The .358 Norma

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Exactly! I place the 358 NM and the 9.3x64 almost equal to the 375 h&h in performance, with the 375 Ruger a nose length ahead of them....with the 338WM nipping at the heels of them all....and Bob's 35 Whelen nipping at the heels of the 338 WM. However, the 358 NM, the 9.3x64, and the 338WM will shoot flatter and penetrate deeper, whereas the 375s have a tad more diameter.....and Bob's 35 Whelen beat them all in the recoil department! Boy oh boy, I love these mid-bores!

@Cspebuffalo
I get a chronoed 2,455fps out of the Whelen with the 310s and over 2,600 fps with the 275gn Woodleighs. Me thinks that places it in a class of its own.
Bob

 

[Capebuffalo]

@Cspebuffalo
I get a chronoed 2,455fps out of the Whelen with the 310s and over 2,600 fps with the 275gn Woodleighs. Me thinks that places it in a class of its own.
Bob

For sure! Combining those velocities with the heavy grains, it will definitely have the killing power on some big animals....Excellent for a non-magnum!

 

[EfRed]

While searching for .358 Norma Mag ammo, I came across some Norma factory ammo that is 232 grain FMJ. Why would they load it with FMJ bullets? Target shooting is the only thing I could see.

Any other suggestions? The price was right at $40 a box.

I found .358 Norma 250s on Ammo Search with no problem a couple years back....

 

[EfRed]

The .358 Norma is something like a thick goldchain around Your neck, its nice to have, but You really don't need it. The .358 is the same, too close to the .338 Winni and not too far away from .375 H&H.

To test it the ultimative way, built three guns, all the same with 338, 358 and 375H&H barrels fit and try to sell it:
Be prepared, because many will have the 375, lots want to have the 338, but nobody is even asking for the 358 Norma, because nobody knows it. If You look deaper, brass is problem, bullets are problem (because lots of are mainly made for 358 Win & 35 Whelen and so in my opinion too soft) and original ammo from Norma is far too expensive for a nice afternoon at the shooting range.
If I'm considering a new cartridge for my locker, those named circumstances just chase it out of competition. If You want to invest Your time and money, to shoot an exotic cartridge like that, so buy it, hug it, write us Your huntingstories and be happy.!!

Way back, shrouded in the mists of the past, there was no 300 Win Mag, and a brand new and more or less unknown .338 Win Mag. Norma then released the .308 Norma and the .358 Norma to fill an unoccupied niche. These two cartridges showed good ballistic performance and took up a good deal of my day-dreaming time. I saw no need for the .300 Win mag when it was introduced, saw little need for a .338 Win Mag or any other .338 cartridge. With 35% greater frontal area, the .358 just looks like a proper jump over the 30 cal line. Time settles these arguments and the .338 won out. Still, against a big bear, I'd rather have a .358 Norma in my hands thans .338 Win anytime. Some will argue that the big bear won't know the difference, but other knowledgeable people acknowledge that there is an observable difference in anchoring capability for the .358 cal. Of the .338s, I have only a .340 Wby, a fine cartridge that can take full advantage of the SD and BC gains of the .338 cal. But I have numerous 35 Whelens and an old Wby Safari Custom Mark V in .338 Win Mag rebored to .358 Norma. I guess I just like 35s....

 

[PerH]

The 232 grain is Jaktmatch , for training and feather / fur game . Not big game solid , small and medium game .

I never got to try them when I had the .358 NM . I used revolver bullets instead .

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Way back, shrouded in the mists of the past, there was no 300 Win Mag, and a brand new and more or less unknown .338 Win Mag. Norma then released the .308 Norma and the .358 Norma to fill an unoccupied niche. These two cartridges showed good ballistic performance and took up a good deal of my day-dreaming time. I saw no need for the .300 Win mag when it was introduced, saw little need for a .338 Win Mag or any other .338 cartridge. With 35% greater frontal area, the .358 just looks like a proper jump over the 30 cal line. Time settles these arguments and the .338 won out. Still, against a big bear, I'd rather have a .358 Norma in my hands thans .338 Win anytime. Some will argue that the big bear won't know the difference, but other knowledgeable people acknowledge that there is an observable difference in anchoring capability for the .358 cal. Of the .338s, I have only a .340 Wby, a fine cartridge that can take full advantage of the SD and BC gains of the .338 cal. But I have numerous 35 Whelens and an old Wby Safari Custom Mark V in .338 Win Mag rebored to .358 Norma. I guess I just like 35s....

