.308 Norma Magnum

[FNSafari]

Just curious. I'm not looking for info on the relative merits of this vs. other 30 mag cartridges. Just curious about how many folks who frequent this forum have or are using a rifle chambered for the .308 Norma Magnum and in what kind of rifle....factory or custom build or re-barrel. How satisfied are you for whatever the reasons you acquired or built one?

 

[Kurz]

I had two of these; one in the 7x61 Super and the other in .308 Norma Magnum. Someone wanted the .308 Norma Mag more than I did so I sold it. I still have and shoot the 7x61 Super.



Not mine but a representation:



The .300 Win Mag was the death knell for the Danish .308 Norma Mag rifles here in the U.S. especially when the military chose to use it in battle rifles.

Enjoy the hunt!

 

[Jud96]

My long range magnum is a .308 Norma. It started life as a Remington 700 Long Range and I had it rebarreled to .308 Norma Magnum with a 28” Bartlein 5R Sendero contour and a 3 port baffle brake. It shoots excellent with 215 Berger’s, RL26, Fed 215s, and Norma brass. It has a very nice node at 2910-2920.

 

[spitfire_er]

I've had a few, and I think I still have two, one 308 Norma and another improved 308 Norma. Mine have all been custom (old school custom) builds on 1917 enfields. I've done a few for others on 700's as well. Always liked the idea of a longer neck and a tad bit shorter cartridge over the 300 wm.

Mine have always shot extremely well with premium barrels and will do pretty much anything the 300 WM can do in a little smaller package. The 308 NM improved I have is my backup elk gun and is dang near as accurate on a 1917 as my $5,000 Defiance PRC.

I know the wifes grandfather shot 30+ moose in Canada with his 308 Norma.

 

[mauser284]

When I purchased my first brand new not a rebarreled Mauser it was a Browning A-Bolt w/Boss in 300 Win Mag. When I went to the range to zero my scope and see what factory ammo it liked guess what I ran into? Keep in mind I was in my first apartment in college and was in my second year just moved out of the droms around 1995.

What no guess?

You give up?

A little old man prob. in his 70's shooting tiny little groups with a sporterized 1903 Springfield in 308 Norma Magnum.

Barrel was heavier than my Brownings but not Remington Sendero heavy a bit lighter than that. His wood was not as nice as mine but he had more of it and it was dark walnut with a satin oil finish. Because I had done High Power since I was 11 I spotted it as a Springfield 1903 10 stalls down at the range. Stock had a nice Monte Carlo or Rollover cheek piece the stock forend was longer and wider than a sporter but not varmint wide. It had a nice palm swell and more vertical wrist but not pure prone vertical wrist.

It had nice old school high power iron sights and a nice period scope I do not recall if it was an old Steel tube Weaver or Redfield Widefield but it was one of those two. I had 60 rounds of ammo for mine that day ranging from 150gr. up to 220gr. round nose. That day I shot .75 inch groups to 1.75 groups at 100 yards and 200 yards. The older gentleman was shooting .50 groups at 100 yards and 200 yards with his hand loads. In fact that is what convinced me I needed to get loading gear ASAP! I was going to get another rifle and maybe a pistol but instead chose to save up for reloading gear first!

That is the only time I have ran into a 308 Norma Mag in the real world. Think of it like a 30-338 Mag.

 

[NZ_Fclass]

The 308 Norma was chambered in Santa Barbera Mausers and P14 rifles by Parker Hale in the the late 1960's and probably into the 1980's. No co-incidence that Parker Hale were the UK agents for Norma, One of my hunting pals had one here in NZ which had been re-chambered for the Canadian 308 Imperial Magnum and a P14 chambered in the 311 Imperial Magnum ie, the same case with a 311 bullet. The Original 303's having a suitable bolt face.

 

[Edd]

I don’t have one but I do have a new Defiance Deviant Hunter action, a 30 caliber 9.0” twist Krieger barrel blank, a McMillan Hunter stock blank, 250 pieces of new Norma brass and a new JGS reamer. So I may have one sometime in the future.

 

[David Milisock]

Just curious. I'm not looking for info on the relative merits of this vs. other 30 mag cartridges. Just curious about how many folks who frequent this forum have or are using a rifle chambered for the .308 Norma Magnum and in what kind of rifle....factory or custom build or re-barrel. How satisfied are you for whatever the reasons you acquired or built one?

As long as you're a reloader you're going to be happy. Factory ammo is limited but hand loading opens the door a bit. I had a 308 NM on a Remington 03, and it shot very well, your accuracy will depend on the quality of your build, the ammo and your shooting. Comparing the 308 to the 300 WM is an academic study barely worth the effort.

