Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only 358 Norma

I have no idea why but I have wild hare up my ass for a 358 Norma. I already have a 375 Ruger so the benefits of a 358 throwing heavies won't do much more (or less) than the Ruger. Anyone here have experience with the cartridge? Pros cons from your perspective? Thanks.

No personal experience, but I also have been enamored with the round and wondered why it never caught on like it should. Kinda like a 338 WM or 35 Whelen on steroids. In a nicely done '98 Mauser would be one nice Elk and Bear custom rilfe and would do yeoman work on African Plains game as well.

Ive owned a 358 norma it the past, I can,t see where it had any better performance than the 338 win,340 wby or 375 H&H

I have used one for about 10 years now. No huge number of animals taken, but several moose, two bull elk and assorted smaller stuff.

I have settled on the 225TSX at a comfortable 2900 fps as the do all load. In fact used it on last years elk at a lasered 418 yards, that load shoots flatter than you may think at first.

You can talk up the better SD of the 338s as compared to the 35s, but since I can't find a critter large enough to stop that bullet I consider it a moot point.

It's a nice cartridge. Others come and go, that rifle stays.

It of course won't do a thing your Ruger doesn't already do, but it is a nice cartridge. Hard to go wrong with it.

I've read that some will load handgun bullets for cheaper range sessions and/or lighter game. Seems like a nice bonus..... My only concern would be using the proper powder for the case volume. I have no experience loading reduced loads in large case cartridges. Hmm. Sounds like I am still talking myself into one.

I do that (load cheap pistol bullets in my .358 Norma mag). It works very well -- there is no such cheap bullet option available for a .338 Win Mag or my .375 H&H Magnums.

John

I carry a second load when hunting. It is a 158 grain JHP over 16 grains of Unique, a large pistol primer and a square of TP tamped down on the powder. 1400 fps, virtually silent and decisive on grouse! Call it the worlds largest 22LR.

For me, it's a great cartridge. I've taken Moose, Caribou, Black and Grizzly with it and all were most impressed.
I loved the 250 gr. Barnes X but since it's now discontinued I use 250 Noslers, or 200 hornady's.
I was originally drown to it because it's kind of an oddball, but now I am a big fan because of the accuracy and effect on game.

I've been using 358 Norma's for 30+ yrs, I started using 250gr bullets then switched to 225's /w 300's for bears. Now I use 280 Swift's for all my moose and bear hunting,2 1/2" high at 100yds and you have all you need for all practical shooting needs.This 1 is a pre-64 mod 70 in a MPI stock.

Waterrat,

hows the dials on that scope working for you? Open country that...

As open as the country is our shots are usually between 25 and 100 yds. 5 power is plenty of magnification for 95% of Alaskan hunting! IMHO naturally

I've had three over the years..
First was a husqvarna, and the second was a custom rifle...ammo wasnt all that hard to find and both shot great(pro), but being young with other priorities at the time, they went away.
Found another husky about a year ago and its a different story these days for locating factory ammo locally (con)..will just sit in the safe until i break down and order some online and get stuck for the shipping i guess !!

I've hunted with my LH Sako 358 Norma for most of 35 years in Alaska. Contrary to others experience, I rebarreled my 375 to 358 because shots tended to be on the long side here in the interior. I use 225 Noslers for 2950 to 3000fps depending on the bullet. Accuracy is outstanding and it is death on any critter I've used it on. It's just an all around excellent cartridge for Alaska. just my .02

I have been using the 358 Norma for 5 years now. Flexible, powerful and it kills moose very well. Ammo not much of an issue. 300 Win Mag and a trimmer easy to convert 100 rounds in a lazy afternoon.

I like the 12 or 14" twist better than the 16 twist found on many American 35 barrels. With longer bullets like the TSX or Accu-Bond a bit quicker twist is useful.

One of my 358's is a light Ruger 77 and it has broken several good scopes but the 2.5X Leupold is still going strong. It's 16 twist barrel handles 225 or 250 Partitions well. Longer bullets are a challenge past 200 yards.

My other 358 is a 9 pound Sako with a 25" heavy weight Douglas Premium barrel with a 14 twist. It shoots every bullet ( even the longest ones) I have put in it into 1.5" or less...sometimes much less.

