Since brass sells for a buck around a very good deal. Brass is good, especially the old stuff. Do the right thing, with sizing and annealing and it will last a long time. A lucky find in this market.

 

I've never seen it in my life. Norma brass, however, is legendary. I have about 300 in .308Win and the same in 6.5x55 - all has been reloaded at least five times.

 

 

I've never had much luck with norma brass or ammo. I do have some very old 7.5X55 Swiss ammo made in the late 60s/early 70s that I fired. It wasn't any better than the new made brass. I've found the brass soft and short lived compared to Privi Partizan. Accuracy wasn't so good either. To my surprise the factory Privi ammo was more consistent. I've tried Norma brass in 338 Lapua and some other calibers and found that for the money I'd much rather buy something else. If its all you can get than maybe its ok but for the Swiss rifles I buy Privi brass and load it myself. Graf and Sons had brass not long ago....

Frank

 

Couldn't agree more. I used Norma brass for reloading '54R and '55 Swedish. Was not impressed at all. On the other hand some PPU brass has been reloaded by me over 20 times in 7.5x55 Swiss without a single problem. And that is for 1889 Swiss with its huge throat.

 

Tac is no doubt right based on his own experience. I've not had the same results as him. You'll just have to give it a shot yourself to see how it goes for you. Internet advice is worth every cent you paid...no norma for me though.

Frank

 

Let us not forget that in the "Urzeit" or early days of Swiss rifles in the USA, Norma was the only 7.5x55 available until GP11 was surplused.
I have some 200 cases of Norma 6.5x55 I got years ago when Graf's had it on close out, in 100 case bags. It's OK, but I don't use it for the AG42b Ljungman. Prvi Partizan brass is fine for my needs, and Lapua is a quantum step up. Now, if Lapua ever gets around to offering 7.5x55...

 

You are right Leon, when I first got into Swiss rifles (K31s) the only ammo that was available was Norma at a buck a shot if you could even find it. Rifles were less than $200 on sale if I remember correctly.

 

I have used norma 7.62x54r and 6.5x55 and have had nothing but great success with it. In fact, it is my favorite brass in those calibers. Holds up well and very consistent. I also have some lapua 6.5x55 I use in a target rifle, but the rest I use norma.
I also have some norma in other various calibers (8mm mauser, 30-06, 308 win, 44 mag, 357 mag, 38 special, 9mm luger) all have been great. All are the older "wood grain" style box.
I have seen 7.5x55 online, but have not seen any at any gun shows around me (where I have gotten all the above mentioned norma ammo). If I ever saw any at a reasonable price ($20-$25 a box), I would buy it with no hesitation.
For now all I have for boxer brass is some FNM commercial stuff I have found at local shows and a few online. I have not reloaded any of it yet, so I can not speak for how well it holds up.

 

WOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Old Norma stuff!!!! VERY good stuff.

 

Norma is owned by ArmeSuisse, correct?

 

When that ammunition was made, nobody had ever heard of ArmeSuisse.

 

I thought RUAG now owned Norma.

 

Rottweil, GECO, Norma and RWS. Typical Multinational. Ruag itself has four major divisions.

 

I actually had a thread going for a while where we were discussing the norma wood grain box ammo.

Age of Norma "wood grain" box ammo

So I was wondering if anyone could tell me a rough estimate of how old the Norma brown "wood grain" looking boxes are? I see some every now and then at gun shows and pick it up if it is a caliber I own and the price is $20 or less. All the boxes always appear to be old and well worn, but the...

www.gunboards.com

 

Jeeps: I remember that thread. At my local gun show I have seen some of these old Norma boxes from time to time, but never in a caliber I need. The last time I saw the old Norma ammo boxes in abundance was in the US Army's Rod & Gun clubs in Germany more than 30 years ago.

 

Through all this discussion I should mention that all my Norma brass is from the old "wooden" logo boxes. I have not shot any newer stock and always found people with old stock. Maybe the newer stuff like manty things does not have the old stock reputation.

 

I mentioned in post #8 above some Norma 6.5x55 brass I got from Graf's quite a while back. The primer flash holes, as viewed through the case neck, are finished and even appear to have been lightly chamfered. This is even more anal retentive than Lapua brass' flash hole.

 

Ok, so with all the above discussion, would it be smart to shoot 2 boxes in my scoped M1911 Swiss and save 2 for collection viewpoint, then I have 40 good brass cases to play with.

 

Kind of reminds me what my instructor said when I was working on my private pilot's license: "altitude above does you no good." (For non aviators: keep high so you have more time to set up for an emergency landing if the engine fails.) If you are a shooter, go ahead and shoot 3 boxes. Save one for collectibility, nostalgia, etc if you want.

