6BR Lapua brass vs Norma brass

[Bradley Walker]

Why do you not hear about Norma brass being used in the 6BR? I mean Norma brass is some the best brass I have seen.... Maybe even better than Lapua...

Someone said that Norma is closer to gold box Lapua than the new blue box Lapua, and might be a good replacement.

Thanks for your input.

 

[KevinThomas]

Bradley,

Just a heads up, if the current Norma brass is truly closer to the older Lapua, then it's going to change shortly. The only alteration to the Lapua was to begin running the neck walls just a bit further back within the specs, that is, keeping them away from the "max" wall thickness specification. We ran into an occasional instance of the loaded 6mm BR ammo not gaging properly, and were mandated by CIP regulations to reduce the neck diameter enough to assure 100% gaging. To that end, the necks were reduced by approximately .0004" per side, usually less than .001" total, for both sides. As Norma is alos a CIP member, they're bound by the same requirements we are. Unlike SAAMI, CIP compliance is mandatory for members. Not an option.

 

[amamnn]

The main difference I have found between Norma (which I now use) and Lapua (besides prices) is that I do not get the odd seating of primers (fed, CCI, Rem) with the Norma. That is, with Lapuas for the past several years blue, gold, or no box the Lapua primer pockets--even after uniforming with a tool made specifically for them--would not let the primers slide easily or smoothly into the bottom (or top, if you insist) of the space provided. This sticking and releasing made it impossible to seat primers consistently to the same crush, even using a K&M deluxe primer seater......To make matters worse the sticking would vary wildly from no stick to @!#%#@$^- The Norma brass I now use does not exhibit this undesirable characteristic. Primer crush has proven to be one of those increments of detail that lead to improved accuracy.

As far as brass life goes, I have found no difference between the two brands--I do not work the brass hard as my chambers and dies are pretty well matched and I am not shooting a heavy bullet at max load capacity. There may be a bit better retained ductility in the Norma brass, as some folks claim, but I have not wanted to change my annealing schedule to find out.

 

[KevinThomas]

Donovan,

I can appreciate your comments, but the neck was the only change made to these cases. All other dimensions remain the same. If you've seen a difference, I suspect it's probably routine tolerance range within production specs, nothing more. As for the material, no change whatsoever. Yo do mention this at a good time, though. I'm leaving for the SHOT show this weekend, and the Finns will be there as usual. I'll make it a point to discuss this and your concerns with them, and if there were any changes that they haven't informed us about, I'll let you know. It's happend before since we're sort of out of sight here in the US, but they really do pay pretty cluse attention to our market. I may get some time in the evening to hit the boards here, and will try to stay in touch during the show.

 

[johara1]

Keven, They are like aging, they got shorter......... a bunch..... jim

 

[johara1]

Tom, You must stay up half the night to think of that stuff, but the brass is a pain in the neck anymore. You had better learn to dance...... jim

 

[treeman]

I have never noticed the primer pocket variations in lapua brass that amamnn was talking about but I have had the same problems with other brands of brass. wilson makes a primer pocket reamer that makes the side walls of the primer pocket uniform. really makes the primers seat smooth. the reamer was made to use in the wilson case trimmer but I used it by hand and had no problems