Bench rest brass

[clauded56]

While digging through a box of odds and ends at the LGS I found some boxes of Remington BR unprimed brass. The guy at the store said it is benchrest brass. Is there anything special about this brass that I should know? Can you reload it to standard specs? Also, what is it worth. It is all NOS unprimed in the boxes.
It is all .308. Thanks

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

The Remington Bench Rest Brass should be in a Green and Orange box. It is a special run of brass shaped like 308 and annealed twice as far as normal 308 brass. IT HAS A SMALL PRIMER POCKET! The flash hole may or may not be drilled in!

While is CAN be used a 308 brass it is worth about double! If you find loading data for 308 Lapua Match, that is designed for the small primer and smaller flash hole.

The Remington cartridges 22, 6mm, 6.5mm and 7mm BR are a half inch shorter and the are a few variations that are a few thousandths of an inch different (like the 6 XC) and BR Norma cases are the same but use "No Turn" neck thickness of .015 (BR Remington case use .010 neck walls)

I had a friend that had a full case of that brass without flash holes, and had them drilled for .035" diameter and formed them to 6mm BR Norma and shot them out of a Rem 700 that had been tuned and sleeved. At 600 yards that gun would stack 5 rounds in the same bullet hole!

I would offer to buy them but I already have a lifetime supply for my 22 BR!

Ivan

 

[clauded56]

Good info. The brass is in the green and orange box. And I did notice the end label said for use with a small rifle primer. I think they are drilled for a flash hole but I’m not sure. If they are not, what size hole, and can I drill them on my homeowner drill press? Thanks

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

Try .035", or take a regular 223 brass and see what drill bit fits the small primer flash hole. The BR guys use a Lathe, to get the hole centered (kind of important!)! I've never done it, but if you had an opposing chuck, it should work. Good luck.

Ivan

 

[clauded56]

Good info. Can’t find any data on the 308 Lapua match. Going to take a second look at the brass. Thinking about going for it. Thanks for the info.

 

[Just another 22 shooter]

I used some of the Rem 308 BR brass back in the day.
The "new" stuff can be had from Starline, when in stock. Starline recommends Rem 7 1/2 primers. I also used CCI 450 primers.
What Starline says:

The .308 Match is our small primer version of the .308 Winchester case. Many competitive shooters prefer the consistent velocities produced by small rifle primers. Like all of our other small primer rifle cases, we utilize our standard .080" flash hole diameter, as we feel it gives better ignition with slower burning and harder to ignite powders, making it more user friendly than many of the small primer/small flash hole versions of this caliber*.

For the Large Rifle Primer version, please see our .308 Win.

*As with all types of cases this large with small primer pockets, it will require care in powder and primer selection in cooler temperatures to prevent hang fires. Single-based propellents are generally easier to ignite and a quality primer such as the Remington 7 1/2 BR are recommended.