Since there seems to be a bunch of us in the market now, does anybody have any connections for a deal?

AGREED! Or a group buy on budget grade loaded ammo?

John

I doubt if reloading dies are worth the effort. You can pick them up from Midway for $55. In general, a big retailer or discount house will be pretty cheap, and I doubt that a major retailer would even negotiate a deal for 10 die sets.

Cases are another matter. They tend to be pricey and impossible to find except for Norma. I just oredered 100 Norma cases on eBay from the guy who always has them for $59. Normas have a terrible rep in 9.3x74 because of head separation after a couple of firings. However, I couldn't find any others available anywhere, period. OWS has changed hands, I believe, and has very little brass available right now. Midway and others only have Norma.

I will have to say that outside of being a little soft (which is sometimes good), I have always had good luck with Norma brass. A lot of people talk about these case head separations. In my experience, this is almost always due to headspace/case stretching. This round doesn't run that high a pressure, and if chambers were simply oversized, they would split longitudinally. A rimmed bottleneck cartridge is prone to do this. The case headspaces on the rim. If you resize so that the shoulder is set back, then the entire cartridge pushes forward on firing, and stretches the case, thereby thinning the base. A case which is soft will be more prone to do this. Given the slight shoulder on the 9.3, it is probably easy to oversize, and you really wouldn't notice with headspacing on the rim.
I suspect the answer is to neck size only, and use new cases when hunting.

Given the cost of Norma brass, we may want to see if we can work a deal on Sellier & Belliot ammo. I have used it in 7x64, 7x65R, 8x57JRS, and 9.3x72R, have had excellent luck with the ammo, and the brass is good quality. I have found the loaded ammo for as little as $41.00 per box.

In 9.3X74R, I've used most of what there is. Norma is a waste of money. Huntington's has RWS for $26.98 for 20 rounds. More than twice as expensive, ten times as durable. No need to baby it. Full-length resize it every loading and you won't wear it out. Everything else is just too much aggravation to bother with.
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"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."

I have seen the Norma ammunition for sale...anyone have a source for other manufacturers? RWS for instance? Costs? Also, could anyone relay what Superior Ammo is charging for their rounds loaded with woodleighs?

Thanks,

John

Dies are no problem for the 9.3X74R, but I'd certainly like to get in on a group buy of RWS brass, and Sellier & Bellot loaded ammo for plinking! I would love to have a couple hundred new RWS cases!

I wrote DLN and asked if he could do a group buy with this also. Maybe?? We'll see!

Natchez has RWS brass on sale right now!

They did last night; today it's out of stock.

I bought three boxes last night at 9:00 EST and they had it marked In Stock. They generally note if it is in limited supply or just a few boxes. There must have been a real run on it. I got a shipping notice this morning.

Art....I just got a notice that they had to cut my order from last night by 3 boxes....they said that their inventory was off. I placed my order about an hour prior to yours....who are you sleeping with at Natchez?

At the price of 9.3x74 brass, I should get to with all of them.

Seriously, I think I deserved the brass just based on finding it in their listing. They have the absolute worst internet catalog system that I have ever seen. With Midway, you can find anything in 15 seconds. With Natchez, you have to do 8 to 10 searches and hope at least one puts you somewhere near something you know they have. It took over 30 minutes to just find the brass the first time.

Thank goodness, I thought all the trouble I was having finding it on their site was a sign of alzheimer's.

I agree their online system is difficult. This order process is funny too. I placed an order for 10 boxes of brass. I got a confirmation later that night saying they only had 7 left. The next morning I get another e-mail saying that they are shipping 4. I called to ask how my order was reduced from 10 to 4 and was told thier system does not keep accurate inventory! No shit, you placed your order after mine and they filled yours...I am glald it went to someone connected with the group buy! I really only need 4 boxes anyway!

Does anyone have experience with S&B brass in 9.3x74R. I might have a supplier in Germany that can send me a couple thousand.

DLN

If you can get it, I will buy some. PM me if you can get it

Last year I heard that RWS acquired Norma case manufacturing. About that time the 9,3x74R brass delivered with the Norma headstamp started to weigh rather close to the RWS headstamped brass.

I haven't had the time to determine the life of ~220 grain Norma headstamped brass. Anyone out there determined if it is better than the old stuff?

Well, I've got some of both that should be here by UPS tomorrow.

I'll weigh a few cases and post the result.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by mstarling:
Last year I heard that RWS acquired Norma case manufacturing. About that time the 9,3x74R brass delivered with the Norma headstamp started to weigh rather close to the RWS headstamped brass.

Hi guys!

The rumor that RWS has aquired Norma is wrong, however the two companies does manufacture each others brass in some calibers, hence the close weights between the tvo brands.

Best regards Christian.

i've had a few boxes of selmer ammo & don't care much for it. it wouldn't come even close to regulating in my double, but the brass, while a bit on the thin side has reloaded just fine for 4 or 5 time so far. The normas stuff in factory ammo regulates fine, and the brass seems to be about online with the selmer. the rws stuff is in a class by itself. the brass is much heavier and more consistant, and the factory ammo regulated just fine, grouping almost as good as my handloads.

Finally got around to weighing cases.

Five (5) new, unprimed Norma cases weighed 1108.9 grains

Five (5) new, unprimed RWS cases weighed 1017.2 grains

That's a difference of 18.34 grains per case, with the Norma brass being HEAVIER THAN RWS.