I am using Nosler brass and getting over sized primer pockets after 3 - 4 shots. Sure, I can go 5 or 6 shots and take a big chance with primers leaking, but my primer pocket gage is saying no.

I am going to limit my reloads to 3 BUT that seems like a waste of brass. Are Norma, Weatherby and Nosler all the same?

Your loads are overpressure.

I've got some PMC brass that has been loaded 9 times but I never get over 5 or 6 loads on Norma or Weatherby brass. My brother uses RWS 7 mm Mag brass in his 257 bee it ends up a little shorter than factory loads but lasts like my old PMC brass.

I've been using Weatherby brass since buying my first .257 around 20 years ago--and am still using it, with maximum published data, and some that WAS maximum published data back then, but has been reduced a little since. I just anneal the necks every 4 firings, and it keeps working.

Be my guess as well, care to share your load data? I’ve had decent results with Nosler brass in my 270 Winchester & 338 RUM.

41

what is your load ? what powder ? how many grains of powder ? what primer and is it a magnum primer ? brand and grain of bullet ? what brand rifle action ? is this a custom barrel or factory barrel ? what temperatures are you shooting this rifle at ? is your ammo left in the sun before you shoot rifle much ? i have used all brands of brass for 257 Weatherby mags. i have had only one brand rifle action that did the same thing as what your talking about Remington 700 not sure why so i don`t use this action/rifle anymore and i sold that rifle , here are the brand actions i have never had trouble with Winchester model 70 pre-64 ,Weatherby mark 5`s , Ruger #1`s these actions are all in 257 Weatherby mag.that i still own. i also anneal my necks , my favorite brass is Federal nickel planted . i have used the 257 Weatherby mag. cartridge now for over 30 some years and this cartridge is still my all time favorite for hunting whitetail and mule deer bucks ,antelope and caribou . i have never purchased factory ammo either for this cartridge have always loaded my own ammo .

73.0 grs H1000
Fed GM215M
Barnes 100gr TTSX
MV (only) 3562 fps
COAL 3.160"
Remington 700 / Bartlein 1/9 twist barrel

We have been using 7 Rem Mag WW and some reformed RWS brass. As MD mentioned, you can't hardly wear it out. Nosler brass just ain't worth the money. I think they use silly putty to form it.



That load is far from overpressure in my book. It's honestly about the norm I have seen.

Exactly. I don’t even consider it to be a warm load. Does Weatherby, Norma and Nosler come from the same source? I always thought that Nosler or Norma made all of it.

I load mine 5 times, then junk them. I mostly hunt, load for 6 rifles so I full length size my brass. I could never load for each rifle.

I'd heard Norma at one time made Nosler brass to Nosler specs, but I have never seen anything Nosler that was as decent as even Federal made brass as far as hardness.

Early on Norma did make a bunch of brass for Nosler. As far as I know Norma still makes the Weatherby ammunition, they had exclusive rights at one time.

Got my 257 Weatherby from a buddy back in 2018. Had already done some reloading for it when he owned it. Bought a lot of new brass when I acquired it, 90% Norma & Weatherby headstamps. Haven't noticed much difference between those two and some batches have 4 or 5 loadings on them with no problems. I usually reload them in batches of 20 so I can record the date and number of reloadings. Generally neck size only and trim if needed. I don't go over book maximums but most of them are at or near max. Maybe that's why I've never experienced primer pocket issues. It's gonna be interesting to see how many more loadings I will get out of some of those batches.

Unless you have an odd batch of brass or an odd chamber, your loads are too hot for that rifle.

Not long after Nosler introduced their brass I bought some from SPS in two different cartridges.

Moderate loads produced ejector marks. Minimum loads produced ejector marks. Once fired cases I could sometimes start a primer into the pocket with my fingers. The ejector on my M700’s would shave so much brass it would jam the ejector plunger. Beating the bolt against the tire of my truck would sometimes pop the ejector loose, otherwise when I got home I would have to remove the plunger and spring to clean the brass shavings out.

A friend of mine looked at the brass and said “If I didn’t know better this looks like Norma brass”. A light bulb went on—I had tried Norma brass a couple times decades ago with similar results.

A phone call to SPS got nowhere. A phone call to Nosler and they conceded “Most of our brass is being made by Norma”.

I can’t speak for current production Nosler brass, but Norma brass and my experience with NormaNosler brass really is one step short of silly putty.

Nosler is allegedly making their own brass these days, but I’m afraid to try it……..