@EfRed
You can certainly see what happens when a big 35 cal 250gn round nose ( even the humble Hornady) hits an animal. My PH actually saw the whole body of a big oryx bull ripple from the front to back from the impact of it. It was the first time he had ever seen it in his life and was totally amazed.
Bob

 

[ftrovato]

Way back, shrouded in the mists of the past, there was no 300 Win Mag, and a brand new and more or less unknown .338 Win Mag. Norma then released the .308 Norma and the .358 Norma to fill an unoccupied niche. These two cartridges showed good ballistic performance and took up a good deal of my day-dreaming time. I saw no need for the .300 Win mag when it was introduced, saw little need for a .338 Win Mag or any other .338 cartridge. With 35% greater frontal area, the .358 just looks like a proper jump over the 30 cal line. Time settles these arguments and the .338 won out. Still, against a big bear, I'd rather have a .358 Norma in my hands thans .338 Win anytime. Some will argue that the big bear won't know the difference, but other knowledgeable people acknowledge that there is an observable difference in anchoring capability for the .358 cal. Of the .338s, I have only a .340 Wby, a fine cartridge that can take full advantage of the SD and BC gains of the .338 cal. But I have numerous 35 Whelens and an old Wby Safari Custom Mark V in .338 Win Mag rebored to .358 Norma. I guess I just like 35s....

My two cents, at the end of the day the bigger the frontal area the better the terminal affect...as long as the bullet achieves the desired velocity upon impact for it to perform to its design specification.

 

[Rosch]

Way back, shrouded in the mists of the past, there was no 300 Win Mag, and a brand new and more or less unknown .338 Win Mag. Norma then released the .308 Norma and the .358 Norma to fill an unoccupied niche. These two cartridges showed good ballistic performance and took up a good deal of my day-dreaming time. I saw no need for the .300 Win mag when it was introduced, saw little need for a .338 Win Mag or any other .338 cartridge. With 35% greater frontal area, the .358 just looks like a proper jump over the 30 cal line. Time settles these arguments and the .338 won out. Still, against a big bear, I'd rather have a .358 Norma in my hands thans .338 Win anytime. Some will argue that the big bear won't know the difference, but other knowledgeable people acknowledge that there is an observable difference in anchoring capability for the .358 cal. Of the .338s, I have only a .340 Wby, a fine cartridge that can take full advantage of the SD and BC gains of the .338 cal. But I have numerous 35 Whelens and an old Wby Safari Custom Mark V in .338 Win Mag rebored to .358 Norma. I guess I just like 35s....

The Norma Sales Team would be happy to hire You! )
All Your arguments would fit also for 9,3x62, 9,3x64, 375 Ruger, 376 Steyr and her majesty 375 H&H !
Sure the 358 hits harder than 338, but if I was a big nasty brown bear, I would be terrified with the thought in mind being shot at even with a 338 Winni.
Often the love for a special cartridge oversees the real stuff to look at. Avaibility is in my opnion a much stronger argument than any other. What about a brandnew 358 Norma rifle, shiny and oiled in the gun safe, if no ammo or reloading components are available ?
338 Win ? Drive to the next gun shop and get Your 100 pack of ammo. Anytime.
I even believe without prove, that ammo for the 9,3 is better available in US gun shops than 358 Norma.
Get away from this specialmania, go get a mainstream gun and spent Your time better with shooting or hunting than searching food for a hungry 358 Norma!
Life is too short for stuff like this ….

 

[PerH]

Just get some distance on the .358 if you used factory loads Oryx so the soft bullet behave better .

As Kvale said back then it was no need for strong bullets as the moose was soft skinned . And the bullets used was for .358 Win they loaded with .


It took a local timber and moose area farmer aswell as many match competitions winner and gun authority to convince Norma to straighten up . Then they made some custom series pre Woodleigh and Swift days . Why they didn’t keep them going and a Barnes also is unknown.

 

[Rosch]

Then they made some custom series pre Woodleigh and Swift days . Why they didn’t keep them going and a Barnes also is unknown.

Unkown? Well, I know why:
It didn‘t pay out!
Too less interest, too much cost!
Even Norma realized its a dead horse!
A-Square wrote in their times that 358 Norma is the loser to the bullet Situation, because the bulletspeed of 358 Win, 35 Rem & Co was moderate to about 2400 fps , which gave soft bullets from the bulletmakers , and those didn’t serve well in 2900 fps, which the Norma cartridge generates. Bader a Situation for a cartridge like this can‘t be! The next blow was the end of 358 Spire point from Hornady.
Why didn’t Norma buy in these days a housefull of bullets from Woodleigh or Swift and created THE plainsgame/heavy game cartridge ever made?
And again, why trying to serve Normas headache, when You‘re a happy man ? Switch off the pc and get out into nature and enjoy what the gods offer!

