I have read three things about Norma Brass when researching/looking thru old posts:

1. It's expensive. Not really an issue.

2. It's usually very uniform,doesn't need much if any prep before use. Even for picky people (like me).

3. In some calibers it is a bit soft and either doesn't last very long or can't be loaded to the high end of normal pressures.

It's #3, the softness I am wondering about.

Is it a situation that was more common in the past and not common now or are some calibers still soft, or is the softness issue more of a myth?

Norma is the only option I belive for correct head stamped brass in 6.5x57 and 404 Jeffery.

Or is at least one of the more readily available sources.

Allen

oops, I just realized I posted this in the gunsmithing forum.

I meant to post it in reloading the forum.

Jeffeosso could you move it for me?

Thanks, Allen

I'm not sure if it is softer or thinner. I have used Norma 280 brass for all of my 280 based wildcats for years. I did a couple of them with pressure equipment. I found that if I stayed at 65,000 or less then I never had an issue with Norma brass. Start pushing 67-70,000 then you will start to see some head expansion. I have had several lots of 280 brass and they all behaved the same. So now on my wildcats I load to I start to get expansion and then back off a touch. I don't load my brass until it fails I load it 5 times after forming and replace. So I guess it depends on what you consider a normal pressure limit.

What I found with the 280 brass at least was the capacity was a minimum of 3 grs greater than the other brands I tried. That is a 3-4% gain. Basically what an AI will give you in an 06 case.

That's encouraging, we don't want to load Hot.

With one being a 404 Jeffery I don't want or need to run up the pressure on it to get a 400 gn bullet to 2350fps or so.

The 6.5x57s will use 140 and 160 grain bullets
at around 2650 to 2700fps and 2550 to 2600 respectively.

So we may be ok with Norma Brass then, as far as being soft goes.

Allen

Brass is brass, and I have found the Norma to be thicker, so it seems to me you could get more reloads out of it.

persoally Norma cases have never exhibited more pressure deformation than any other brass.

Example: .358 X .404 IMP ( Norma cases) 250gr. bullet, 97.5 GR. DP86, ALMOST 3050 FPS. no PRESSURE SIGNS. Other brass can start to show some bolt face markings with that load. roger

It does seem softer to me. I get MORE reloadings out of it. Brass gets harder with time, not softer, so starting softer is OK with me. I have never annealed any necks, and I am past 30 reloadings in several 'hot to start with' cartridges, like 270 Win, 6.5x284, 270 & 300 WSM, and 22-250.

I like it very much, I pick it or Nosler first when they are bothe available, then Lapua and others if none of the first 3 are an option.

I have never bought any Norma brass, I get only when other handloaders give it to me.

I don't use it, as it bothers me how much it costs.

I don't seem to have any problems using Lapua, that I pay for, and it is expensive.


I seem to get great groups with cheap old Rem and Win brass, by just chamfering the inside and outside of the case mouth.

As much as I would like to reward myself with nice brass, it is wasted on a guy who is perfectly happy as long as the rifle will consistently shoot 1/2" in varmint cartridges or 1.5" in big game cartridges.

What does it all mean?
We can afford better brass than we need.
We don't need Norma brass.

The best brass in 6.5x57 may well be RWS.

BV

FLBill, yes Norma doesn't even make 6.5x57 brass.

Silly me, I forgot. We will be using RWS for the 6.5x57s, Horneber for the 10.75x68 and as it looks, Norma for the 404 Jeffery.

With this combination of cartridges, there's not a lot of choices if we want correct head stamped brass. Which we do.

Allen

quote:

We will be using RWS for the 6.5x57s, Allen

Based on resizing and having to trim new 7x57 RWS brass that was too long, I find it much harder than any brass I've used in the past; Rem and Win.

Don