THIS

Was in a bind. RP 7 rem Mag brass. Annealed before forming. Annealed after. So far almost 6 loads some of it and no issues at this point. I re annealed at 4 loadings just to be safe.

Some of the test ammo brass might have had close to 10 firings on it, but annealed every 4.

FWIW.

I form Winchester 264 Win Mag brass in one pass through the full length sizer, double radius shoulder comes out perfect. Neck is short. Keep the carbon out of the neck of the chamber.

Win brass is tougher than Norma.

Later, I had a reamer ground with the shorter neck and very short freebore, 1/4-3/8" groups are normal with very high speeds.

I wonder how much, if any, difference there is between Nosler Premium vs Nosler bulk brass….?

sorry i did not want to say what brand receiver you used but i would have bet it was a 700 action , here is the other problem it might be ? Weatherby cartridges are suppose to be able to jump the bullet some so maybe that chamber is too tight ? and no you are not suppose too be very close to the rifling in the barrel with the bullet you can get to much pressure that way too. i use 103 gr. Hammer Hunter bullets and Reloader 25 i have no trouble with receivers or brass now that i use now at 3680 FPS. sorry but i won`t ever use Remington 700 actions with higher pressure cartridges no more ,i have had no problems with Nosler brass,Norma brass ,Remington Brass or Federal brass since i no longer use a 700 Receiver, sorry hope you can figure out your problem.

Huh?

My experience with this cartridge goes back 45 years and covers 4 rifles being 3x Mark V's in both 24" and 26" barrels and a single Vanguard Series 2.

When I look at some of the velocities stated in various articles and reader comments there is a theme of exceeding factory spec's of 3555fps by as much as 300 fps using the 100 grain bullet and now we are talking about case life?

This is what I learned.
To achieve factory spec's of 3825fps using the 87gn bullet and 7 powders, best loads were:
71gn AR2209 (H 4350)
73gn IMR4831

Factory spec's of 3555fps using the 100gn bullet and 9 powders, best loads were:
69gn IMR4350
70gn IMR4831
67gn AR2209 (This powder burned at 95% of IMR4350 during closed bomb testing when introduced and was "evolved" to a slower burning rate when supplied to Hodgdon as a substitute for Scottish H4350)
72gn AR2213 (H4831)

Factory spec's of 3300fps using the 120gn Partition and 5 powders, best loads were:
69gn IMR7828
66gn IMR4831
68gn Rel 22

Brass pockets do open up faster and loosen up if these loads are exceeded and substituting WW 7mm Remington brass did last longer than the Norma brass.

I also documented every shot in the first rifle and because most loads were shot over the bench developing loads, the count read as follows;

Accuracy fall off noted at 800 rounds, meaning some groups started to exceed MOA
800-950 rounds noted increasing group sizes to around 2-3" at 950 rounds where the balance of around 60 loaded rounds were fired off at the range to end the barrel life.

Over a 12 year period, range shots were 600 (including the EOL shots) and 400 rounds used on game.

Yeah, why?

The Rem 700 handles pressure about as well as any.

Agree with those posts about making .257 Wby brass out of Winchester .264 or 7RM cases. I've read that Norma brass is softer, thus primer pockets may not last as long.

And Win cases are less expensive. Using 7RM cases, check neck thickness.

DF

I thought the same thing. Why would the action affect pressure? That's mostly dependent on the chamber and barrel in addition to the load.

M700's handle pressure as well as any other mass produced action. Plus in the event of overpressure load/blown case the M700 has among the better gas handling capabilities.

i figured a bunch of post would say that the 700`s work fine , good for you guys , i have used them for other cartridges and yes the 700 worked fine most of the time. maybe i had a bad 700 action ? not sure ? i have had some other problems with Remington 700`s too in the mountains on a mule 10 miles from camp mama Grizzly and cubs were looking at me, on a caribou hunt , on a elk hunt and some others too. but my Ruger #1`s , Winchester pre-64 model 70`s never fail me in nasty wild country warm .cold ,freezing cold they always work. sorry i have had poor luck or just problems with 700 actions , i don`t trust them on a tuff ruff hunt anymore. good luck

Specifically, what was the problem with respect to pressure?

i did have primers coming out i think that 700 receiver with a Lilja barrel something was wrong but there was a pressure problem? not sure ? i trashed this 700 receiver for parts i did not want anyone to have that 700 . had some 700`s with trigger problems , 700 safeties on the newer 700`s don`t lock the bolt and that can be a problem. we had 3 - 700`s keep freeze`n up in the mountains , so i used my Model70 pre64 the next day that 70 never did freeze up but their 2 -700`s still did. 700`s are accurate and work fine on close to the truck hunts ,i hate to complain and hope you all have great hunts and good luck with a 700 , but myself and son will use other brand actions for hunting. so pressure problems ? i even had my ammo pressure tested that came back fine . not really sure but i know the 257 Weatherby mag. cartridge and some others can have more pressure than many other cartridges. it was a S.S 700 receiver gave me the primer problem maybe that was the problem ? good luck to all .

