Norma Brass

[Member-Deleted]

Well Gwion don't feel too bad i only measured it with a 6'' rule it may have been a couple of thou '' lol''
But in all honesty i to was expecting a difference in load

[Member-Deleted]

So boys back to the question to anneal or not to and how often ?
I'm not a benchrest shooter so that doesn't come into my question
All my rifles are standard not custom

[bladeracer]

So boys back to the question to anneal or not to and how often ?
I'm not a benchrest shooter so that doesn't come into my question
All my rifles are standard not custom

How often you have to trim your brass might be an indication of how hard the brass is being worked.
If you have to trim it every time then I would think annealing is likely to be required sooner than brass that only needs trimming every third or fifth load.

For me, I don't generally push my loads to the limit so my brass lasts very well. If I buy 100 cases and can get twenty loads or more out of them before they start splitting, that's 2000 rounds before I need to consider annealing. At which point I would more likely just buy new brass and relegate the old brass to low-velocity loads. If I'm loading for ten rifles that's 20,000 rounds before I need to replace all my brass.

But if I were pushing hard and trimming for every load then I would expect to need annealing after maybe five loads. Certainly soon enough that it'd be worth loading three rounds and shooting them over and over until they split so you know what to expect for case life. I know some precision shooters prefer to anneal the brass for every load, not to extend case life, but to ensure neck tension is exactly the same for every single shot they fire. Neck tension is one of those variables that changes every time you reload the case.

[Member-Deleted]

Thanks Bladeracer with the rem brass i was getting about 3-5 loadings to 1 trimming even then i only took a skim off
So maybe it will be similar with the norma brass although i have 5 cases i used for load developement that have been fired 6-7 times and haven't
had to be trimmed as yet so will see how many shots it takes before trimming
So i think i'll work on your ideas for now

Cheers

[marksman]

Marksman what type of loads are you putting in them are they light or hot ?
I run 1gr over max in the adi book But will keep an eye on it

Thanks

I use quickload to help find my max load so it could be over book max,
I'm using 60.5 grains of 2209 with a 168 gr projectile in my 30-06
no pressure signs at 2890 fps
quickload says this is at 58228 psi, well under max of 60000 psi
norma is good brass but I get better primer pocket life with winchester cases

I should also say that I am used to getting up to 20 firings per case and with the norma I am probably getting 8-9 before I start seeing primer pockets growing
I anneal about every 5-6 firings, I have found when you start to feel a pressure difference when seating bullet to bullet it is time to anneal

[Member-Deleted]

Were the loads the same with different brass ?
Looking at that your aboit the same as me about 1gr over max in the ADI book
Doesn't sound good for norma brass but i will try all things big and small and try and get a bit more out of the 25-06 brass

Cheers

[marksman]

yes the loads were the same, I suppose it is a load that works, really thinking about it I don't think 8-9 reloads is to bad its just that I spend so much time doing prep on the brass to try and get them as identical as can be done that I don't like having to throw them for a loose primer pocket before they are really worn out,
I have in the past used norma hornet brass to make 17 ackley cases and had the same problem

[Tiger650]

For sure load with the same charge and look at primers/ base of case first off for excessive pressure and then tune load as necessary if pressures seem high or if accuracy falls off.

[Tiger650]

For sure load with the same charge and look at primers/ base of case first off for excessive pressure and then tune load as necessary if pressures seem high or if accuracy falls off.

[Member-Deleted]

N0 marksman you're probably right because i had a batch of rem cases in 22-250 that i used to load @ 31.6gr bench mark 2 with 55gr projectile
and i started getting loose primer sockets at about 8-9 loadings now 31.6 is an accuracy load for me well below adi max
So i'm not sure what caused it because all the rest from another bag went on to about 15-20 loadings without socket expansion ,i had a mate anneal them at about
10-11 loadings but he's not here any more as he has moved

I'm a bit like you i'm very fussy with ammo because i like to hit what i aim at i can't afford to have bad shots on wild dogs because they're tough and if the shot is not in the right spot they will get away although they probably will die but thats not me i like to kill instant no suffering for the animal
But in saying that its impossible to get every shot to do that but i try to get as many as i can

My mrs say's i go overboard with my fussiness sometimes but i don't think you can put too much effort into your ammo so as to try and make it perfect
As you said 8-9 loadings is not too bad its just that i've had a little trouble getting brass so this is why the norma thing has started its all i could get at the time
but i think i will stick with them because they do look like good brass a lot better finish than the rem brass i had
Anyway mate here's hoping they last

Cheers

[Gwion]

Can't say for sure but it I had the facility to anneal I would be doing so after 3-4 loadings.
An annealing set up is yet another one of those things on the long list of "when I can afford it".

[bigfellascott]

N0 marksman you're probably right because i had a batch of rem cases in 22-250 that i used to load @ 31.6gr bench mark 2 with 55gr projectile
and i started getting loose primer sockets at about 8-9 loadings now 31.6 is an accuracy load for me well below adi max
So i'm not sure what caused it because all the rest from another bag went on to about 15-20 loadings without socket expansion ,i had a mate anneal them at about
10-11 loadings but he's not here any more as he has moved

I'm a bit like you i'm very fussy with ammo because i like to hit what i aim at i can't afford to have bad shots on wild dogs because they're tough and if the shot is not in the right spot they will get away although they probably will die but thats not me i like to kill instant no suffering for the animal
But in saying that its impossible to get every shot to do that but i try to get as many as i can

My mrs say's i go overboard with my fussiness sometimes but i don't think you can put too much effort into your ammo so as to try and make it perfect
As you said 8-9 loadings is not too bad its just that i've had a little trouble getting brass so this is why the norma thing has started its all i could get at the time
but i think i will stick with them because they do look like good brass a lot better finish than the rem brass i had
Anyway mate here's hoping they last

Cheers

They are called Primer Pockets GDB, not primer sockets (not having a go at you by the way mate)

[Member-Deleted]

Pocket, socket, fock it