Nosler Custom Brass Question

[Nimrodmar10]

Finally got a load worked up for my new Sendero 7 RUM. Since i had loaded my limited supply of brass several times the primer pockets have started to get loose. I decided to order new brass to replace it but had problems finding any. I finally found some Remington brass at Natchez Shooters Supply but they wouldn't sell it to me because they supply retail stores in my state. I got a store in my area to order it for me. I went to pick it up today and they got Nosler Custom Brass by mistake. I've been wanting to try Nosler brass but couldn't justify the $2 per case. They knocked off some on the price so I decided to give it a try.
Here's my question. My load is within .4 grains of maximum for my rifle. I'm loading 105 gr. of US869 under a Swift 150 gr. Scirocco II. I really don't want to put any more unnecessary rounds through this gun if I can avoid it. I've alteady got 250 rounds through the tube working up a good load. Should I load the new brass with my load or drop down on the powder charge and work back up. I think I know the answer but I wanted to get some opinions.

[Dean2506]

I have used nosler custom in my 2506 ackley. It doesnt have the same case volume as rem cases. according to what i have read the brass is thicker. I would start the load backed of a little and rework. A little barrel wear is much better than a damaged or worse blown up rifle.

[MMarshall]

I'm new to this forum. I've participated in the Alaska Hunting forum for a few years. I load my 300 RUM with Nosler brass and it's worked quite well. Some people say it is manufactured by Norma, I haven't confirmed that statement.

I have not used any other brass for that rifle and case life has been good so far. After prepping a new box and trimming all cases to the length of the shortest case they were within +/- .1gr of each other. Nosler does a good job of getting the box weight matched. Once you develop a solid load with that brass I would suspect your results will be improved over your previous Remington cases.

I load mine with 175gr Berger VLD's over IMR-7828SSC and Nosler E-Tip 180gr over Retumbo.

[woods]

I would at least drop back and load ONE SHELL at 100 gr, 101 gr, 102 gr, 103 gr, 104 gr & then 105 gr.

That would allow you to watch for pressure signs while working up and that's only 6 shots

[Nimrodmar10]

Well, I bit the bullet and just loaded one of the Nosler brass with my existing load of 105 gr. of US869 under a Swift 150 gr. Scirocco II. Shot that one shell over the Chrono and checked it for pressure signs and velocity. It showed no more pressure than the Remington brass and the velocity was 15 FPS over the average velocity.

One thing I did notice: On the Nosler brass the Federal 215M primers were very hard to seat into the primer pockets. I figured this was a good thing. But the one brass that I fired as a test load would not let the primer seat at all. I damaged two primers trying to get them into the pocket then ended up flaring the primer pocket just a tad with the deburring tool to get it to finally seat. Has anyone else had problems with Nosler brass having extra tight primer pockets? I could also be the primers. A primer pocket uniformer fit into the pocket with no problem.

[MMarshall]

Originally Posted by Nimrodmar10

On the Nosler brass the Federal 215M primers were very hard to seat into the primer pockets. I damaged two primers trying to get them into the pocket then ended up flaring the primer pocket just a tad with the deburring tool to get it to finally seat. Has anyone else had problems with Nosler brass having extra tight primer pockets? I could also be the primers. A primer pocket uniformer fit into the pocket with no problem.

I have three boxes of Nosler Brass for the 300 RUM, all with the same lot number. I use CCI-250's but didn't have any issues with seating the primers.

Since your uniformer fit with no problem I would assume your primers are slightly out of spec, I've heard of this before.

A quick check with your micrometer will answer that question. Use a different lot number of primers to compare. Even a .001 difference would cause a hard seating experience.

Save the larger diameter primers, (if they check out that way) for use later if your primer pockets get loose. Better to have them on hand than to ream out your virgin brass.