Hornady 28 Nosler Brass - First Impressions

[Colin78]

For you guys asking about the H20 test.
Take a primed case and zero it on a scale, remove case and fill to the top of the neck with H20. Put the case back on the scale and there's your capacity.

That sounds easy enough. But if you do that to all your cases it seems like you would waste a lot of primers by getting them wet?

Exactly what I was gonna say and ask. Could you do the h2o test with fired brass before depriming?

 

[Roughwater]

You will like the hammers. Really easy to load. I shoot the 143 hammers too. For what it's worth they actually weigh an average of 145.9. On my scale. I've heard that's a great rifle! You will enjoy I'm sure.

 

[Dean2]

Rough Water you are not correct. I had an email last year, direct from Weatherby confirming they still have their brass made by Norma. I emailed them and asked because it used to be right on their website and did not show there any longer.

As far as Nosler making brass -

Nosler has been made by Norma for years-- but they were supposed to weight sort, prep and polish it more than Norma did (hence the "premium pricing"). Nosler even used Federal brass starting in 194, for a number of years. They may still have soem brass that is sourced from Federal.

In 2013 Nosler bought out Silver State Armory and they started using SSA's machines to make brass for the "SSA" line of cartridges that they introduced in 2015. This even shows up in the History link you sent in your email. At first it was really bad, I mean really really bad (at least in the 6.8spc brass)-- they improved upon the SSA brass some what a few years ago--BUT as far as I know Nosler still only makes the "SSA by Nosler" brass NOT the regular Nosler brass on the SSA machines -- the "SSA by Nosler" only makes and sells 5.56 nato, 6.8spc, 300 aac, 308W, 30-06, and 7.62x39

 

[Dean2]

Exactly what I was gonna say and ask. Could you do the h2o test with fired brass before depriming?

Fired cases are just fine. You don't need to deprime them and a fired case gives you the closest capacity as long as it is sized to the same as what you reload, just remove the pin before sizing.

 

[Roughwater]

It's a Christensen arms Ridgeline. It shoots pretty good but I sent it to my smith to have him glass bet it in hops to tighten up the groups a little and get a little more consistency. Plus I have some 143 hammer hunters on the way I am really excited to try!

I've heard they are great rifles. You will enjoy the Hammer bullets too. That's what I shoot. Keep in mind the bullets actually average about 145.9 gn, so almost 46 grains.

 

[Roughwater]

Rough Water you are not correct. I had an email last year, direct from Weatherby confirming they still have their brass made by Norma. I emailed them and asked because it used to be right on their website and did not show there any longer.

As far as Nosler making brass -

Nosler has been made by Norma for years-- but they were supposed to weight sort, prep and polish it more than Norma did (hence the "premium pricing")

In 2013 Nosler bought out Silver State Armory and they started using SSA's machines to make brass for the "SSA" line of cartridges that they introduced in 2015. This even shows up in the History link you sent in your email. At first it was really bad, I mean really really bad (at least in the 6.8spc brass)-- they improved upon the SSA brass some what a few years ago--BUT as far as I know Nosler still only makes the "SSA by Nosler" brass NOT the regular Nosler brass on the SSA machines -- the "SSA by Nosler" only makes and sells 5.56 nato, 6.8spc, 300 aac, 308W, 30-06, and 7.62x39

I said I don't know who makes Weatherby brass. You are probably totally correct about Weatherby and who makes their brass. I knew I was falling into that wormhole, I could feel it. LOL

 

[Colin78]

Fired cases are just fine. You don't need to deprime them and a fired case gives you the closest capacity as long as it is sized to the same as what you reload, just remove the pin before sizing.

10-4 thank you sir.

 

[Dean2]

I said I don't know who makes Weatherby brass. You are probably totally correct about Weatherby and who makes their brass. I knew I was falling into that wormhole, I could feel it. LOL

Please read the rest of my post, you are also incorrect about Nosler. They do not make their own brass, except for the SSA line.

 

[Colin78]

I've heard they are great rifles. You will enjoy the Hammer bullets too. That's what I shoot. Keep in mind the bullets actually average about 145.9 gn, so almost 46 grains.

Well the first one I had was a total ***. Must have been built on a Friday just before quitting time. It had lots of problems but to make a long very frustrating story short, in the end Christensen did the right thing and sent me a new rifle. This one is much much better.

What powder you using with the hammers? And what speed you pushing them at? Bryan told me he recommend to start with RL26. I just gotta find some.

 

[Roughwater]

I gotta admit, Norma and Nosler brass do seem equally soft. So you may be right Dean? I just assumed Nosler made it's own brass. It could also explain why it's so expensive.

 

[Roughwater]

Well the first one I had was a total ***. Must have been built on a Friday just before quitting time. It had lots of problems but to make a long very frustrating story short, in the end Christensen did the right thing and sent me a new rifle. This one is much much better.

That must have been a long and frustrating Journey. Sorry it didn't go well.

 

[Roughwater]

Most Nosler and Weatherby, are all made by Norma. All three are pretty much the same brass. Weatherby has confirmed who makes their brass.

Dean,

I initially did a quick search but after searching a bit more looks like you are totally Right and I was wrong!

 

[Roughwater]

Fired cases are just fine. You don't need to deprime them and a fired case gives you the closest capacity as long as it is sized to the same as what you reload, just remove the pin before sizing.

Sounds good, I wasn't sure what you meant by "pin". Then I realized you were talking about the depriming pin. So resize, do the test then deprime. Smart. Hope I didn't upset you on the Norma, Nosler thing. I have reloaded for years and used both Norma and Nosler and saw similarities but never heard nor relaized they may be made by the same company.

 

[Roughwater]

Sounds great! Thank you for the report. Any chance you have done or could do some weight sorting to see if there is much change is weight between each case. Maybe even a H2O test?

For you guys asking about the H20 test.
Take a primed case and zero it on a scale, remove case and fill to the top of the neck with H20. Put the case back on the scale and there's your capacity.

Well Colin I did the H2O test. But just to one Nosler Case and one Hornady case so won't tell you a lot as far as if Hornady cases have consistent volumes.

Here you go:
Nosler case Weighed 285.5 without water With water 388 gn
differance = 99.5

Hornady Case Weighed 263.3 without water. With Water 364.9 gn
Differance = 101.6

If I shoot a few tomorrow I'll weigh some more just for the heak of it as it is pretty easy. I might have weighed more but don't have any more Hornady brass with primers in as I've only shot 2 rounds made from Hornady brass so far.