

   Haley and I each ordered 500 pieces of new Lapua brass about 2 weeks ago. When I got the heavy package, she came over, and we (with some help from our dads and her brother) sorted it all by weight. When we were done weighing all of it, we divided it in half and each took 500 pieces. It took a while to weigh it, but now we'll have tighter groups. It might not make a huge difference, but it's all worth it.
   Last year when I ordered brass, my dad weighed all of it. It took him four hours! When the brass arrived this time, my dad said that I would have to weigh some of it. Of course I was going to, but I told him I wasn't going to do it by myself! So, the Rettmers came over to help us since 1/2 of it was Haley's.
 
  My dad and I decided that it was time for new brass, when my brass started splitting at Cascade a few weeks ago. During my first string, I only got 8 or so shots off, then on one shot,  my brass didn't come out of my gun. Only the small piece (see pic, the back of the brass on the bottom.) fell out. I called my dad to come over, and he asked what was going on. I showed him the small piece that came out and told him that the rest was stuck in my rifle. Val, one of the people running the match, came over to help. I had to lay in position, while they were trying to get the brass out. It was stuck in there pretty hard! After about 5 minutes of  trying, they finally got it out! Val had some extra ammo that fit in my rifle, so I was able to finish the match. Thanks Val, you saved the day!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

In all my years of reloading I have never had that happen in one of my Palma rifles. This usually happens because of incorrect sizing procedure, although it can also happen if you're using pickup brass that was shot in semi or full auto rifle with a loose chamber (like an M14 or M60). The warning signs are fairly obvious, and with a paperclip you can make a tool to feel where impending separation is forming inside the case. Again, I have never had the problem with my ammo in any of my rifles, but you see it from time to time with the Service rifle shooter.