338 Norma brass

[Hathaway98]

Hi guys, wanting some opinions on your 338 Norma brass. I’m building a 338 Norma soon, or as soon as I get my 3 phase converter/transformer wired in. Looking at brass options, brands lapua, Peterson,(actually the cheapest I think) Norma, and sig. I read great things about Peterson brass, but I havnt found them to have very long lasting primer pockets in my 7mm-08 and 308 cases. Could just be I’m pushing them to hard, but no pressure signs, and those were still below my target velocity’s. I’ve had great luck with lapua in 22-250, 6.5 creed, and 260 rem. No experience with the other two brands. Definite bottom to my pockets here. This is my first dive into the .590”/rigby based cartridges, and brass for these cases seems to be on another level from what I’ve heard. So I figured I’d set aside my current opinions and listen to what u guys have to say. Also if u have suggestions on rifle specs, I’d love to here those as well. Current build componants include: PTG Stiller clone Tikka port action, Pac Nor super match 1:9” barrel,(length suggestions would be great, think it’s 31” or 32” as blank), trigger tech diamond 2 stage, McMillan adjustable A5, Seekins CIP bottom metal, Steiner m5 5-25, or Minox ZP5 5-25, griffin sprm mount, Lane scorpion magnum suppressor.(maybe an elite iron Sierra in my future) But focused on brass here, and bang for the buck. Sticking with 250 and 300 Berger’s, got vv n560, imr 7828, rl26(I mean gold dust), a little h1000, 7977, and us 869 if u guys have any load suggestions. Thanks, and sorry for the lengthy post.

 

[Steel head]

I only have experience with 338NM with lapua and Norma brass
Norma brass is ok to kinda meh
Lapua is excellent
Retumbo is my favorite
H1000 and 7977 is excellent
R26 should be interesting.

 

[Hathaway98]

Thanks steel head. Ya seems like the right case capacity for rl 26. I’m just afraid to use it, might never find it again. What barrel length do you like?

 

[Steel head]

Thanks steel head. Ya seems like the right case capacity for rl 26. I’m just afraid to use it, might never find it again. What barrel length do you like?

Anywhere from 20-32” seems to work well

 

[Dave62677]

I’m on my 7th reload with the Peterson 338nm case. Tested with the primer pocket go No go gauge, still good to go.

 

[Hathaway98]

Dave62677, That’s not bad at all. Do u anneal? And how hot of load are you pushing? I’d love to make 2750 from a 24” barrel, but that might just be too much pressure. Might need a 26” and even settle for 2700 then. With the price of .590” brass, I sure don’t want to be burning through it. Also, what sort of throat length are you guys running?

 

[Hathaway98]

I should note, the two deals I’m looking at are Lapua brass for $285 per 100, and Peterson for $592 per $250. So Lapua is about $2.85 a round vs Peterson at $2.37. Peterson seems like a fantastic deal if they’d hold up about as good as the Lapua.

 

[Dave62677]

Dave62677, That’s not bad at all. Do u anneal? And how hot of load are you pushing? I’d love to make 2750 from a 24” barrel, but that might just be too much pressure. Might need a 26” and even settle for 2700 then. With the price of .590” brass, I sure don’t want to be burning through it. Also, what sort of throat length are you guys running?

I anneal every firing. I have 2 load, H1000 86.5 ELDM 285 @ 2750. 2nd load is RL26 88.2 Badland icbm 255 @ 2950 , extremely low ES. I jump .040 with ELDm, 0.020 with badland with my 27” Bbl

 

[Thunderkok]

Good enough place for this. I bought some of the American Reloading Sig 338 Norma brass. About 40 of the (primed) cases weigh 272’ish grains. The rest of the 50 are in the 315’ish neighborhood. I compared to some Norma brass I have and the Norma is 315’ish also. Is it going to be totally worthless in trying to use these lighter ones with the same load?

Side note, I found it interesting that both weight classes have a mix of 3 stake crimped primers and no crimp at all. Also, the heavier is more visibly annealed.

At just over $1 a case, it is hard to complain.