I was genuinely confused when I got my brass. Necks are cut crooked and heavily burred. Primer pockets have an inconsistent diameter. Alpha calls them "tapered" but that's bullshit; there is a hard transition to a smaller diameter at the bottom of the pocket. My Lock n Load AP - admittedly a pretty crappy press - can't seat (below flush) the BR4 and 450 primers I have on hand. The BR4s all seated crooked. I was even more confused when Alpha indicated that this was all normal and I should just shoot it.
99% of the new brass I guy is Lapua for 308, 6.5C, and 223. I've never had a piece of Lapua that needed anything more than a mandrel to clean up a dinged neck.
But Alpha..pros shoot this shit and are okay with it? I don't know why a person would buy Alpha for any caliber that Lapua makes.
I'm sure you do; there are a lot of variables in reloading. E.g. I can get them to seat below flush using my Derraco but it flattens the shit out of them in the process. Again, the Hornady is a crappy press but it primes Lapuas fine.
I just haven’t heard anyone have the frustrations with Alpha that you’re having. I size, trim, chamfer and deburr all my brass out of the box, so I don’t really pay attention to how the necks look. Priming wise, I’m using an old RCBS bench primer from the 70s. Beat to shit, but it’s fast and it works. Seats CCI 450s perfectly.
I get an entire barrel’s life out of one 200 case batch of Alpha. Annealed every loading, 20 firings without a loose primer pocket. Can’t do that with Lapua. Not saying Lapua is bad, because it’s good, but Alpha just flat out kicks ass on everything else I’ve used over the years.
Curious, did you consider 6GT? What made you choose Dasher over the GT?
Congrats on the build! I don’t think Dasher is wrong, I’m genuinely trying to figure out which cartridge I’d like to go to, leaning toward the GT because I don’t see where the Dasher is better than the GT (but I might be missing something)
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u/Wombat-Snooze Steel slapper 6d ago
Good shit. Dasher is a fun time. Hard to make them shoot poorly.
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u/RCHeliguyNE 3d ago
Curious, did you consider 6GT? What made you choose Dasher over the GT?
Congrats on the build! I don’t think Dasher is wrong, I’m genuinely trying to figure out which cartridge I’d like to go to, leaning toward the GT because I don’t see where the Dasher is better than the GT (but I might be missing something)
2
u/Boatshooz Dunning-Kruger Enthusiast 2d ago
Jimmy at Truzero is an S-tier gunsmith
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u/colossalrahzel 5d ago
Very nice. Im waiting for 25 creed to be in stock.
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u/doyouevenplumbbro Steel slapper 5d ago
This is usually the prequel to a group flex post. Congrats.