Nosler Custom Brass ?

[statjunk]

I'm very shocked. I discovered that there were magnum primers in a standard primer sleeve. All I can say is that I am not responsible for this mistake. I never put more than one package of primers on my reloading bench at a time. I firmly believe that I purchased them this way.

Long story short I'm starting with fresh brass and standard primers. Something tells me I won't be having anymore problems with the brass. I'll report back.

Tom

 

[statjunk]

I was told that the mag primers could not have caused the primer pocket issue. I'll be shooting this next batch of brass over the next several weeks. I'll report back.

Tom

 

[Shortmagman]

I would like to give you my experience. In 25+ years of reloading I have used many different makes of brass. I started using Federal brass back in the '80's when I reloaded both pistol and rifle ammo. I had good luck with Federal pistol brass, but the rifle brass was a little soft and would not take more that 5-6 reloads. Since that time I have used Winchester, Remington, Federal, Norma, Nosler, and Lapua.

Over all I would place Lapua at the top, with Norma ( Short mags only )second for both uniformity and durability.

I have used Nosler brass in 22-250 and 280 Rem.. My opinion is that it is very uniform and when you buy it is ready to use with little preparation need before reloading. However, it like Federal is soft and the primer pockets will stretch when it is reloaded. How many reloads can you get before the primer pockets loosen up? It depends on a number of factors but with hot loads may be only 2-3. With consertative loads you can get more, but 5-6 would be about all I would expect from Nolser brass. So my opinion is that nothing unusual is happening to your brass.

I don't know who makes Nolser brass but I have heard that it is Federal. From my experience with both I am led to believe that Federal may in fact be the supplier.

I have had good luck with both Winchester and Remington brass. Both lack the uniformity of Lapua, Norma and Nosler, but if you sort and weigh and prepare them for your loads, both makes will give you many reloads.

 

[SakoShooterSD]

I have found this as well.

I have found that my 7mm rem mag shoots better with the Norma brass than it does with the Nosler brass. If Norma does make it, they don't make it the same. My Nosler brass weighs 242gr, with spent primer in. My Norma brass weighs 215gr, with spent primer in.

It sure seems like it's soft and heavy like Federal brass is.

I just measured 100 pieces of new Norma 7mm Rem Mag cases (bought last week because I couldn't find any Nosler available) and here is what I got:

avg= 215.07
max=215.96
min=214.24
range=1.72
stdev=0.382

(Measurements made on Sartorius AY/VIC-123, and spot checked with RCBS 5-0-5.)

These cases have no primers in them yet, so . . .
What's a spent primer weigh? About 5gr.

I just measured 5 or 6 pieces of my thrice fired Nosler brass, and they all came in around 233 gr, without primers, and about . . . I just measured three more at 238 gr with spent primers.

So, that would put your Norma cases at approximately 210 gr without primers, and mine around 215 gr.
I guess that's pretty close for lot-to-lot matching.

I have heard the Nosler is weight sorted to tight groups (I've heard everything from 0.4 gr spread up to 0.9 gr spread. Not sure what to believe. I haven't seen any data on large sample size, and haven't measured many myself -- just the handful just now.)

I was a little concerned at the 1.7 gr spread in the Norma.
Is that big enough that I should be sorting these cases?
What is an acceptable range in weights for "BR accuracy"?

How well does brass weight correlate with case capacity . . . or, more importantly, required powder charge (consistent chamber pressure/muzzle velocity) ?

Anybody want to offer up a guess, or a good rule of thumb here?

 

[MagnumManiac]

I too dispute that Nosler brass is made by Norma. I can almost guarantee that it's made by Federal.

I like this brass, it runs around 3 gr's less in my 300WM than either Winnie or Remmy brass, but delivers the same velocity.

I actually measured the capacity of all my different brass brands, and the Nosler custom was the least in capacity, hence the charge variation. It also weighed the heaviest out of Rem, Win and Lapua.

SakoShooterSD,
Weighing your brass does not tell you the capacity, or even where the weight difference is occurring between brands/lots of brass, but sectioning them does.
I've sectioned all of the above, and Remington runs a couple grains lighter than Winchester, on average, and has much heavier walls than Winchester, but Winchester has a thicker web, Nosler has thick walls and a heavy web which appears to be higher in relation to the base.
The weights ran like this:
Win=239.1gr (avg)
Rem=236.1 (avg)
Lap=235.4 (avg)
Nos=249.7 (avg)

If weight sorting, it's only relevant if you use the same batch/lot No. Switching between lots may have a similar weight, but the capacity can actually be far different from lot to lot. I know this to be true with most brands of brass, except Lapua, and somewhat Norma brass.

Rule of thumb used to be for me, +/- 1gr in weight from the same batch. I would lump them together in weight sorted batches, which I would take from the same batch/lot of 100, but when it became difficult to get lot matched bags of brass in this country, I tossed the idea and no longer bother with it.
I use the chrony to tell me where the accuracy node for my rifle is and settle on that. I can and do get quite consistent velocities even from unweighed brass, although I do still do all the other necessary case prep for which consistent velocities rely on.

Cheers.
gun)

 

[Forester]

I think I remember reading somewhere that Nosler contracts out their brass to different companies depending on caliber. I think Norma makes some but not all of it.

I have used Nosler brass in .204Ruger and 270Win. with good results. The 270 has not been around long enough to tell anything about durability, but the 204 brass has had 8 or 9 shots through it at max pressures and is still good as new it appears.


The long and the short is I think Nosler brass is good, in certain calibers.

For me, if Lapua makes it then that is what I buy, no questions asked. Second choice is Norma, third is Nosler.

 

[glockguy]

Living in Bend Oregon and spending a lot of time at the nosler pro shop,when nosler brass first came out 6 or 7 years ago,I know for a fact the brass made back then was federal.Same brass that was weight sorted and prepped.