Tell me about 358 norma mag

[Smalltruck]

Like the title says enlighten the clueless. I may have stumbled on to a decent deal or it maybe a flop. Its built on a mauser action with a different style of safety that rides on the side. So is this a good cartridge?

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Im not a fan of old Mauser actions based on my personal experiences, but I am a fan of the 358 Norma Mag. That was the chamber i chose for my very first custom barreled rifle. I built it on an old Tang safety Ruger M77. With careful load development concocted using a powder not listed in any manuals (BLC-2) I was able to get my 225gr Nosler Partitions flying out at 3030 fps from a 26" Lilja 1 in 14" twist barrel. I originally had them screaming out at 3100 fps, but backed the load off a bit when i realized primer pockets were coming loose with about 3 firings. It shoots them at the 3030 fps with good brass life and will put 5 shots in 1.5" at 300 yards from the prone position using a Harris bipod.

Recoil is very stout with my load. It is noticeably a good bit more than the last 300 win mag I owned so make sure a thick top quality butt pad is installed. Or a muzzle brake if you can stand those damn things on large rounds

Of course you dont have to load it all 'hot rodded' up like I do if you are recoil shy. They make smaller bullets and you can run them at slower speeds for less recoil while still having a hammer on big game.

Think of the 358 Norma Mag as a 338 Win Mag on steroids. It will push the same weight bullets as a 338 WM at 100-200 fps faster speeds.

Now the down side to any 35 cal round is that there are not any high BC long range bullets made for them. I think the BC on my Partitions is about .446 and it has a good accurate effective range of around 700 yards. Maybe 800 with the right shooting set up. After that the bullet is dropping like a rock and accuracy starts deterring quickly.

I keep it as a back up rifle to my really accurate long range hunting rifles that use Berger bullets (6.5 Rem Mag and 338-375 Ruger). I shot a whitetail buck at 90 yards with it last year and it dumped him hard with a massive exit wound on the other side of the kill zone. Ive also shot 2 antelope with it as well at 200 yards and 100 yards. It dumped them so hard they never had a clue what happened.

So is a a good round? Definitely...in a hunting rifle format.

Is it a good long range paper punching round? Not in my opinion. The recoil is too heavy for more than 20 rounds at the range and the bullets just dont have the BC to maintain the velocity.

 

[Smalltruck]

Thanks. I was thinking that it was not what I wanted but at 650$ it was cheap enough to briefly consider. It stayed in the store

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Thanks. I was thinking that it was not what I wanted but at 650$ it was cheap enough to briefly consider. It stayed in the store

$650 will get you a lot nicer rifle than an old sporterized Mauser.

Now another cool thing about the 358 Norma is that if you want to use it for plinking or short range varmint hunting (out to 300 yards or so), you can load it with .357 hand gun bullets and launch them at blistering speeds with minimal recoil.

 

[Smalltruck]

Now another cool thing about the 358 Norma is that if you want to use it for plinking or short range varmint hunting (out to 300 yards or so), you can load it with .357 hand gun bullets and launch them at blistering speeds with minimal recoil.

Oh really, I noticed the muzzle diameter was close to the .357 and I do have an ungodly amount of 357 cast lead bullets. I mean something like 150 pounds of them.

No no no I do not need another project...yet. But this does give me an idea.