Problems w/Norma ammo - need advice

shogi

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Jun 30, 2009
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Bought 6 boxes of Norma 308 Norma mag 180 gr Oryx precision ammo from Trade Ex Canada (T.E.C.) and all were from the same lot. I had purchased a Browning Safari grade 1 along with a Sig Sauer BDX scope/rangefinder and had planned on using the combo on a bison hunt this last fall. After putting the rig together, I attempted to zero the scope and noticed very quickly that there was vertical stringing despite not changing the aiming point.
Set up my chronograph and found the FPS was ranging from 2366 to 2896 (Norma states that FPS should be 2960) and everything in between.
I contacted TEC and they informed me it was Norma's issue and after contacting Norma they replied that the cartridges were loaded correctly and that it was a transportation issue.
I was considering just pulling the bullets and weighing each charge but decided to weigh each cartridge before doing that. The total weights ranged from 478 to 483 gr with the majority in the 481-482gr zone. I'm thinking Norma is right and they were damaged in transport or stored incorrectly due to weights being somewhat consistant.
Should I pull the bullets and weigh each charge or should I just forget it and accept the fact I just ended up with some really expensive brass?
Options? Thoughts?
 
Man, I wouldn't think that transporting them would effect velocity........ammo should be able to withstand wide swings in temperature as long as it doesn't stay TOO HOT or TOO COLD for an extremely long amount of time. Also if powder were to get wet it wouldn't go "bang"
 
I haven't chrono'd a ton of factory ammo but I have chrono'd quite a bit and many, many times more handloaded stuff and I think the MOST velocity extreme spread I've seen from a lot of factory or handloaded ammo has been around 90 FPS and I thought THAT was atrocious
 
Bought 6 boxes of Norma 308 Norma mag 180 gr Oryx precision ammo from Trade Ex Canada (T.E.C.) and all were from the same lot. I had purchased a Browning Safari grade 1 along with a Sig Sauer BDX scope/rangefinder and had planned on using the combo on a bison hunt this last fall. After putting the rig together, I attempted to zero the scope and noticed very quickly that there was vertical stringing despite not changing the aiming point.
Set up my chronograph and found the FPS was ranging from 2366 to 2896 (Norma states that FPS should be 2960) and everything in between.
I contacted TEC and they informed me it was Norma's issue and after contacting Norma they replied that the cartridges were loaded correctly and that it was a transportation issue.
I was considering just pulling the bullets and weighing each charge but decided to weigh each cartridge before doing that. The total weights ranged from 478 to 483 gr with the majority in the 481-482gr zone. I'm thinking Norma is right and they were damaged in transport or stored incorrectly due to weights being somewhat consistant.
Should I pull the bullets and weigh each charge or should I just forget it and accept the fact I just ended up with some really expensive brass?
Options? Thoughts?
Did you test fire this ammo in extreme cold temperatures?
 
Did you test fire this ammo in extreme cold temperatures?
No, it wasn't cold outside at the time. I was firing this ammo the first few days of October, about two weeks before the hunt. I know I was leaving it to the last minute but life has been crazy busy and I had no choice. I'm not adverse to pulling the bullets and weighing it all but I was hoping someone had a different angle I haven't seen yet.
I didn't think the storage or transport would affect it either but obviously something has happened. I paid $600 (including taxes and shipping) for 6 boxes so this does sting, I can't lie about that.
 
Did you test fire this ammo in extreme cold temperatures?
No, it wasn't cold outside at the time. I was firing this ammo the first few days of October, about two weeks before the hunt. I know I was leaving it to the last minute but life has been crazy busy and I had no choice. I'm not adverse to pulling the bullets and weighing it all but I was hoping someone had a different angle I haven't seen yet.
I didn't think the storage or transport would affect it either but obviously something has happened. I paid $600 (including taxes and shipping) for 6 boxes so this does sting, I can't lie about that.
 
The only thing that makes sense to me is that either the powder or the primers are bad. What distance(s) are you expecting to shoot at your Buffalo?
What distance were you shooting when you were getting the vertical dispersion and how much was that dispersion?
 
The only thing that makes sense to me is that either the powder or the primers are bad. What distance(s) are you expecting to shoot at your Buffalo?
What distance were you shooting when you were getting the vertical dispersion and how much was that dispersion?
I was expecting to shoot no more than 400yds but most likely inside of 200. I was just shooting at 100yds and the overall vertical spread was around 6" if I remember correctly but honestly it could've been more or less without finding my data sheet on it.
What is a bit confusing is that some of the rounds in the box had very low velocities and others were somewhat in the ballpark to the manufacturers stated speed (2960).
If the powder was affected in some of the cartridges, why not all, considering they were all in the same package?
 
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