A Century Of Serving Hunters & Shooters

[USAN]

A century of serving hunters and shooters

Norma was founded in 1902 by the Enger brothers from Oslo, Norway, who had founded Norma Projektilfabrik A/S a few years earlier. The name “Norma” has nothing to do with the word “Norge”, which is the Norwegian word for Norway, although you might think so. No, quite simply one of the brothers was extremely keen on the opera by Bellini entitled Norma.

The Swedish shooting movement needed a supplier in Sweden, and a request was made for Norma Projektilfabrik A/S to set up in Sweden: at this time, Sweden and Norway were both part of a union. The brothers took a train to Sweden and set up their business in Åmotfors, some 20 kilometres from the border with Norway.

From the very beginning, and until halfway through the 20th century, the company’s business was dominated by the production of military ammunition and ammunition for rifles, but the range of hunting equipment gradually became more and more interesting. Norma started to make contacts on the international market at this time. This, together with the company’s interest in the military, resulted in modern ways of thinking and led to new products with outstanding precision.

Nils Kvale has been an invaluable part of Norma’s enormous success during the latter half of the 20th century. At the same time, he was a fantastic visionary and an extremely talented developer of products. It was possible to introduce a range of new calibres to the market in the 1960s. Not least, Nils Kvale’s co-operation with colleagues in the USA helped to put Norma on the world map as a manufacturer of top-quality rifle ammunition.

Norma’s cartridges Alaska, Vulkan and, later on, Oryx, are now familiar to hunters all over the world.

Nowadays, Norma manufactures around 30 million cartridges in more than 100 calibres each year. This means that Norma offers one of the biggest ranges of ammunition in the world, and that stockists all over the world are offered a complete, high-class range of products from one and the same supplier – Norma.

Norma - more than 100 years
1895 Norma Projektilfabrik A/S is founded in Oslo, Norway.
1902 A unit is opened in Åmotfors, with one member of staff and two machines.
1911 A factory is built.
1940 Rapid expansion. 10 new factory buildings are added.
1942 The company now employs 800 staff.
1950 Norma starts exporting ammunition for hunting.
1965 The merger of Norma and its competitor Svenska Metallverken.
1967 The new factory is opened. It employs 530 members of staff and manufactures 64 million cartridges.
1975 Hasselfors Bruk AB has a new owner. Now 65 million cartridges are manufactured.
1979 FFV becomes the new owner. Rationalisation of the corporate structure. Military production moves to Vanäsverken.
1990 Dynamit Nobel AB becomes the new owner.
2002 Ruag Ammotec AG becomes new owner.
2011 Output reaches 30 million rounds of ammunition in 106 different calibres.

 

[USAN]

Norma & Weatherby – 60 years of close cooperation

Norma´s development over the years has been closely linked to Weatherby, so much that we dare say Norma would not have become what it is without this cooperation.

Norma´s legendary personality Nils Kvale, Norwegian army major, started the cooperation with Weatherby and another legendary person, namely Roy Weatherby, some 60 years ago. At present 14 calibres from 224 Wby to 460 Wby are manufactured by Norma, using bullets from Nosler, Barnes and Hornady. The result is an impressive assortment of 81 premium loads of flat shooting, hard hitting and superbly accurate cartridges.

 

[USAN]

A strong alliance - built to last

In cooperation with the leading German rifle manufacturer Blaser, Norma has developed a brand-new generation of high-performance cartridges, the Blaser Magnums. No existing calibres were copied. Instead, the latest ammunition technology was applied to achieve the optimum performance in each calibre group. This is a pleasant change contributing to the history of ammunition. Both high-quality manufacturers were keen to avoid any compromises in the production of their joint venture.

Thanks to optimized cartridge geometry, a strong case head and modern powder types together with fourgroove barrel pro€ les and adapted twist rates, all development objectives have been achieved. Further loads are planned.

The Blaser Magnum calibres are made under both the Blaser and Norma brands. Norma offers additional loads under its own company label.

For Norma it has been invaluable to enter into this cooperation. We’ve learnt how a modern rifle manufacturer works, learnt about highest priorities and how well things are tested before they are sold.

Both we and Blaser are convinced that this is the way to create and launch new cartridges. For about 60 years, now, we’ve had similar cooperation with Weatherby. Other collaborations are being worked on, and this is good for both producers and customers.