More dang norma 9mm brass

[ericuda]

Was bored picking up some range brass today and sorting tonight. After just dawn and water wash in the sink it is easy to spot norma cases. The brass is amazingly clean inside. Makes me wonder what kind of powder they use. I need to stop and grab an empty box outta trash to see what they are. Other brass is dirty inside case like normal.

Anyway easy to sort out as their primer pockets are so small my decapping pins won't knock primer out.

 

[Hartkopf]

I’ve recently loaded and shot over 1000 Norma 9mm cases that have been great. Standard Lee dies will decap just fine. Neck tension is good, walls are not silly thick and they are very consistent overall. My latest loads were really hot, HS-6 and RMR-mpr bullets and rifle primers. I shot several hundred with no issues. I have not compared chrono numbers back to back against other brass with “normal” flash holes. It might(?) make a difference so I would sort cases for anything important. If your local range has as much Norma brass on the ground as mine does, it’s worth sorting out and using.

 

[ericuda]

You are lucky, just broke my Lee decapping pin.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

Those clean ones you picked up are truely once fired brass. All once fired brass comes out of my Ultrasonic cleaner looking like that.
A friend of mine just gave me about 1k once fired 9mm brass that he bought new and shot, and they all came out looking like brand new.
if they have been shot a few times they don't come as clean that easy. They get scorched up inside from
This was the first load out of the US cleaner for 8 minutes. These are all Aguila and PMC. The entire 1k of them came out like this.

And no, I don't take time to stand them all up. I just put the basket under the solution and shake it up and down, they all stand up like that.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

Anyway easy to sort out as their primer pockets are so small my decapping pins won't knock primer out.

I've heard that about the Norma brass. I have decapped a lot of it and not had that problem. I'm using an old 30-06 die as a universal 9mm decapping die.
It's an old RCBS die. That's odd.

 

[ericuda]

I tried my 06 die last night as that what was in my press and while it did push the primer out stupid me didnt use a 9 shellholder and just put round in my 06 one. I had to use pliers to pull the brass off the pin, it was wedged in good.

Glad others have luck but not worth it for me. I never encountered this until the last few months. I'll have to check with gunshop to see if Norma has been a big seller.

 

[kmw1954]

Don't see much Norma pistol brass in my area but I have become very fond of Norma rifle brass. It is very consistent.

 

[Palladan44]

The metallurgy of the brass might have something to do with it, but powder could be a small factor as well....It's likely the brass has a higher Zinc content and less copper (this makes sense with the cost of the respective metals) Is this ammo made in Europe? I've noticed other European (s&b) and Korean (Pmc) shine up quite well. But most likely the time lapse from mfg. to being fired was a very short period of time too.

Norma being a newly resurrected company entering mainstream use, the time from being loaded up to being shot could have been as little as a few weeks... if you found a bunch at an indoor range it's likely sold at that range, and bought by the shop direct from the source.
All I'm saying is, ammo that sits loaded for even a full year will get light tarnishing on the interior, which etches a few microns into the brass, where carbon buildup from firing only adds to the case wall, and is easily removed especially wet tumbling with rods.

357 mag loads in R-P or FC brass using WW-296 almost get annealed when fired, the brass is never shiny again.