is Norma brass so good

elker

elker

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tradeex is selling once fired Norma brass. I googled and found that people like Norma brass. I have no experience of it. has anyone used it? can it be reloaded many more time
thanks
 
Norma everything has always been excessively pricey. Good stuff, but I wouldn't pay the extra money demanded for it. Ditto for Lapua brand brass. Some people equate higher prices with higher quality.
 
stubblejumper said:
Norma brass is quite good, but it tends to be a bit soft, so I prefer Lapua.
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^^

Norma and Lapua are made differently than other makes. Much more uniform and well worth the extra price. But if you load hot, stick with Lapua.

The problem with once fired is that it probably is not all the same lot #. At a minimum, you would sort it by weight.
 
They addressed the matter in their "Gunbug's Guides" in a chapter named "Case Hardness and Reloadability". They also explain that they use different composition and work hardening for "standard" calibers vs, say, Magnum cases.

From Gunbug's Guide;
Let us, therfore, end this chapter by a word of warning. There is much to indicate that the right thing to do in making brass for handloaders will be to turn out a case that pops the primer at say, 65000 PSI, thereby providing the handloader with a positive warning that he has reached dangerous pressure area. Such a case would so to speak give the handloader a safety valve for his experimental work. However, our market research says the handloader goes for the strongest case that will still give him ten or more relaods when used in a correct chamber. Norma can make such cases, and does make them, but again, gentlemen, do not increase your load until the primer gets loose, it might just as well be your gun that gives way next time. Do not handload near maximum without reliable, pressure tested loading data!
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One thing which is often eluded is the fact that Norma did and still does manufacture a lot odf case for many of the major ammunition brands, including Weatherby, Winchester, Remington and on. They've been the only reliable source for Belted Magnum cases for years.
Up to the early '80s, their offering to reloaders were marked "Re".
 
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Eagleye said:
This is my experience, as well. However, I do use it in my 308 Norma mag with great results.

Regards, Dave.
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While it does seem to be a little softer than some other brands, for me, it seems to last just as long. I use it in 7x61S&H, 308NM, 358NM and I have recently acquired some in 9.3x62. In addition, the brass I initially started out with in the 9.3 is Lapua so I'll keep track as to which survives the longest.
 
Ganderite said:
^^

Norma and Lapua are made differently than other makes. Much more uniform and well worth the extra price. But if you load hot, stick with Lapua.

The problem with once fired is that it probably is not all the same lot #. At a minimum, you would sort it by weight.
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I used Lapua and it seems to be better accuracy than most of my ammo but harder to get
 
Norma is in the upper middle of thickness. Lapua is about the thickest. Remember that the thicker brass is the less room inside the round and thus the higher pressures that result. In some hot loads you can over pressure with a thick walled round even with a recommended load.
 
I used Lapua and it seems to be better accuracy than most of my ammo but harder to get
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I have never had an issue locating Lapua brass.


In some hot loads you can over pressure with a thick walled round even with a recommended load.
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Which is why anyone with a clue begins with a reduced load, and works up the powder charge, while watching for pressure signs.
 
For the high quality brass that Lapua makes, I will take that over Norma. I am sure the Norma is good, but not totally convinced it would be good enough to make up the 30% price difference (at least around here it is) above the price of Lapua.
 
The problem is, really, the exclusive importer. Add to the price the scattered availability and you're good for low sales.
 
sunray said:
Norma everything has always been excessively pricey. Good stuff, but I wouldn't pay the extra money demanded for it. Ditto for Lapua brand brass. Some people equate higher prices with higher quality.
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I doubt if Sunray has ever seen Lapua brass, never mind loaded any. I once bought a case of factory .308 Lapua match ammo, and just for kicks began weighing some just to see how consistent it was. They were essentially exact duplicates of one another, and I was sold. Although I don't have lots, I like what I have in .308 and .243, and the difference in primer pocket tension between Lapua and Federal is night and day.
 
norma brass is awesome, It lasts a small eternity and has very little run out or elongation issues. I cut back 5 thou from spec case length and I don't have to trim them for 3 or 4 reloads... I can't say the same for any other brand Ive used.
 
I have been reloading for about 10 years now and from my personal experience Norma brass is no better than Remington or Winchester brass. Norma has just about as much case thickness variance as any other brand. Case thickness variance will cause run out in your bullet. I have found that Norma brass also reloads about the same number of times as any other brand. Your millage may vary.
 
At the Accurate Shooter reloading forum http://forum.accurateshooter.com/index.php?board=2.0 a forum member by the name CatShooter did a Rockwell hardness test of some .223/5.56 cases. CatShooter did the hardness test to put an end to a "discussion" I was having about which cartridge cases were made of the hardest brass. (I won the "discussion) Bottom line U.S. Military Lake City 5.56 cases were the hardest followed not to far behind by Lapua.

So to answer you question Lapua and Norma make some of the highest quality brass on the planet and American companies do not come close to this quality.

The problem you will run into is Norma brass is softer than Lapua and you can not load as warm as Lapua before the base of the case starts to expand and even flow. As a side note Nosler custom brass is made by Norma, it is weight sorted, uniformed, full length resized and trimmed to length before you open the box.

Before you buy once fired brass remember this, it is mixed brass from many different lots, it was fired in many different chambers and it will NOT be uniform. Meaning if you looking for accuracy then buy new brass from the same lot for consistency and uniformity.

At Accurate Shooter the competitive shooters buy Lapua brass and they do not need to do any prep work to the cases before they are fired, and the cases last longer than any other brand because the case is harder and extremely uniform.

NOTE: Many competitive shooters where recovering their brass is difficult, will use Winchester brass because it is harder than the other American cases and has better than average uniformity. Remington cases come in last place as being the softest and the least uniform in case wall and neck thickness
 
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