Norma 223 Brass

[Italianusmc_ny]

I shoot Norma Brass exclusively in my Savage FClass gun.
While I have 200 pieces 1-2x fired, I noticed all vendors from Brownells to Midway now saying "Discontinued".

Has Norma stopped selling unloaded brass in 223?

 

[acloco]

https://www.brownells.com/reloading/brass/rifle-brass/223-remington-brass-case-prod105441.aspx

 

[Kurz]

There are 3 different notes about who exactly makes the brass and loaded ammunition for Norma in .223 Remington:

Lake City
GECO
Norma

 

[Rdlningcltchdmpr]

Side note, (ammunition store ) has loaded Lapua 223 -55 grain fmj for $31.50 per 50 box. That is about the same cost as the empty brass cases. I've shot these a good bit and i can testify it is match grade accurate. As good as my 69hpbt reload's. In an AR. And 1/4" in my Tikka bolt gun. Wow! Two years ago or more they had these on sale for $24.99 per 50 box.. Needless to say i have many.

 

[clunker]

Side note, (ammunition store ) has loaded Lapua 223 -55 grain fmj for $31.50 per 50 box. That is about the same cost as the empty brass cases. I've shot these a good bit and i can testify it is match grade accurate. As good as my 69hpbt reload's. In an AR. And 1/4" in my Tikka bolt gun. Wow! Two years ago or more they had these on sale for $24.99 per 50 box.. Needless to say i have many.

+1 for the Lapua factory rounds in .223. The 69gr Scenar-L rounds are a bit more expensive than some others, but they are the most accurate rounds I have ever fired in my Tikka T3, with the added bonus of having once-fired quality brass. Lapua recommends a 1/9 twist, but they stabilize perfectly in my 1/10 Tikka.

 

[Rdlningcltchdmpr]

+1 for the Lapua factory rounds in .223. The 69gr Scenar-L rounds are a bit more expensive than some others, but they are the most accurate rounds I have ever fired in my Tikka T3, with the added bonus of having once-fired quality brass. Lapua recommends a 1/9 twist, but they stabilize perfectly in my 1/10 Tikka.

You would be very surprised at how th 55 fmj Lapua rounds shoot. 1/4" out of my Tikka continental. And 1/2" out of my colt competition AR. That is incredibly good.

 

[Twicepop]

I bought a bunch of the NORMA .223 TAC ammo, pulled the 55 gr FMJ bullets and reloaded the cases with Sierra 53 gr MK. It shoots very well from my .223 bolt gun. The brass appears to be very good quality, the only downside to it is it has 3 little stake/crimp marks in the primer pocket.

 

[Rdlningcltchdmpr]

I bought a bunch of the NORMA .223 TAC ammo, pulled the 55 gr FMJ bullets and reloaded the cases with Sierra 53 gr MK. It shoots very well from my .223 bolt gun. The brass appears to be very good quality, the only downside to it is it has 3 little stake/crimp marks in the primer pocket.

That is not good crimped primers. How did the fmj bullet's shoot ? Hope you tested them ? I never thought a fmj could ever compete with a hp match bullet but Lapua is really something else. When you say very well what does that mean.? 1/2" would be very well . ?

 

[Nowhere Man]

I think what happened is Norma can't compete on price. Lapua is as good or better at a lower price.

 

[Twicepop]

That is not good crimped primers. How did the fmj bullet's shoot ? Hope you tested them ? I never thought a fmj could ever compete with a hp match bullet but Lapua is really something else. When you say very well what does that mean.? 1/2" would be very well . ?

I shot a few of them with the FMJ bullets and they were very accurate, 1/2" groups or less. With the MKs, the only time I shot for group I got some horizontal stringing (my grip and light breeze). The vertical dispersion of it would have been a group in the .10s. I put the MKs in because I had a lot of them and even though it's not a hunting bullet, it still does a credible job on the occasional ground hog and feral cats that I see. The gun is a Savage 110 LA with a 26" Douglass air gauge 1:12 twist barrel from SSS. The Savage laminated stock has been bedded/pillared has a Sharp Shooter trigger and recoil lug, topped with a Bushnell 6-24X40 4500 series scope.

 

[Rdlningcltchdmpr]

I shot a few of them with the FMJ bullets and they were very accurate, 1/2" groups or less. With the MKs, the only time I shot for group I got some horizontal stringing (my grip and light breeze). The vertical dispersion of it would have been a group in the .10s. I put the MKs in because I had a lot of them and even though it's not a hunting bullet, it still does a credible job on the occasional ground hog and feral cats that I see. The gun is a Savage 110 LA with a 26" Douglass air gauge 1:12 twist barrel from SSS. The Savage laminated stock has been bedded/pillared has a Sharp Shooter trigger and recoil lug, topped with a Bushnell 6-24X40 4500 series scope.

Cat's have nine lives which is why they are so good for experimentation. Even with the best match bullet's it's always the powder type and amount that creates, or ruin's accuracy. With my berger match bullet's , one powder will make3/4" groups and a different powder will make 1/8" groups. It's always the powder.

 

[dstoenner]

About 2008 I bought a 1000 rounds of TAC223 for $310. I fired about 50 to get my rifle zero'd for this load and noted it. This was then set aside in case of rebellion.

Being a reloader I decided to give it a try and reload this brass. I found out that it was really consistent brass. Most necks were .001 runout and most cases were within 1 grain. In fact sorting a 100 on these 2 parameters yielded typically 85 to 90 cases. Now I have about 5 firings on them and I am finding that the when I pull the sizing button back through the neck about 10% of the cases have no resistance felt. That means the annealing wasn't done to the depth that say Lapua does it and that if I loaded these cases they would have a much different neck tension than the rest.

I have 2 groups of 100 cases of Lapua 223 that I have reloaded 8 times with no sign whatsoever of the neck not sizing right.

No they are not Lapua but they beat Hornady, R-P and LC brass for accuracy. If I had an annealer, I think they would go a long time but I think that these were meant for 1 firing cycle and any more is working on borrowed time. For me, at the rate I am going, I will have maybe 10 more years. Not for sure I am going to be shooting that much 223 at 81. But you never know.

David