 

I picked up a set of K31 specific 7.5x55 dies from CH4D a month or two ago; haven’t had a chance to use them yet.

Received an email notification from Graf’s this morning that the Redding dues were back in stock, but they must have sold out in just a few minutes.

 

Re Redding 7.5x55 dies. The FLR die is OK, but the seater is worthless. It provides no support to the bullet during insertion. I found the Lee seater induced less run out . I use the Redding FLR die with the accessory carbide expander button, and adjust it up to the same location Forster uses for its dies. For seating I have the Hornady die fitted with their inexpensive , but highly recfommended, micrometer adjuster.

 

Can you update us on how the ammo does and/or brass does?

 

Sure can, as soon as the rain lets up here in AZ ;(

 

Some time in the early 80s, we brought in 10 Stg 57's for resale, and at that time the only ammunition we could find was also at Mandel's and we bought 500 rounds of it to sell along with the rifles. Rather accurate ammunition, but we found that once fired in a 57, that was the end of it. Far too soft for reloading and pushing those striations back out on the case wall.
Generally speaking, we found Norma brass too soft to anneal more than one time.
YMMV
P

 

... Far too soft for reloading and pushing those striations back out on the case wall.
Generally speaking, we found Norma brass too soft to anneal more than one time.
YMMV
P

That is odd. I have some Norma 6.5x55 M94/41 military ammo. (The manufacturer's code - 27 - is part of the lot number) This brass is way too stiff and cannot be resized unless annealed. I suspect it was made this way to withstand machine gun use.

 

Leon, if you use that soft brass in the Stg57 or an H & K 91, you'll find that the brass expanding outwards into those channels to cycle the bolt has to be returned to the original case wall size and flexing those striations back in and out weakens the brass. I have sometimes been able to reload Norma brass twice for the 57's, but after that they begin coming apart along striation edges. We used Norma brass exclusively for our first 10 years or so beginning in the early 70s, and I have never found Norma brass to have great tensile strength. I'm not sure what that manufacturers code means, but it's possible it's a different metallurgical mix for machine guns. Lake City brass is extremely stiff and I have brass that's in its fourth or fifth cycle for annealing for my son's .308's.
P

 

P: it is unlikely I will ever have to worry about reloading for a StG57, sad to say. I do know that self-loaders can beat up brass. I see a lot of 7.62x51 and 7.62x54R brass in the salvage bins at my club range, and it is easy to see this ammo was fired in an H&k or SV Tokarev, respectively. The Norma ammo I mentioned was military spec, and the brass is nowhere the same as the commercial Norma 6.5x55 I also described earlier. The manufacturer's code is the leading numbers of the lot number stamped on a box of military 6.5x55. "27" just happens to be the ID for Norma.

 

I've done quite a lot of loading for a couple PE57s and had no problems so far. I've not fired the Norma cases in them though, just Privi Partizan. The shoulder gets crunched as is normal for the 57 but it still headspaces fine in any of the straight pulls when reloaded. I normally run new brass through the 57 first, size and load for one of the straight pulls for fun shoots and then load again for the 57 after annealing neck and shoulder. With the Privi brass this has gone very well.
I've also reloaded cases from the HK's and the AMT with no issues. Good brass does not flow into the flutes so there are no problems reloading it or creating problems with stress cracking. Soft brass however will flow and leave ribs on the cases. I've found the turkish commercial 308 does this sometimes but most military and once again Privi brass has only black soot lines and no ribs after firing.

Frank

 

Flutes, flutes, flutes.... I'll tell you Frank, my short-term memory is just terrible. I often have to refer to my own archives just to remember what I've even been saying.
The Norma commercial brass is indeed soft. I spent yesterday looking through hundreds of photographs trying to find the ones I posted some 20 years ago showing exactly what flutes can do to Norma commercial brass with the second firing cycle. I have a number of photos showing those splits along the flute lines, and I suppose that eventually I'll find them. I've collected too many photographs over my history with reloading.
P

 

Soft case brass and flutes don't go together because the soft brass defeats the purpose of the flutes. These provide some space for blow by gas to help loosen the "grab" of the chamber on the cartridge case. If the soft brass lets the case expand into them, it's like having no flutes at all.

 

C'mon Leon, I hate to argue with you, but I disagree on a groovy brass thing.

 

I'll be sure to mention all of that to the stg57 owners that have fired many hundreds of rounds of Norma commercial brass successfully through their rifles. In my case, is more than "many hundreds".