BossMoss: I use Norma brass in several of my Rifles including one of my 220 Swift Varminters! Norma brass has performed well for me and in my Rifles is long lived.
To tell the truth I got just a steal of a deal on the 200 pieces of Norma brass in 220 Swift. As I recall it was $2.00 per 20 pieces! Yeah I would like to have some more at that price!
Maybe you could try 20 pieces of the Norma 22-250 brass and see what you think. I am at a loss to remember any of my friends that use Norma 22-250 brass for there Rifles. I hope wecan find someone that has first hand experience with that caliber in the Norma brass.
Good luck if you decide to try some!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I use Norma brass exclusively for my .300 Weatherby and have always had good luck with it. I've never had any case head separation problems. But then again, my reloading methods may have a lot to do with that. I generally neck size only and then when the case grows too large to chamber I buy a new batch. I generally get 6 or 7 reloadings this way. I might could get more if I full length sized it, but I've never tried to.

I also use RWS brass for my 7mm mag. This is very good brass, but because its internal volume is less than most other brands, velocity suffers somewhat. I do recommend it highly, though, as the variations in wall thickness tend to be very minor in my experience with it.

I was thinking of trying some top quality brass & Lupua doesn't make brass for rem 22-250. Is anyone useing Norma brass and is it worth the extra money? Thanks

NO!

That depends upon how much your time is worth. Norma and Lapau both have very clean primer holes, and the mouths are seldom out of round. You have no case prep for max acc cases. You pay for this, and I often think its isn't worth it, but then you start to load a bunch of Swiss 7.5 and you just pick it up and go. No dressing the touch-hole and running it through a sizing die to round out the case mouth. Just prime and go. And it is quality brass. Ku-dude

No...

Heck no, not for my money. You can almost get 500 Winchester pieces for the price of 100 pieces of Norma

Gentlemen

Hell....YES
Quality has never been cheap. Buying a larger lot of cheap cases selecting,weighing and deburring etc. will take time and reduce the number of cases. It will not be soo cheap in the final end


Cheers

/ JOHAN

JOHAN,



Please come over and explain to my 9.3X74R and 416 Rigby brass how it is supposed to be so very good! The 9.3X74R suffers from case head seperations after two shots. THIS IS A VERY BAD F...ING THING IN A DOUBLE RIFLE AS IT BURNS THE SH.T OUT OF THE EXTRACTOR!!!

It does this becuase there is NO blend radius between the case head and case wall! Well there is a blend radius, but it is only ~ 0.7 mm!!! Everyone else uses a blend radius of 3 to 4 times that!



After you give the 9.3X74R brass it's 'pep' talk, you can work with the 416 Rigby brass, which looses it's head after 5 or 6 reloads, and also has inconsistencies with regard to case head expansion. Put bluntly, some cases expand heads while other do not shooting the identical loads. Want to guess why, HUGE case volume differences case to case!!! Norma has clean primer pockets (BIG F...ING deal), but their cases have the worse volume variation of anyone I have ever used EXCEPT Bertram! You guys think qualifying primer pockets sucks, wait till you sort 100 cases for internal volume!



My Federal 416 Rigby cases have over 30 reloads on them and they are still going strong! Of course I paid $100 per 20 for them (only available as loaded Federal Premium Safari ammunition )



Norma made it's mark over here selling brass no one else offered, i.e. niche marketing. The brass was military surplus rifles, like the Jap 7.7, the K31, etc. Their brass ain't worth shit, unless it isn't available from anyone else. I buy Norma cause it is cheaper than Bertram and I cannot get good brass for the particular cartridge I have looking for.



Lastly the damned stuff is SOFT!!!! Believe it or not, but my Rigby cases are softer than Bertram, and Remington, and Winchester, and Hirtenberger.



Scott

ScottS

Been to USA not long ago
Sorry, to hear about your problems. I had trouble with other brands, some more than others. I have used Norma, RWS and Lapua with very good results. I never had any large variations in weight either.

I had one problem with norma brass, it was for a drilling were case separation occurred after a few mild reloads. A cast of the camber showed that the camber was large near the base of the camber and cases beeing almost minimum size. RWS lasted a few more times since the cases were "fleischier". I guess Merkel used a oversized reamer?

I would contact Norma's techical staff for a explanation. Point out the difference in the weight of the cases, head expansion and the BBQ of the extractor. Norma shall take care of this.

I have made cases for a friends 416 Rigby by turning belst off 416 wby brass. It has lasted 12 reloads soo far.

Cheers
/ JOHAN

Johan,

Here is a picture of a sectioned Norma 9.3X74R case, which has loaded twice! The head seperation is clearly visible.