H4895 and 250's is a classic choice.

North61: I've never converted brass from a different case. What dies/tools would I need? If making brass from 300 WM is easy that only adds to me wanting the 358. Thanks.

The 300 brass will get you the longer neck (though it must be trimmed). You can also simply neck up 338 Win Mag - just run them through the Norma die, or 7mm Rem Mag brass. I mostly use the latter, buying once-fired since it is plentiful. I often anneal the neck before running a 338 expander through the neck before I run the brass into the Norma die. Some once-fired 7mm brass will crack if you stretch it too much without annealing. There's nothing complicated about it.

Make sure you have a tapered expander on your full length resizing die. That's all you need. The Hornady dies come with one...or use to.

Many folks use 338 Win brass as you have less neck stretch but the body is a bit short, but it can and does work. New 300 Win brass can generally get up to 35 without annealing and the body is long enough too. I have made brass from 7mm Weatherby and Rem, 300 Win, 8mm Rem (big trim job) and 338. All work. With a good tapered expander and Imperial sizing die wax it's pretty easy.

I found 200 Norma brass at a give away price and haven't made cases for a while now.

It seems every time we discuss the Nine Norma I find this old post, forgive the redundancy...



Here's another option for you, and the way I went when I had a 358 Norma built years ago. I had the neck reamed out to a case length of 2.61". This was accomplished after standard chambering with the 358 Norma reamer, by then running in a 35 Whelen reamer with it's longer case neck, to the 2.61" chamber length. Why?? This lets me use untrimmed WW 300 Win brass. Just a pass through the FL sizer with well lubed case necks, and the brass is ready to go.

I use standard FL dies, in my case Redding, which work fine. The sizer die works exactly the same way, although I had the expander ball tapered more gently to make it easier to neck up the cases. To set the die I simply kept screwing the die into the press bit by bit, until the 300 cases had the shoulder pushed back far enough to fit the chamber. This works fine for resizing the fired cases as well, of course.

The seater die has to be backed off a bit, and the bullet seating stem screwed in farther to compensate. Otherwise it would crimp the case neck......a lot.

My motivation to do this was to use the 300 Win brass with the longer shoulder. A lot of people use the 338 Win brass, but we all know the shoulder is shorter on 338 Win brass. I didn't like the idea of fireforming brass by blowing the shoulder forward, hence weakening the brass. It made more sense to push a shoulder back, maintaining positive headspace while fireforming. So I thought, seriously, about using WW 300 Win brass, then trimming about 1/10" off the resized case, which made no sense. Then I hit upon having the neck extended so I wouldn't have to trim the hell out of the new brass.

It just makes more sense. With the longer neck, more of that long bullet is held under tension, just improving on the original design. It lets me use the inexpensive, great quality WW 300 Win brass, instead of buying the much more expensive, and historically soft Norma brass.

This was my only complaint with the original 358 Norma case design, in a mag action with room to spare, why saddle it with that short neck? The new case can be described as a 358 Norma case with a 35 Whelen neck, really the best of both worlds. If you do have this done, all it takes is running a 35 Whelen chamber reamer into your 358 Norma chamber. The shoulder/case aren't affected, just the neck is lengthened. Just be sure the neck dimensions of the reamers are similar, Norma neck dimensions are notorious for being on the "large" side. My chamber has a 2.6" "trim-to" length, with a max length of 2.61". This lets me trim the newly sized-up cases just enough to square the case mouths, instead of spending hours trimming.

This also lets you use 358 Norma factory rounds, it's essentially a freebore with those. It's such an obvious improvement to the standard 358 Norma case I can't understand why everybody doesn't do it!

I have picked up a bit of case capacity. With 250 grainers I get 2800, but my standard load is the 225 TSX at 2950 fps. Let�s just say it �impresses� game, and shoots really flat as well.

love the look of that rifle!!!!!!!!!!!! got details for us? br. length. everything! i N E E D one just like it. thanks in advance. D O M I T !

domit,,,it's a pre-64 (1951) with a 20" douglas barrel in a MPI stock. Talley detachable mnts. Jim