Norma 6PPC brass

adamsgt

adamsgt

Jerry Adams
At the Cactus I didn't have much discretionary money left after buying a Nightforce from Lester Bruno but I did have enough to buy a couple bags of Norma 6PPC brass. Lester did caution me to trim the brass before firing as they were a little long. What I did find today when I measured some of the Norma cases is that the neck thickness is .011 which is what I am trimming my Lapua brass to for my .268 neck brass. So, that's encouraging, no neck turning. The Norma brass measured about 1.510 OAL. I checked the headspace on my fired brass against the Norma and found that the Norma was about .007 shorter. So I can see where the concern about the length resides. Is this what those of you that have tried this brass are finding?
 
I bought 2 boxes of 25 Norma 6ppc brass, and during fire forming brass, 8 out of 25 split just about 1/8" above the rim! Never had that problem with Lapua brass, I gave the other box to a friend.
 
Steelhead1 said:
I bought 2 boxes of 25 Norma 6ppc brass, and during fire forming brass, 8 out of 25 split just about 1/8" above the rim! Never had that problem with Lapua brass, I gave the other box to a friend.
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Wow, that's a problem. I wouldn't expect them to split there. Loose pockets maybe, but case rupture? What do they mic at the 0.200" mark out of the box?

-Lee
www.singleactions.com
 
I didn't mic them but I will look at that for sure. I thought it might have been that the cases were ppc USA, which if I remember correctly were a different dimension.
 
Lee Martin said:
Wow, that's a problem. I wouldn't expect them to split there. Loose pockets maybe, but case rupture? What do they mic at the 0.200" mark out of the box?

-Lee
www.singleactions.com
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I got about .4379 for the Norma virgin
.4392 for the Lapua virgin
and .4398 for fired lapua

So, the Norma is about .002 smaller than my chamber before first fire at the .200 point. So is the .002 expansion enough to split the case?
 
Headspace issue

My new 6 PPC Norma brass is .010 shy of the headspace on my fired Lapua brass. That does concern me some. We'll see how it goes. Length was fine. Don't remember the case diameter 1/8" above the groove, but it was not concerning. If .002 smaller there would cause a split, then all our full-length sized hunting brass would be splitting. I think the case splitting comes down to some temporary manufacturing problem.

If mine split, well, I take it all back.
 
If i know my customer is going to use norma ppc brass i use a small base reamer and i stop the headspace .012 short of normal headspace. I keep a couple pieces of new brass to use as a go gauge. i want a crush fit on new brass no matter the brand being used.
i have shot the norma brass in my ppc several times. i didnt have any issues what so ever. Lee
 
skeetlee said:
If i know my customer is going to use norma ppc brass i use a small base reamer and i stop the headspace .012 short of normal headspace. I keep a couple pieces of new brass to use as a go gauge. i want a crush fit on new brass no matter the brand being used.
i have shot the norma brass in my ppc several times. i didnt have any issues what so ever. Lee
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That makes sense. But that means that those of who have typical ppc chambers probably ought to stay away from the Norma brass. I haven't tried the ones I bought yet, but it doesn't sound promising. Remains to be seen.
 
I bought 25 of the Norma cases right after the new, harder headed ones came out. My chambers are rather small at the back, and have a .262 neck. I had no problems, although I did note that they were short at the shoulder.

Some time back, I had a brain fart setting a FL die, and pushed the shoulder back too far. Rather than stretch the case, I dug around and found a .25 caliber expanding mandrel and after lubing both it and the neck, expanded the neck and ran the case through the now correctly set FL die, forming a false shoulder in similar fashion to the way that I presume Dasher cases are made. It worked just fine.
 
Norma Brass

I'm not an expert on this subject, but if you're going to use Norma Brass,why not have a chamber reamer made specifically to the Norma Brass dimensions? Could eliminate all the problems.



Glenn
 
The reason Norma did not make the cases the same dimensions as a PPC case made from 220 Russian Lapua is yhey had to make it to SAAMI specs, that being, able to fire in the original Sako and Ruger Rifles chambered in that version of a 6PPC.

What we shoot in Benchrest is actually a "wildcat" version of the the 6PPC. We went through this years ago when Lapua first brought out their 6BR brass, but in the opposite. Lapua Brass was not the same as the original Remington, or even the Norma. Lapua deliberately made their brass a little larger at that .200 forward of the rim. Many shooters found that the Lapua Case was too tight in their Norma Chamber. Lapua didn't seem to care. You could still fire Norma Brass in a chamber set up specifically for the new Lapua Case.
 
