Was zipping right along loading 9mm and suddenly hit a snag, a piece did not want to resize. Too much pressure. Pulled the case and verified it was not Berdan primed for some odd reason. Set it aside. Back to pumping out 9mm and happened again. Stopped and pulled the brass, Norma again. Well the press is stopping when the decapping pin meets the flash hole! Appears Norma uses a smaller flash hole like Lapua does on the 6.5 Creedmoor. This is worse than small primer/large primer for 45 because I have to sort by head stamp which is appreciable harder than sorting by primer size. Mother Truckers! Lee, RCBS, Dillon, and Lee Universal decapping pins are too big.

Googled and apparently its a recent thing. Not messing with loadis interruptus syndrome so I am trashing them.

Thank you for sharing. I will keep an eye out, in the future.

I wouldn't think you'd see a lot of 9mm Norma cases in the average bulk range pick up lot.

Two so far in the first 150 pieces. Folks say the Lee universal decapper will work with enough force and lube and it swages the hole but then you may have to use a flash hole deburring tool and a primer pocket uniforming tool to remove the burrs. Who is going to that much effort for a piece of 9mm brass. I bulk clean and do a cursory inspection but now it looks like I will be inspecting more closely.

Thank you for taking the time to give us a heads up. Range pick up is mostly what I use in 9mm. Ive never ran into a Norma 9mm case. At least you didn’t break the pin.

I discovered the exact same thing. In fact, I bent the pin and had to order 10 more. Every time it was a Norma stamp, they go to the trash can.


There's plenty.

Agreed with the above. I scrap every piece of Norma 9mm. shame. They will break your pins.

I processed about 3500 9X19 cases a couple years ago with an APP, a 4-tube feeder, and a universal die. I did the de-prime and size as separate steps. I threw away any piece that stopped the machine. Didn't look at the headstamps.

Over the pandemic Norma shifted their production and became just another "bulk crappy ammo" supplier. Tons of recalls, questionable QC for a price that was competitive with the Turkish stuff.

It's unfortunate that it got so common because of this flash hole issue. It's been the bane of my existence with range pickup brass for the last year or more.

On my Dillon 650 I have a spare tool head that I can run only the size and deprime die in. Since I have the case feeder it is not so bad but this new wrinkle is a pain. I have not loaded 9mm since last Christmas. This is both range pickup, trade brass, and some donated brass, so if this started 1 year ago this is the first time I have seen it.

I remember some Freedom Munitions brass that had an insert in the brass that also stopped the operation too. I just ran into another headstamp that is real difficult to size and appears to have a similar construction. I will try to post up some pictures later. Not sure I can section one cleanly to see what is happening. I don't recognize the headstamp and its difficult to discern the markings.

Redding make a small pin for rifle.
Is the primer crimped?

https://www.amazon.com/01059-Undersised-Decap-Pins-Pak/dp/B00P73QSL0

I haven't processed any brass since before the pandy nor have I bought any OEM ammo...so I had no idea Norma made bulk crap.

I keep my head in the sand often.