.338 Norma Brass

[MeanMachete]

Greeting everyone,I am a newbie to the reload world as well. I shoot a Savage m110 BA Stealth in .338 Lapua Mag. with 24 in. barrel, and 9.3R twist. I came across Norma brass (new) I would like use, and words of advice (projectile, powder, load)?
Thanks

[Unclenick]

Welcome to the forum.

It sounds like you are simply looking for loading data. You will find good data at Hodgdon Reloading's site. All the bullet makers have data books and some give data away.

Beyond that, you need to have a purpose to pick a bullet, and then you find the data for it. If you gave more detail about what kind of shooting you do, that would help others make suggestions.

[RC20]

A warning, Norma brass while the best really means you need to jump into some advance loading tecniques. Otherwise its going to break at the base after (5 rounds? Have no had Norma so don't have a measure)

The issue is re-sizing pushes the shoulder way back and stresses the brass at the base where it goes from thick to thin.

The solution is to do as little shoulder bump back (.002 to .003) as you can get consistent (so you don't wind up with .000)

To do that you need (my choice) a set of micrometers that measure down to .001 as well as the Hornady shoulder tool adaptor that lets you put that on the micrometer so you can see.

Doing the raise the ram with shell holder to flush with the sizer die then turn another quarter is going to ensure guished shell and a break.

Add in that the RCBS match dies are very nice as they allow you to put a bullet in a side slot and not load from the bottom. Forster is nice but you have to load from the bottom (its also more consistent on the micrometer movement/ settings but I like the RCBS better)


I will add in my two manuals that give you that what you need as a solid base. .

Hornady X as its got quite a few of the new powders, Sierra, dated in regards to newer powders but all the standard powders that can work.

Each has a wide choice of bullet styles. This allows you with the idea of never starting high end loads, to use those for other mfgs bullets (all bullets between mfgs are different to some degree even if they look the same)

Those books also list the gun and twist the loads were fired in.

What you need to define is what you are doing, long range target shooting is going to be a whole different list of bullets vs a hunting load.

Those two manuals also are a help when someone does list a load, you can cross check it to see where it is on the spread of low starting to hot end and if you want to start there as you really want to start 10% down from a hot load.

Is it a common powder or a one off that works for one person but is not normaly used in a given gun.

Powder mfgs just give you there powder and a generic bullet, much better off with the Manuals.

Powder sites are good for new powders and I just transfer that data into the manuals.

[hseII]

Originally Posted by MeanMachete

Greeting everyone,I am a newbie to the reload world as well. I shoot a Savage m110 BA Stealth in .338 Lapua Mag. with 24 in. barrel, and 9.3R twist. I came across Norma brass (new) I would like use, and words of advice (projectile, powder, load)?

Thanks

Is the brass Norma branded.338 Lapua or is the Brass Norma branded .338 Norma?

[Unclenick]

I would assume the former, as his gun is 338 Lapua, but the title can be read both ways.

[RC20]

If its Norma brass of any type then its pretty costly and worth the effort to keep it firing for as long as you can.

[MeanMachete]

It is stamped .338 Lapua.

[Unclenick]

As-is your barrel so stamped, I assume. RC20 is correct that this is expensive, very well made brass that deserves TLC to squeeze your money's worth out of it. However, part of Norma's quality control system is they make sure their brass can withstand a minimum of ten reloading cycles without annealing or other more advanced handloading techniques being brought to bear, so it's not like it's delicate. It's desirable to get 20 reloads out of it rather than ten, but you don't need to be intimidated by it.

So, let's begin again and have you tell us what kind of shooting you are wanting to load for initially: target, long-range target, or hunting. That will affect bullet choice.

You say you are new to reloading, so tell us if you have purchased reloading equipment yet or not. If so, please let us know what kind of press you have and whose dies you have and what kind of measuring equipment you have (scales, caliper, micrometer, gauges, etc.). If you have none of this, I recommend first reading the forum sticky post on basic reloading equipment.

I recommend looking at Hodgdon's site for load data if you are using one of their powders. They developed all their load data using Norma cases, same as those you have, so the case capacity will match. They used Federal 215M primers in all their loads, which are match primers that are both warm and consistent and easy to load with, so I suggest you get those as well if you can find them, but if you can't, other brands tend to be a little less hot, so a substitution should be safe. The Federals tend to go out of stock fast because of their popularity.

The only thing to watch for in Hodgdon's data is they use the copper crusher to measure pressure for some loads, given in CUP, and a conformal transducer to measure others, given in PSI. The two systems don't track and the copper crusher usually reads lower numbers at rifle pressures than the transducer does. Don't let it confuse you that the CUP maximum load pressures look lower. They actually are not. Don't let the fact that the maximum pressure numbers don't all match within CUP or PSI match confuse you. The ones that are highest among their type (CUP or PSI) are the ones that happened to produce the most pressure consistency, allowing Hodgdon to feel safe letting them run a little warmer.