I recently purchased 100 270WSM cases (Norma) from Sinclair. About 80% have oversized chase heads and will not fit into the RCBS case holders. I miked them, and they are a few thousandths over spec. Anybody else have such a problem?

Have run into oversized 243 WSSM case heads.

I do most of my loading on Dillon 550 but some seldom used rifle calibers I load on an old Herter's single stage that I bought when I started loading in 1952. Found that Herter's made an oversized shell holder for the various cases based on the .375 mag. cases, so it must not be all that uncommon???

Since Herter is obsolete, I was very fortunate to locate one! The oversized shell holder resolved problem I was having.

Regards,
hm

RCBS will make a shell holder to fit the brass. You might be able to get one made for a different cartridge that will work too.

Brass irregularities crop up from time to time, it's just part of the game.

quote:

Originally posted by PaulS:
RCBS will make a shell holder to fit the brass. You might be able to get one made for a different cartridge that will work too.

Brass irregularities crop up from time to time, it's just part of the game.

Call Sinclair for replacment!!

It is silly to ask RCBS to make a custom shell holder to accommodate out of spec top of the line expensive brass such as Norma.

Send it back!!

quote:

Originally posted by Brice:
I recently purchased 100 270WSM cases (Norma) from Sinclair. About 80% have oversized chase heads and will not fit into the RCBS case holders. I miked them, and they are a few thousandths over spec. Anybody else have such a problem?

I had the same problem with Norma 300 WSM brass five years ago.

Brice,
I encountered the same problem when loading new Norma 375 H&H cases for a friend before we both hunted in Australia this past May. About 20% of the head sizes were over spec. and I had great difficulty getting the cases into the shell holder.

I suspect that these were factory seconds and sold in bulk. This most certainly mars Norma's reputation for supposedly producing quality brass.

Geoff

Norma is a metric factory.
They may not be working in inches.

In the US 6.5X55 brass is undersize compared to Norma brass.

Wait till you find out how soft the case head are.

Extractor marks on the first firing with moderate loads. Loads that had been fired in RP and WW cases with no signs. This with the Norma's holding 2 gr more water than the RP and WW cases.

As I understand it, European brass is based on the 8x57 case. Which is larger than an American 30-06 case. In Europe, they make "American" cartridges, ie 30-06, 308,etc starting with the 8x57 brass. America returns the favor by making "European" cartridges, ie 8x57, 7x57, etc, using 30-06 sized brass.
Usually, the slight difference doesn't matter.

I hate Norma brass its soft.

The 8x57 is not larger than the .30-06

Would someone please measure the head of a European 8x57 case and the head of a American 30-06. I'm not saying that the case is larger volume wise.

A shell holder holds the rim not the head and the problem may be the shell holder.

Just measured a Portuguese 8mm head; .469; US GI M2 ball; .468; so you are right, the European is much bigger. Not.
Shell holders are influenced by not only the rim but the diameter of the head in the extractor groove. Head diameter; not so much. Try some other shell holder makes; everything has manufacturing tolerances.

I got my info second hand in an outdoor article. I can't remember who wrote it. The only European brass I've dealt with was .223. But I remembered I had a box (somewhere) of Austrian ammo in 30-06. I dug it out and measured it and then some domestic 30-06 brass. They were the same.

This is rather sad news, as I have always considered Norma of very good quality brass.

In fact, I bought a whole drum - it is one of those cardboard drums - with a couple of thousands 404 brass.

I keep these for my own use, for our wildcats based on the 404.

They include .270 short, .270, .300, .338, .375, .458 short and .458 full length.

I recall reading more than 40 years ago that Norma brass had a certain softness to it. The writer, who had a credibility I find hard to find in the mercantile, advertorial world of magazines today, believed this was to the benefit of reloaders for some reason I forget now.

No, I am not spruiking for Norma. Their ammo is a bit dear here and, as it happens, it is probably about 40 years since I've bought any.

The softness is to make the brass showing the pressure before it gets dangerous.

Yes, Nordic2, I think that was the reasoning, now you mention it.

quote:

I recently purchased 100 270WSM cases (Norma) from Sinclair. About 80% have oversized chase heads and will not fit into the RCBS case holders. I miked them, and they are a few thousandths over spec. Anybody else have such a problem?

I have no clue what shell holder Brice is using. I have shell holders, I take advantage of the difference in shell holders, some are tight by design, some are loaose (my favorite) then there are those that I use to form cases for short chambers.

If I hade a problem with 'crappy cases' I would take it up with the company that sold them to me, then? If after giving them a chance to 'fit it' and they fail, I tell everyone.

F. Guffey

Your problem is likely not with the diameter of the rim (shellholders have considerable margin for that built in), but with the shape/thickness of the extractor groove. I've found the extractor grooves on some European-made brass to be a bit "tighter" than on American brass. The difference is in the angle of the upper (forward) edge of the groove where the brass increases to body size. This angle tends to be more acute on some brass, so if your shellholder is a bit "thick" at the lips the top of the shellholder binds against the lower body of the case. This can be exacerbated in the WSM series since the body is larger than the rim.

You can grind a bit off of the top of the shellholder to resolve this problem -- or get another shellholder which has thinner lips. The RCBS shellholder is made to fit case heads within the SAAMI specs. Sometimes manufacturers don't pay enough attention to the specification for the upper (forward) taper of the rim recess.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
This is rather sad news, as I have always considered Norma of very good quality brass.

In fact, I bought a whole drum - it is one of those cardboard drums - with a couple of thousands 404 brass.

I keep these for my own use

And I am assuming you are pleased with them. I also like Norma .404 brass and ammo. I am now down to my last 50-round Kynoch tropical pack of factory-loaded .404 which was made in either the last year of the '60s or the first two years of the '70s using bullets and brass from Norma. I just wish I could get more of those packs and go out and shoot them.

I've struck a few of my 404J cases that were tight in the RCBS shell holder I use. From memory they were some of the Kynoch cases from the 60's. A few seconds to run a small file round extractor groove and that cured them. My Parker Hale (Norma brass) and RWS cases fitted the shell holder fine.

As Stoncreek posts, it is the case extractor groove that will make cases slightly tight in the shell holder not the case head. My 'tight' cases chambered and resized without issue.