9mm Norma brass?

[poppy42]

First off I’m not sure if this is the appropriate forum for this post but I couldn’t really find one that was applicable. So mods if this is the wrong forum please accept my apologies and feel free to move it to the correct one.

Now for the question! Just got through decapping about 4000 pieces of range brass. As I was depriming I ran into a case that the flash hole is so small that I actually broke the depriming pin! I thought it was a freak but I subsequently found about a dozen other cases that had the same issue! Fortunately after the first one I was smart enough not to break any more pins. All the brass with the problem is marked Norma 9 mm Luger! Now I know I’ve deprimed other pieces of Norma brass without any issues but thinking back I’m not sure I’ve ever ran across 9 mm Norma brass before. Has anybody else ran into this problem? Looking in the brass at the flash hole it appears to be about half the size of a normal piece of 9 mm brass. It’s definitely brass not steel cased or aluminum. And it is not Berdan primed, only one flash hole! Not really a problem as I said it was only about a dozen cases but I was just wondering what’s up with brass and if anyone else has ran into it.

[poppy42]

302921302920

Oh and 302922
Here’s the Norma brass and What I would call a typical flash hole! Hopefully you can see what I’m talking about.

[rockshooter]

I've noticed that also with Norma 9mm brass
Loren

[ioon44]

When you de-prime the Norma with the small flash hole it also has a large bur inside of the primer pocket which would need to be removed before seating a new primer.

I have also seen the small flash hole in Speer .357 Sig brass.

[Czech_too]

"I have also seen the small flash hole in Speer .357 Sig brass."

S&B 22 Hornet

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

About 12 years ago, when I was using 9mm brass for swaging jacketed bullets, I was buying range brass by the Flat rate boxes...many of them. The seller knew I was using some of them for swaging. He said he had a bunch sorted out that had small primer flash holes, that weren't desirable for reloading...He sold them super cheap to me for swaging. I don't recall the HS name? but they were all same Mfg and I do recall it was foreign. They worked great for swaging.
>I wonder if that ammo was originally loaded for a special purpose, like frangible bullet loads?

[poppy42]

About 12 years ago, when I was using 9mm brass for swaging jacketed bullets, I was buying range brass by the Flat rate boxes...many of them. The seller knew I was using some of them for swaging. He said he had a bunch sorted out that had small primer flash holes, that weren't desirable for reloading...He sold them super cheap to me for swaging. I don't recall the HS name? but they were all same Mfg and I do recall it was foreign. They worked great for swaging.
>I wonder if that ammo was originally loaded for a special purpose, like frangible bullet loads?

Kinda why I started the post. I thought special porpoise or something but forgot about frangible.

[Brassmonkey]

I thought Norma was known for their small flash holes?

[poppy42]

I thought it was tight primer pockets. Like I posted I’ve ran into and used Norma rifle brass and never had a problem with it. At least not so small that you can’t get a D capping pin to push the primer out

[jrayborn]

I load bunches of them on a Square Deal. Never noticed any difference...

[ddeck22]

I've noticed it too. If I feel pressure, I stop since I don't want to break the decapping pin. Normally, this is because it is Berdan primed, so I pull it out, look at the headstamp and if it's Norma, I just toss it in the scrap bin.

[deltaenterprizes]

Many years ago there was the same problem with Chinese 9mm brass pulling out the decapping from LEE 9mm dies because of the small flash hole.
There was no problem with RCBS and Lyman dies. Dillon dies would just punch the hole bigger.
What brand of dies are you using?

6PPC brass has small flash holes and I have a set of LEE collet dies for 6PPC that I spun the decapping rod in a drill and held a diamond file on the pin and made it small enough to pass through the little flash holes!

[poppy42]

I use a Lee universal de capper

[higgins]

I have encountered Norma 9mm brass with undersize flash holes, and normal size as well. I sort enough 9mm brass that I just started dropping all the Norma in the scrap bucket when I see the headstamp - there's plenty of 9mm with normal size flash holes. I have come across Norma 9mm made in two countries according to the labeling on the box so that's probably where the two size flash holes originate.

[poppy42]

I have encountered Norma 9mm brass with undersize flash holes, and normal size as well. I sort enough 9mm brass that I just started dropping all the Norma in the scrap bucket when I see the headstamp - there's plenty of 9mm with normal size flash holes. I have come across Norma 9mm made in two countries according to the labeling on the box so that's probably where the two size flash holes originate.

Yep my sentiments exactly. I processed over 4000 pieces of brass yesterday, I’m certainly not gonna lose any sleep over a half a dozen or so Norma ones with tiny flash holes! Right in the scrapbook if they go! I was just real curious I’ve never run into it before.

[Dave W.]

Ran across the same thing, a few times, where the primer hole was too small. It was easier to toss them in the scrap bucket than to drill out the hole. I have more 9MM brass than I need, so loosing a few is no big deal.

[wilecoyote]

I have encountered Norma 9mm brass with undersize flash holes, and normal size as well. I sort enough 9mm brass that I just started dropping all the Norma in the scrap bucket when I see the headstamp - there's plenty of 9mm with normal size flash holes. I have come across Norma 9mm made in two countries according to the labeling on the box so that's probably where the two size flash holes originate.

...out of my curiosity, which countries ?

[higgins]

I don't recall the countries for sure so I don't want to start guessing, but they were not Scandanavian or western European countries you might expect Norma brass to come from.

[Outpost75]

The Norma 9mm brass from cheap range ammo made in Hungary has small .062 flasholes vs. 0.078 being US standard. I decap range brass before tumbling with Lee Universal decapped and then process normally. Otherwise good brass.

[poppy42]

Ok I now know that I am not the only one that’s ran into this. I guess the bigger question would be does anybody have any idea what purpose it serves. I mean if you look at the pictures I posted it’s obvious to me that the whole is less than half the size of a normal flash hole! I would think they’ll be a lot more chances of a click instead of a bang. So is it just a normal wants you to buy more loaded ammunition and not reload their brass? Or is there some other reasoning behind this? Like I said I’m certainly not about to go drilling out flash holes for I have a dozen pieces of 9 mm brass. If that was all I could find that would be a different story.

[wilecoyote]

I don't recall the countries for sure so I don't want to start guessing, but they were not Scandanavian or western European countries you might expect Norma brass to come from.

...thanks. I understand_
that always makes me ring the same biased alarm bell, but it's me.