WARNING: NORMA "Whitetail" 6.5 Creedmoor 140gr. SP ammunition- Overpressure!

Interesting- I bought 5 or 6 boxes from my LGS a few months ago- don't have the receipt anymore. I'll check the lot number when I get home from CO. Still waiting on the rifle for them so I haven't even opened them up- just liked the price ($26) for a box to break in my barrel when it gets here and then have 1x fired Norma brass for hand loads.

Let us know what they say.
LGS = Lucky Gunner?
 
Watching this thread with interest. Really need to know whether the problem is with the AR parts being used or with the Norma Whitetail ammo.

I've been waiting to try this new Norma Whitetail in my Sauer and Mauser Creedmoors. But I'll hold off until we get a verdict here.
 
I got a dozen boxes of LOT# 0030343-06 a week ago to tune a new AR10 6.5 creed build.
It is a Aero Precision Upper & Lower with Wilson Combat BGC, Adjustable Gas Block & Barrel.

Got only slight cratering, no primer flattening, and no polished ejector marks or extractor problems. So I knew these were hot loads, but not dangerous. When I opened the adjustable gas block to max gas, I got two rounds with pierced primers. Turned the gas block down to where it was and no more pierced primers.

You may find that the problem may vary depending on whether it is a bolt gun or AR platform. And then depending on build components, headspace, chamber specs, throating, gas tube, gas port diameter etc.
 
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I got a dozen boxes of LOT# 0030343-06 a week ago to tune a new AR10 6.5 creed build.
It is a Aero Precision Upper & Lower with Wilson Combat BGC, Adjustable Gas Block & Barrel.

Got only slight cratering, no primer flattening, and no polished ejector marks or extractor problems. So I knew these were hot loads, but not dangerous. When I opened the adjustable gas block to max gas, I got two rounds with pierced primers. Turned the gas block down to where it was and no more pierced primers.

You may find that the problem may vary depending on whether it is a bolt gun or AR platform. And then depending on build components, headspace, chamber specs, throating, gas tube, gas port diameter etc.
Thanks, good know that adjusting the gas block can help. I still want to hear from those who have shot Norma Whitetail in bolt guns and hear what Norma says in response to the OP.
 
Thanks for the advisory ! - appreciate warning - thread not interpreted by me to "flame" anybody, any vendor, any manufacturer or whatever on LRH. Serious damage has or may occur - entire ammo lot or multiple lots need to be recalled, Ejector marks, blown primers, cratered primers, & pierced primers. Different rifles, same ammo make, intended for rifles chambered for that caliber - bolt or AR type. Assuming acceptable standards for firearm build & maintenance. Needs pressure & component analysis from independent Lab.
 
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I have 5 boxes I got from Norma. Was going to shoot in a bolt gun. I haven't had time to shoot yet. My lot numbers are all 0030343-03. Interested in how they handle
 
Serious damage has or may occur - entire ammo lot or multiple lots need to be recalled, Ejector marks, blown primers, cratered primers, & pierced primers. Different rifles, same ammo make, intended for rifles chambered for that caliber - bolt or AR type. Assuming acceptable standards for firearm build & maintenance. Needs pressure & component analysis from independent Lab.
After having gone through all of the follow up Reddit posts by Foals_Forever re: Norma Whitetail 6.5CM and that person's experiences (brand new AR10 style rifle rendered inoperable after 8 shots), I've got some thoughts.

Seems he is (was?) a new shooter. Or at the least, new to AR operating system family of rifles. He asks questions showing he's intelligent but ignorant of a good number of things about riflery and RELOADING I learned before age 18. (but my father had been an apprentice gunsmith before the Korean war and GI bill changed his career path to end up with a PhD in high energy physics, my childhood training in the shooting arts was probably not "normal").

He definitely was not aware of one basic safety precept: If you experience ANYTHING abnormal when you pull a trigger, you STOP and determine EXACTLY what happened, check weapon, visually inspect barrel for obstructions, look at the fired brass, inspect your ammunition & etc. BEFORE trying to chamber another round and continue.

He just kept shooting when the rifle misbehaved. He forced the weapon into battery or close enough for it to fire THREE TIMES when it didn't want to fully chamber and fire. (BTW, the forward assist on an AR is the source of more problems for the average AR shooter than it ever solved IMHO. Eugene Stoner is on record as agreeing...).

After the 3rd time he forced a round to chamber far enough to fire, bolt jammed in open position and he couldn't continue. THEN he finally looked at his brass and asked "*** happened?".

My takeaway: User ignorance and user error compounded the same ammunition/platform conditions I encountered and caused the dammages he experienced, not JUST the ammunition.

If you've got nothing better to do while waiting for the deer to come visit, follow the thread (240+ posts long now) for yourselves. There are statements by him which could be used in "teaching moments" for other new shooters.

Im'a go look for Bambi now.

 
Short day hunting. I'll get back to measuring BCG/firing pin/etc. after taking care of business.
20211107_081121.jpg
 
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