The way you framed your first comment gave the impression that you believed there was a strength issue with the Remington 700.


This has nothing to do with triggers, safeties locking or not locking bolts, freezing up and the like.

When it comes to pressure containment among mass produced actions I'm pretty comfortable using a Remington 700.

I knew not to buy a primer pocket gauge. LOL.

I just wanted to know if Nosler .257 WM brass is "soft". I guess I better throw my rifle away.

Nah.

Just the brass....

Well, after they won't hold a primer.

DF

lol......this^^!

TFF - you sure got a lot of guys riled up Pete. Hope they are sleeping at nite

Do you consider my question/response to be that of a "riled up" person?

yep i was afraid of that , that`s fine they like the 700`s actions to hunt with ,good for them. i also know i butt hurt some of them their feelings. but my question is : so why worry what i prefer to use ? i don`t give a rat`s arse what they wanna use !

pete is kinda' living in his own little world. We probably shouldn't mess it up for him.........

not sure what your smok`n in Colorado but that question wasn`t directed to me ? maybe reread what Mathman asked that too ?

Three rings of steel - sleep tight my friends . . .

Just like I'd never use a long-barreled, single-shot in 257 Wby to shoot 60 yards in a tamarack swamp.

I got 6x from my original lot of new 80 WBY cases before parting ways with the rifle (a swell custom on a 700 action).

I thought this was a discussion about pressure and how long brass lasts. Silly me.

I have several Rem 700's and generally like them fine, although for rough conditions they might not be quite stout as my Ruger 77's or Model 70's. But if we are talking about handling an over pressure load, they are about as good as it gets for a factory bolt action.

As I said before, the action really has no bearing on how much pressure is generated by a load, even though it does affect how an over pressure event is handled.

thanks for thought

Only have 1 Weatherby a 270 mag and in a Mk V, never had a 257 but if I do it will be in a Weatherby rifle utilizing their designed freebore. If I built one on a 700 it would have the same freebore spec. I don't have the same problems with 700's that 700 haters do guess I'm just lucky...mb

Well, after all the input, most good, I went and bought a no go primer pocket gauge since I felt that the go gauge was a little loose.

The no go gauge does not enter the pocket. I also tested to see if I could push a primer in by hand, and could not. This was all done with 4x fired brass.

I pulled my rifle out of the dumpster this morning along with the brass.

Thanks for the entertainment. BTW, my Bartlein barrel does have the "Weatherby Chamber".

Yes!!!!! Glad to hear the rifle is resurrected and life is good.

And now you're making me think about purchasing a no-go primer gauge. I'm gonna have to search and see if I still have my go gauge somewhere, I haven't seen it in quite some time..........

https://burstfireguns.com/collections/reloading

Very fast shipping

That PMC is very good brass, unfortunately no longer available. Years ago Keith - on here - had several different headstamps hardness tested. The PMC came out hardest by something like 4 or 5 pts on the Rockwell scale. It's real good stuff. Mine .257 was chambered with that 0 freebore reamer cut 050" shorter to work with 7mag or 264 brass. But I've always used PMC. Rel 22 with a Sierra 100 just shy of the lands are at 3982 and 4010 out of a 29" Hart 12twist. Accuracy is about 1/4". Awesome cartridge/gun.

I’d guess Winchester was near the top of the “hard” brass list. Am I close?

DF

Most likely what was available. I don't remember but he probably would. PM him.

I've had exceptional use from Norma brass. I have some 6.5x55 brass that is on the 17th reload. I prefer Norma over any other brass I've used. Anyone pushing the max presure limits are going to use up their brass much quicker and to blame the brass for failing when you are trying to squeeze every last bit of velocity from your cartridge is not really justifiable.

PMC brass and ammo at one time was made in America and was of quite good quality.........now all of PMC's brass and ammo is made in Korea. the brass I have used is still pretty good........the problem I have is with the primers !!!!!
They have so hard of a cup they wont fire in some rifles