Norma, worth the trouble?

[Shufisher]

It's pretty obvious, by reading this website and others, that Norma produces a very high quality brass. Is it worth the trouble to convert their 7x57 brass to 257 Roberts which will then be fire-formed to an Ackley Improved? I can find 257 Roberts in both Remington and Winchester.

Thanks,
Jim

 

[Guest]

If your looking for the absolute top end in accuracy then yea its worth it , necking it down is a simple one step deal and once its fireformed your done.

I'm not sure but I think that Lapua makes brass for the 7x57 , if so that would be your better bet , from my experiance the Lapua stuff last longer and is a little tougher.
Although getting several hundred win cases and prepping them would be alot of work and by the time you were done weighing them you may have 100 good pieces of consistant brass.
In my book the more expinsive stuff is well worth it.

 

[wapiti13]

My experience has been just the opposite. Norma brass is tougher than Lapua. My high power buddies agree. Either way, you are getting a better quality brass with primer holes drilled and not punched. You may still need to trim & turn the necks depending on your chamber, batch of brass, etc.

 

[brian b]

Shufisher,
99% of the time I would say it is well worth the time and expence to go with Norma or Lapua brass over domestic brass.but in this case you might want to try some 6mm Remington (remington brass). It sounds like blasphemy coming out of my mouth to say that but I have a couple lots of it that are as good of brass as any thing I have ever used. they (Remington) must put a lot more effort into some cases than others (rem.22-250 brass for example is good for nothing more than a trash can liner).
I dont want to talk you out of trying 7x57 Norma or Lapua brass but find out what the neck dimensions of your chamber are ,you might have to neck turn for clearance going from .284 to .257 making your gun a pseudo tight neck.
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[Shufisher]

Brian,

You raise a couple of interesting points with the tight neck comment, I hadn't thunk of. 1.) If I were to go with a Norma of Lapua 7x57 a standard reamer would give me a pseudo tight neck. 2.) Using 6mm brass and necking up.
I've been debating going with a tight neck (.284)anyhow. Understanding both would require some extra effort to prep, which of the two would be the best option? Necking down (7x57) for a standard reamer, pseudo tight, or necking up (6mm) for a tight necked reamer?