Chism G said:
I'm not an expert on this subject, but if you're going to use Norma Brass,why not have a chamber reamer made specifically to the Norma Brass dimensions? Could eliminate all the problems.



Glenn
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Yeah, that's basically what skeetlee said. However, I finally got around to getting my own reamer and have two barrels chambered with it and don't need to get another one. I just didn't realize this would happen with the Norma brass. But then, I haven't fired any yet so maybe the worst would be shorter case life. As you know we've got a lot of rain so I'll load up a few and be ready to try them when we get a break in the rain.
 
I have some Norma 6ppc on its 18th firing used in a 262 neck, seems to have life left in it to me. I'm no expert or great shot but I can't tell any difference in Norma and lapua so far.
 
ttfreestyle said:
I have some Norma 6ppc on its 18th firing used in a 262 neck, seems to have life left in it to me. I'm no expert or great shot but I can't tell any difference in Norma and lapua so far.
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Good to hear. I would hate to think that I had given Lester money for something I can't use.
 
adamsgt said:
Good to hear. I would hate to think that I had given Lester money for something I can't use.
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I don't won't anyone to take this wrong, or take me to be saying it in a condescending manner.

But when someone says they get 18 firings out of cases, the next question should be concerning the success of the combination in Competition.
 
One additional thought on the Norma cases as compared to Lapua....although I have had no issues with loosening primer pockets (I did some testing that was specifically aimed at this issue.) in the course of testing, I did come to the opinion that the fronts of the Norma brass are not as hard and springy as the Lapua, not enough difference to prevent one from using a hot load, but it could be felt with the bolt handle when extracting a fired case that had been loaded hot.
 
Boyd Allen said:
One additional thought on the Norma cases as compared to Lapua....although I have had no issues with loosening primer pockets (I did some testing that was specifically aimed at this issue.) in the course of testing, I did come to the opinion that the fronts of the Norma brass are not as hard and springy as the Lapua, not enough difference to prevent one from using a hot load, but it could be felt with the bolt handle when extracting a fired case that had been loaded hot.
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Having pulled the bolt handle off the bolt on a Grizzly II action, I don't shoot hot.
 
Norma Brass

Jerry…A good while back, when the new Norma Brass was a hot topic, I purchased 500 pcs. It was being promoted as the new and improved Norma brass. I shot the old Norma brass after being warned that it was soft and would not stand up to the hot ppc loads that some of us were shooting here in the Gulf Coast Region. I should have listened to what I was told.

I ordered a reamer, had a barrel chambered, and shot the new brass in a couple of registered matches. After about 8-9 firings the primer pockets became loose,to the point that there was little feel when seating primers. I decided that this occurrence was something that I could live without. Too much stuff to worry about in this game. I gave a big portion of that Norma Brass to a friend.

It is what it is. It didn’t work for me. Could have been my fault. I hope it works out for you.

When I talked to the reamer designer on the phone, he had in his possession, some of the new norma brass. The dimensions of my reamer were copied from the new brass.
Are you going to Denton.?


TFWjBP1.jpg
 
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Chism G said:
Are you going to Denton.?
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Glenn, I loaded 10 rounds of the Norma brass tonight and will shoot it along with some other brass tomorrow and see how it goes.

I misplaced the little calendar card and was unaware of the match at Denton. I went to the NTSA web site and the only time I saw posted was 0630 on Saturday. So what time do they really start shooting? I haven't been to that range since Shelly died and I understand there have been some good changes. However would it be prudent to bring some kind of table or is there adequate loading facilities available? I don't have anything scheduled for this weekend that would conflict and I think it's time for me to re-visit Denton. There was a little map on the web site that refreshed my memory of how to get there. It's about an hour drive for me IIRC. You gonna be there?

Just remembered that I bought a set of low stands for my wind flags to use there but have never used them. Have to remember to trim the tails on the flags for this range.

Jerry
 
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adamsgt said:
Glenn, I loaded 10 rounds of the Norma brass tonight and will shoot it along with some other brass tomorrow and see how it goes.

I misplaced the little calendar card and was unaware of the match at Denton. I went to the NTSA web site and the only time I saw posted was 0630 on Saturday. So what time do they really start shooting? I haven't been to that range since Shelly died and I understand there have been some good changes. However would it be prudent to bring some kind of table or is there adequate loading facilities available? I don't have anything scheduled for this weekend that would conflict and I think it's time for me to re-visit Denton. There was a little map on the web site that refreshed my memory of how to get there. It's about an hour drive for me IIRC. You gonna be there?

Just remembered that I bought a set of low stands for my wind flags to use there but have never used them. Have to remember to trim the tails on the flags for this range.

Jerry
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