Lapua brass

1

17Hornet

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May 3, 2026
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Searching for deals or availability of Lapua brass I came upon a company, OTM Tactical, had .223 brass available at a good price and flat shipping fee. 2 hours after online ordering I recieved an email my order has shipped. Am now recieving updates on tracking....thought anyone looking for brass or maybe looking for other components may be interested. Enjoy the day
 
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Coalcracker, just curiuos, when you buy starline do you buy .223 or .556?
I to have tried the .223 starline and dollar for dollar its pretty hard to beat
 
I've loaded 400 Starline .223 brass when I couldn't find Lapua.
Very good price - around $25 per 100 without shipping.
I have noticed a very slight, if any, statistical difference in accuracy between Starline and Lapua loaded rounds using the same powder - .21660 for 424 groups for Starline to .21489 for 247 groups. That could easily be caused by the "nut pulling the trigger" rather than the brass.
The 400 Starline cartridges measured from 1.747 to 1.743 out of the bags.
That much variation in length was surprising to me and even more surprising was that not one piece of brass actually measured at the SAAMI spec of 1.750.
Out of the box, the neck tension from brass to brass also varied significantly.
The Starline brass lasted from 8 to 13 reloads.
I started to get neck splits at about 8 or 9 reloads, then I started to get loose primer pockets.
I finally had to stop after 13 reloads when there weren't enough brass left with tight primer pockets to load 50 rounds.
I don't load hot because I load for Optimum Bullet Time. Generally, my loads are 13 to 20K psi below 62,366 psi Pmax.
Given the Starline is almost 1/3 of the price compared to Lapua, the cost comparison is still is reasonable from the price perspective.

I am currently loading .223 Lapua brass (I bought three boxes from a range member who was no longer shooting .223 brass at a great price, but I just bought some at $80. The 100 rounds measured from 1.751 to 1.750 out of the box (possibly more due to my inability at my age to be consistent with the pressure on the calipers than manufacturing variation in the brass - I have had many boxes of Lapua .223 all measure 1.750).
After 15 reloads with the current lot of Lapua .223, I have yet to have a neck split and all the primer pockets are still very tight. That is not unusual.
I generally get 20 to 23 reloads out of Lapua brass, with no neck splits. I just get concerned with loose primer pockets when there are a couple that are looser than I like. I have never tried to stretch Lapua brass by just keeping up loading until the necks split or the primers start to fall out.
 
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17Hornet,
I didn't think spending another $150 to save $16 was really a great deal.

The order of 400 Lapua brass will load me 8,400 to 9600 rounds of loading including the first load with new brass.
I have shot 1550 rounds since Jan 1 and I could still be shooting the same brass though September or even November, depending on how much I shoot my 6.5mm CMs and .308s.
The new Lapua order of 400 rounds could probably last until I can't shoot any more.
 
17Hornet said:
Never heard of them but nice to know. My total cost was $89.98 shipped for the Lapua .223 so guess I'll stick with them for now.
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Really?? WOW! How long have you been reloading? Seems like it’s been quite some time from your posts?

Anyway, research it & you’ll see. I can absolutely attest to the quality of Alpha. Some shooters actually prefer it to Lapua! One good thing is in many of the cartridges like 6.5 CM, 308Win, 260Rem, they off both Large & Small primer pocket brass for. That’s pretty trick! Aside from that, the Alpha brass itself is top shelf. It’s that same quality as Lapua and will offer virtually Dozens of reloadings!
 
One ten, been reloading probly 15 years, since I retired. Thing is the club I belong to is mostly shotgun/pistol people, not many rifle guys and even fewer reloaders. Just recently finally joined a forum like this one, so anything I've learned is mostly from the school of hard knoxs....trial and error. Talking with you guys saves me a lot of leg work and I really appreciate it
 
arnie said:
I wonder why Lapua 223 brass has a large flash hole, when all their other brass has a small flash hole?
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It’s actually not. Lapua 223 brass uses a 1.5mm flash hole, compared to factory brass using a 2mm flash hole. I think it’s just an optical illusion, appearing larger in 223 because of the smaller case diameter.
 
arnie said:
I can use a large decapping pin in my Lapua 223 brass, but not in my 6BR or 6.5 Creedmoor.
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I apologize. It appears they did at one time do the smaller flash holes for 223, however, all the 223 made now uses the regular 2mm (approx) flash hole. The smaller 1.5mm hole size is reserved for the target cartridges like those in the 6mm & PPC families. Another instance, is the Lapua standard 308Win brass using the regular 2mm flash hole size, however the Lapua 308 Palma brass uses not only a Small rifle primer, but also the smaller 1.5mm flash hole size.

Sorry for the confusion.
 
Hey guys, just an update on my order....ordered lapua brass Wednesday and recieved yesterday, Saturday. Not trying to start a debate on whats the best brass, just thought you would like my experience with a company with a good price and good service....enjoy the day
 

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