On the inside:


On the outside:


As I stated earlier this is a very bad situation since it can seriously damage the double rifles extractors! Norma has a badly designed case, in that their blend radius, the radius from case head to case wall, is far too sharp. This is a fundamental design issue, as it is a function of the drawing die, not a quality problem. By the way, RWS brass is light years better than Norma.

Here is a picture of a properly designed case. You will notice that the blend radius is much more generous than it is in the Norma brass.



Why do you use 416 Weatherby brass for the 416 Rigby? I could understand using 416 Weatherby brass for the 416 Lazzeroni (since they have the same case head diameter of 0.582" ). Afterall, the Lazzeroni is simply a beltless Weatherby. This Rigby has a larger, albiet only slightly case head diameter (0.589" for Rigby and 0.582" for Weatherby). Besides all that, at least here in the USA, Weatherby brass is about 10% - 15% more expensive.

Scott

ScottS

The reason for useing 416 wby, camber was very tight and wby brass was cheaper in Sweden than Norma rigby.

The wedge/bulge that show on you case reminds me of the cases from my drilling. I couldn't belive my gunsmith when I got the news. The drilling was expensive and suposed to be a "quality" firearm. Have you casted the cambers and messured? My experince is that norma brass seems to be more consistent than RWS. RWS has less capacity and thicker cases.

I would have contacted Normas tecnical support at once...

Cheers
/ JOHAN

Not quite sure what you mean by "wedge/bulge"? There is a reduction in wall thickness just forward of the case head bulkhead. This is a classical, textbook, example of incipient case head separation (or in this case partial case head separation the crack is clearly visible in the pic of the outside of the case). Double rifles are hard on brass, this is just a simple fact, thus double rifle cases are typically much thicker, particularly in the case head to case body transition. Norma should know this.

Quote:

---

RWS has less capacity and thicker cases.

---

This is exactly why the RWS brass is better! I do not need all that case capacity anyway.

Norma told me that they have reinforced their brass and that current manufacture is reinforced; therefore, better than what I have been using. However, they refused to replace my 100+ crap cases with these new ones! The brass pictured above is only 2 years old. I needed to replentish my ancient supply. I have heard from other 9.3X74R SXS double shooters that Norma's story is true. Unfortunately for Norma, the damage is already done.

By the way, there is nothing wrong with my chambers, they are smooth, straight, on size, and concentric. The rifle is dead on the face and solid as the Rock of Gilbraltor! If anything head space is too tight, as a thick rim won't allow closing of the action.

Thanks for the info on the 416 Weatherby. Wonder why the Rigby costs more over there as compared to the Weatherby?

Scott

I have been told that Norma makes all the brass for Weatherby and also the brass for Federal's 416 Rigby cartridges.

Hart

For me,

The quality of Norma brass is nice: I have reloaded it in several calibers (30-06, 9.3X74R, 300 Weatherby ...) with good results (I never found head separation in my 9.3 reloading 6 times the same case. On the contrary, I found head separation using the brass of Federal in my .470), but for my money , If you want a very good brass for a similar PRICE than the Norma's one, choose the RWS brass. I have reloaded it in 30-06, 8x68S, 6.5X57,and 6.5X57R with excellents results of accuracy and strenght. The brass is extremly resistant because the wall thickness is bigger than the Norma's. The unic inconvenience is a reduced powder capacity, but this problem can be solved in most of the cases with an adequate powder.


Best Regards

6.5X57,

Would you be so kind as to measure the internal case volume of your Norma 9.3X74R brass in grains (or grams for that matter) of water. I would really appreciate it.

Is your 9.3X74R an over / under or a side by side?

Thanks,
Scott

I use Norma and Lapua in the calibers I have for which they make brass. The Europeans drill their primer pockets instead of punch them out so you don't have the nasty projection inside the primer pocket to remove. My last 100 pak of Remington brass had 11 cases with the necks out of round. You can tell by the chatter when you bevel your case necks. I also find the European brass is more uniform in weight. I have Lapua cases that I've been reloading for years without having to discard any. We can indeed make better bras here in the U.S., but don't seem to much give a damn. Is that starting to sound familiar? Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

Depends on the cartridge.

If both Norma and Lapua are available in the cartridge to be loaded, I'll take Lapua every time. It is both less expensive and better heat treated, in my experience.

if Lapua is not available, I'll look for RWS over Norma.

However, if it is a choice between Norma and Remington or Federal, I'll take the Norma.

Winchester (Olin) has been a horse of another colour for me. It is good basic brass, well heat treated, but often needs a lot of work to true up.

So my own choices are

1. Lapua
2. RWS
3. Norma
4. Winchester
5. Everything else

AC

Cal,

Norma sure hasn't drilled any of the primer hole on any of my cases! They are punched!! Some have pretty ugly burrs left on them too.

Scott