Is Norma brass really that much better than its competitors?

Im looking into some new 22-250 brass, and Norma is tripple the cost of all the other options.

In general, when you buy the premium brass brands (Lapua, Norma, RWS, Nosler (?)), you can expect the brass to be more consistent, than Winchester or Remington, say. Flash holes won't have to be deburred, primer pockets not uniformed, neck wall thickness variation may be lower etc.

However, you can improve Win or Rem brass if you can be bothered to put the extra work into it. After that, there won't be much difference - you may have more "fowler" cases from a batch of Win/Rem cases, but since you only spent a fraction on that brass to begin with, in a monetary sense you will probably still be ahead.

In particular Norma brass used to have a reputation for being on the soft side, so if you do go with Norma, you may find you can't lean on it pressure wise.

- mike

With the slope-y sidewall of the 22-250, and its 65K psi max pressure, I don't get very many loadings before any brand of case wears out. I certainly wouldn't pay 3 times the cost of Rem brass just to have it say Norma when it got dumped into the non-ferrous recycling bin. So, no.

I'll say it depends. Lapua & RWS are simply the best, uniform & thicker in the critical head area. Norma can be better depending on caliber. Like mho, I don;t have a problem using WW or RP brass but they do require alittle more prep & are not as uniform. They alos may not last as many times when you are pushing max. loads more often than not.

Fred,
Whose brass do you use for your 404 Jeffery?

Norma is the only option other than Jamison,
which is not available at the moment I believe isn't it?

Allen

quote:

Originally posted by fredj338:
I'll say it depends. Lapua & RWS are simply the best, uniform & thicker in the critical head area.

I recently reloaded 100 Lapua cases in 30/06. Even though they were purchased over several years as factory ammo, both weight and length of the resized cases was incredibly uniform.

Very good stuff. OTOH, if they are manufactured in Finland, that is exactly what you expect, isn't it?

My experiences with Norma have not been that pleasant. I tried it in 22-250 and .222. Lapua, on the other hand, is near perfect brass. My experience with it has been in .223.
Unless you are shooting precision competition where hyper accuracy is needed, or are into one helluva ego trip, the difference in price isn't worth it.
As posted, with a little prep and "fire culling" a few more cases, you can come up with some pretty good brass using domestic cases.

Norma brass is a bargain.

Having recently bought 300 22-250 Winchester cases and had problems with them, never again!! Cases too short, necks not square to the base, flash holes off centre, necks out of round and after loading one too test, it wouldn't chamber as the neck was too thick. All had to be neck sized.
Remington brass for 375H&H, every case had a crease at the neck, except for the six that had splits the length of the neck. Several had balls of brass shavings inside the case.

I've bought Norma or Lapua brass for years and every time I haven't I've regretted it. There are places to save money and brass isn't one of them.

You are creating a controlled explosion three inches from your favourite face. Think about this when you buy your reloading components!!

In years past, shot several thousand rounds a year in 308 and 223 and can say from my personal experience, Lapua is best I have ever found for hard useage. Primer pockets on Norma opens up after few firings, but when new does perform well. For hunting applications, much fewer firings than match shooting, either would work find I believe, but Lapua ranks very high with many shooters.

quote:

Originally posted by AllenBosely:
Fred,
Whose brass do you use for your 404 Jeffery?

Norma is the only option other than Jamison,
which is not available at the moment I believe isn't it?

Allen

Allen, I use Norma the most. I have one box of Bell, good brass & one box of RWS, great brass. The Norma has been quite good, little stretching & I'm on 6 firings w/ one batch & everything is still tight. I also like Norma in my 280 & 338-06. I use Lapua in my 260ai (243 necked up) & making 338-06 from 06.