Lapua versus Norma Brass

[rduckwor]

Some time ago, I bought some .308 Norma Match because I wanted the brass and someone had a decent price on it.

Shot very well, puts FGMM to shame.

Anyway, processing some 1 X shot brass today and I noticed that the Norma has no visible trace of being annealed. The Lapua, of course, does. Possibly the Norma is polished off?

Anyone else noticed this with Norma brass?

Thanks,

 

[Brasscow]

Most commercial brass is polished after annealing, so while it is annealed it does not show any visible signs alluding to that fact.

 

[rduckwor]

Yes, finally found their website and it says they anneal. Odd that there is no visible trace.

My Lapua is blue as a . . Well, you get the idea.

 

[dreever]

I called Norma after receiving some 6.5 Creedmoor brass from Midway. Midway shows a picture of the brass with the heat treated annealing, but what I got was shiny both inside and out.
Norma stated that all their brass is annealed and then polished to remove the annealing marks. Why they go to the extra expense of polishing is beyond me since after the first firing and tumbling the annealing marks are gone anyway.

 

[djpaintles]

ALL brass is annealed several times during manufacturing. The final neck annealing is so critical to the performance and reliability of the munition, Military ammo is almost always left with the annealing marks exposed. Commercial ammo is made to look pretty so they go through the extra expense of polishing their brass after the final neck anneal. The neck anneal marks can be removed chemically or by actual tumbling and polishing. I guess the Finnish folks at Lapua figure that serious reloaders understand what the final neck anneal is and means and so don't bother to polish their brass to look pretty.