 

[PerH]

They bought both Woodleigh and Swift and loaded a batch the self which went very well

Also data for 310 Woodleigh they had also , that’s been used on dangerous game world wide with good result .

The oryx which fl was a turmoil for me personally due to the license crowd here made me have to wait too long on a 7mm I had in build .

So had to use that instead and those bullets were just plain awful , more like a shotgun as I have earlier stated here .

Not « bitter « just why can someone do that , and not get some decent new types if one can’t make it one self .

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

The Norma Sales Team would be happy to hire You! )
All Your arguments would fit also for 9,3x62, 9,3x64, 375 Ruger, 376 Steyr and her majesty 375 H&H !
Sure the 358 hits harder than 338, but if I was a big nasty brown bear, I would be terrified with the thought in mind being shot at even with a 338 Winni.
Often the love for a special cartridge oversees the real stuff to look at. Avaibility is in my opnion a much stronger argument than any other. What about a brandnew 358 Norma rifle, shiny and oiled in the gun safe, if no ammo or reloading components are available ?
338 Win ? Drive to the next gun shop and get Your 100 pack of ammo. Anytime.
I even believe without prove, that ammo for the 9,3 is better available in US gun shops than 358 Norma.
Get away from this specialmania, go get a mainstream gun and spent Your time better with shooting or hunting than searching food for a hungry 358 Norma!
Life is too short for stuff like this ….

@Rosch
You make some valid points but personally I enjoy the chase of finding ammo for my guns.
Dang that's why I have a couple of wildcats. I like reloading.
If'n no 358 Norma mag ammo is available the fix is easy. Just resize some 7mm REM mag cases and you have all the big Sweede ammo you need. Just save your proper head stamped stuff for international hunts.
The 358s allow you to hunt with class instead of plain Jane vanilla cartridges.
Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

@Rosch
I don't understand you bagging out the Hornady bullets in the big Sweede. Even Nathan Foster from ballistic studies said the 250gn Hornady Round nose was one of the best bullets in the Sweede. Dang even in the 35 Whelen at 2,700fps it just wallops big game
Bob

 

[Rosch]

@Rosch
I don't understand you bagging out the Hornady bullets in the big Sweede. Even Nathan Foster from ballistic studies said the 250gn Hornady Round nose was one of the best bullets in the Sweede. Dang even in the 35 Whelen at 2,700fps it just wallops big game
Bob

Did You sell Your Whelen?

I understood in a post in another thread, Hornady discontinued this bullets. May be I got this wrong!
I‘m not very firm with realtime Hornady bullet offers anymore.
Anyhow, if You like the chase for ammo or components, well, enjoy it while I‘m out hunting.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Did You sell Your Whelen?

I understood in a post in another thread, Hornady discontinued this bullets. May be I got this wrong!
I‘m not very firm with realtime Hornady bullet offers anymore.
Anyhow, if You like the chase for ammo or components, well, enjoy it while I‘m out hunting.

@Rosch
Didn't sell the Whelen mate.
Hornady unfortunately did discontinue the big round nose but fortunately I was in a gun shop AFTER hunting and asked what they had in 35 cal projectiles. Well low and behold out the came with 2 boxes (200 projectiles) of Hornady Round nose. Price on the box NOS $66. I bought both boxes on the spot plus a box of 250gn spire points for $60. Same gun shop had 2 boxes of 225 gn accubonds as well for $60/ box.My gunsmith also had a box of 60 round nose he gave me for $20.
Top that off they had a couple of boxes of 308 150gn accubonds NOS again $50/ box so they followed me home.
If I'm going thru a town on the way to a hunt or on the way home and it has a gun shop you bet I'm going to stop and look.
So looking for ammo or components doesnt detract from my hunting time. I have enough 25 cal, 35cal, 308 cal projectiles, primers and powder to do me the rest of my life and half of my sons hunting time.
The advantage of being older. With it comes wisdom so you buy when you can and at CHEAPER prices. I'm still using primers I bought for $69/1000 and haven't lost any hunting time searching for stuff.

Top that off Woodleigh has all the 35 cals I will ever need
Bob

 

[Rosch]

Thats good to hear…
You‘re right, with the ages comes wisdom!
Sometimes