Last night I was reloading a couple boxes of ammo for my Chapuis. I was sorting some Norma cases from the S&B brass I was going to load. I noticed that the Norma brass appears to have a thinner rim than the S&B. It might be an optical illusion. I don't have a good blade type micrometer. Has anyone measured the rim thickness on various brass manufacturers?
Thanks
Bfly

quote:

It might be an optical illusion.

.... but then again not, anything's possible and there could actually be there's a difference, but if you can chamber them in your Chapius rifle I'd not get too concerned.

I've loaded a bunch of 9.3x74R with RWS, Norma, Geco & S&B brass and never found a whole lot of difference among this particular cartridge.

Having said that; S&B probably has the most improvement potential in their reputation for ammunition & components, although they have seriously increased their Quality Control. Issues with their components that were an occurance years ago do not exist today.

..... and yes, I've some good measuring tools (the operator being the weak link in the chain) and have never bothered to measure 9.3x74R rims since I've never really had reason to do so.

Having said all that I did manage to stumble across a batch of RWS 7x57R ammunition that had incorrect headspace (rims too thick) and they would chamber (meaning I could insert the cartridges into the chamber but the actions would NOT close) in 2 different 7x57R rifles.
So, yes, Shit Happens.

I agree on the S&B products having opportunities for improvement.
I thought SAAMI and the Euro version of it would set the standards. I've never had any problem with any of the cases in my rifles. The reason I asked was because I remember a post a few years ago about someone having some short case life with Norma cases in their Chapuis. Again, it didn't match my experience, but seeing the possible rim thickness difference made me wonder. It could be the rim is just tapered toward the edge on the Normas and it just looks thinner. I have noticed that the S&B cases are a bit tighter when I close the action, but they also give me a lot of reloads.
Thanks
Bfly

There are diff in brass. I have a 338x74K that uses 9.3x74R brass. I have noticed quite a diff in the head & rim dims between RWS & Norma. The RWS is the better brass. Partial FL sizing gives me 5 firings w/ the Norma & I am on 10 now w/ RWS. I have a couple 100 once fired Norma that I probably won't use if you are interested cheap.