At ranges exceeding 300+ on elk I prefer the 358 Norma so I got rid of the 308. Quite frankly the 358 NM outperforms the 338 WM and vastly outperforms 30 caliber magnums.

 

[wboggs]

Just curious. I'm not looking for info on the relative merits of this vs. other 30 mag cartridges. Just curious about how many folks who frequent this forum have or are using a rifle chambered for the .308 Norma Magnum and in what kind of rifle....factory or custom build or re-barrel. How satisfied are you for whatever the reasons you acquired or built one?

I haven't owned one but a fair number of British Columbia hunters were using them in the 70's.
They used Norma ammo with 180gr bullets. It needed to be loaded with Partitions to really stand out but they were happy with it using the soft points of the era.

 

[esromvre1]

I like its brother the .30-338 WinMag

 

[big5ifty]

Mine is accidental.

I bid for a .303 on an auction, I wanted to use the P14 action for something else, and it came home a .308 Norma.

The blue was worn on the action and the bolt, and the wooden stock looked like it was trimmed with a chainsaw. I fitted a 20MOA rail and a custom fiberglass stock to it, and use it as a target rifle.

It shoots any bullet and any powder into two MOA with no load development, and one MOA with minimal load development. Twist is very slow at 14, but still shoots 168 grainers very well at a bit over 3100 fps.

It's a very forgiving caliber to reload for. I'm still using the same 100 pieces of brass I bought new when I got it, about six firings worth so far.

 

[FNSafari]

Mine was a sort of accident too. Its a Browning Safari 308NM. I was at LL Bean store maybe 7 years ago, looking over their used rifles(they only sell rifles, not modern sporting ones). I was on my way out and notices one rack I had not perused. As I got closer to it I noticed one rifle with a barrel longer than most in the rack and of a heavy profile. I picked it up and saw what its cal is. So I bought it. It's a 1960 rifle so no salt wood. It will shoot 220 grain Nosler partition bullets into 1.5" at two hundred yards from a seated position with butt on my shoulder and my hand resting on a front sand bag with the rifle in my palm. Very satisfied. Killed off by the 300 Win Mag.

 

[Will Henry]

I haven't owned one but a fair number of British Columbia hunters were using them in the 70's.
They used Norma ammo with 180gr bullets. It needed to be loaded with Partitions to really stand out but they were happy with it using the soft points of the era.

The 180 grain Norma ammo had two things going for it. First, it was one of the few factory cartridges which achieved the published velocity. They advertised 3100 and most rifles would exceed that with the factory loads. Second, the factory dual core bullet was an excellent controlled expansion bullet; probably every bit as good as the partition. Later on, 308 Norma brass was made with a thinner web and greater capacity. I suspect they loaded the same powder charge because muzzle velocity was reduced by 70 fps.
My Dad had his Pre-war Model 70 30/06 rechambered in 1962. He shot everything from antelope to elk, then gave it to me twenty years later. The original barrel was done and the stock was cracked. I re-barreled it and fixed the stock, and I still have it. I load 180's to 3070 fps and the old rifle shoots moa or better.
I think the 308 Norma is the very best of the belted 30's. It fit the pre-64 action much better than the 300 Winchester did. One would have expected Winchester to neck down the 338 for their 30 but that produced a cartridge which was physically slightly smaller than the Norma, and the sales people didn't think that would fly. The answer was to make the 300. With it's short neck and greater length, it was larger and could be sold as more powerful, though it wasn't.
Interestingly enough, the 308 Norma is very similar in shape to the 30 Newton. In fact, the powder capacity is identical, as is the performance. WH

 

[wboggs]

WH
I am happy to hear of your experience with the dual core Norma bullet. I defer to you because I never loaded any of them. Any details on the construction?
Bill

 

[oldroper]

I like its brother the .30-338 WinMag

So do I. I've got 2-30-338Mag

 

[Will Henry]

WH
I am happy to hear of your experience with the dual core Norma bullet. I defer to you because I never loaded any of them. Any details on the construction?
Bill

The Norma Dual Core bullet was a steel jacketed bullet with the front core of pure lead and the rear core a harder lead alloy. The original Speer Grand Slam bullet was similar in construction but with a gilding metal jacket. Later Dual Cores featured the plastic tip rather than exposed lead. WH

 

[wboggs]

I don't know how I missed them since they sound almost ideal. I have used some of the old Speer Grand Slam but all in the African Version. Very, very expensive but the best.