Norma Kalahari ammunition

26 June 2019, 07:45

During a recent hunt at Tholo in Botswana, I had an extraordinarily bad experience with Norma Kalahari .300 win mag ammunition. In theory, the ammunition expands into petals (similar to the Barnes TSX). I say in theory because on the first shot at a wildebeest, the petals all snapped off on the skin. We found the separate pieces penetrated only to about 1/4 inch. Only the small solid core at the base of the bullet penetrated any deeper. As a result, we stalked wildebeest #1 for more than two hours before we finally were able to put it down. I thought this might be a one-time failure, but the same result occurred on the next wildebeest we took: the expanding portion of the bullet shattered with very little penetration. I am curious as to whether anyone else has had such poor results from this ammunition. I've used Norma's Oryx bullets before and had no problem, but my personal experience with the Kalahari leads me to believe they need to go back to the drawing board if they are going to compete with Barnes TSX's.

26 June 2019, 08:04

Wesheltonj

I have used it on white-tails in 308, with great success in South Texas brush.

26 June 2019, 11:11

Saeed

quote:
Originally posted by LeonKomkov:
During a recent hunt at Tholo in Botswana, I had an extraordinarily bad experience with Norma Kalahari .300 win mag ammunition. In theory, the ammunition expands into petals (similar to the Barnes TSX). I say in theory because on the first shot at a wildebeest, the petals all snapped off on the skin. We found the separate pieces penetrated only to about 1/4 inch. Only the small solid core at the base of the bullet penetrated any deeper. As a result, we stalked wildebeest #1 for more than two hours before we finally were able to put it down. I thought this might be a one-time failure, but the same result occurred on the next wildebeest we took: the expanding portion of the bullet shattered with very little penetration. I am curious as to whether anyone else has had such poor results from this ammunition. I've used Norma's Oryx bullets before and had no problem, but my personal experience with the Kalahari leads me to believe they need to go back to the drawing board if they are going to compete with Barnes TSX's.

Would you be kind enough to give us more details please?

I have not been able to get any details of what material these bullets are made off - on the website it shows them as white??

And apparently designed so the petals break off while the solid rear penetrates.

This is basically the same design criteria of lots of bullets.

Barnes, and others, seem to put some sort of cracks inside the hollow part of the bullet so it opens in a certain way.

Not sure if this actually does anything, as we make our own bullets, and have no way to go to this extra step.

So all ours have just a normal hollow point, made by a round drill.

But, having hunted extensively with both Barnes X and ours, they seem to expand in a very similar way.

You mentioned that the solid part of the bullet penetrated deep.

How far, and how much damage did they cause?

Why did the animals go so far?

26 June 2019, 11:46

mouse93

Saeed - Norma Kalahari is copper - Nickel plated bullet:

26 June 2019, 11:56

ijl

I have heard really good things about the Kalaharis. he first step would be to contact Norma, I think.

26 June 2019, 13:53

Carl Frederik Nagell

To me it sounds as if the bullet hit someting before impact on the animal.

Good Hunting
Carl Frederik

26 June 2019, 14:54

Saeed

They look just like any other mono metal bullets with a hollow point.

Nothing wrong with that.

I would like to know where were the animals hit, and where did the rest of the bullet end up.

27 June 2019, 04:57

LeonKomkov

I appreciate everyone's input. I saved the bullet core and will attempt to post a photograph showing the diminished core that stayed together (sorry, my technical skills at posting phots is pretty rudimentary, so it may take a while). I can understand the failure of one bullet, but this happened on two separate animals, and that was the reason for my inquiry regarding this particular bullet. In both cases, the petals detached completely from the base, and the base itself did not achieve deep penetration. Both wildebeests were hit reasonably will, but as noted, the mushrooming effect never occurred due to the stripping away of the expanding portions, leaving a relatively small solid core that effectively punched a .300 hole. Both beestes ultimately were recovered, but the effect was like shooting them with a medium bore solid, requiring a lengthy follow up after the shot. If I had to guess, the velocity of the bullets was great enogh that it caused a break-up of the expanding portion before any material penetration was achieved. I don't really have an axe to grind in this matter, and as noted, I have had excellent results with the Norma Oryx ammunition. That was the reason for my inquiry regarding the Kalahari ammunition.

As to where the animals were hit: wildebeest number one was a head shot. This shot resulted in the worst breakup of the bullet. The second beeste shot was on the point of the shoulder. It ran for approximately 2 miles before we caught up and put two more shots into it, and put it down. The solid pellet missed the heart but hit both lungs.

27 June 2019, 05:37

LeonKomkov

27 June 2019, 06:02

BaxterB

Looks like Saeeds walterhogs.

How far were the shots?

27 June 2019, 06:29

Saeed

quote:
Originally posted by LeonKomkov:

This does not look bad at all.

More questions on where they were hit.

First one you mentioned was hit in the head.

Where in the head?

What position was he standing in?

How far?

Second one hit on the shoulder, what was his position?

I am trying to see where the problem was, as from the look of the bullet photo you posted it looks like they performed as they should.

They look the same as ours do, and they never failed, as such.

I have had two occasions where our bullets "failed", but still killed the animals in very short distance.

The propblem we found wasd with the copper rods we were using.

They had invisible faults inside the rod, which we could not see either before or after making the bullets.

After examining the rods, we found that some had tiny corroded pockets inside them

This came from the manufacturing process, and was not detected by us.

After that occasion, we weighed every single bullet we made, and avoided this sort of thing complete.

On one occasion I shot a buffalo, hit on the shoulder.

The bullet broke his shoulder, made an awful mess with the bone, turning it into the consistency of sand!!

The bullet never penetrated into the chest cavity, but the buffalo could not run at all, and was finished within a few yards.

Second one was hit behind the shoulder as he was walking, broadside.

He took a couple of steps and dropped.

We found parts of the bullet under the skin on the opposite side.

But the bullet was in pieces, and we could see very clearly the corrosion on it.

Walter hit a wildebeest in the head, with a 7x64, using Nosler Partition bullets.

The wildebeest ran for quite a while, eventually I had to kill it, as Walter refused to shoot it because it was too far.

We found his hit was in the jaw, as the wildebeest was almost broadside, looking back at us.

His intention was to shoot him in the shoulder.

27 June 2019, 07:09

LeonKomkov

The shot to the head was nearly broadside, just to the rear of the eye. Obviously missed the brain, but caused a concussion as the wildebeest dropped as if it was poleaxed. After lying completely still on the ground it got up and ran away. That led to a very long follow-up. The second wildebeest (bullet picture is the one recovered from beeste #2) also was broadside, and shot through the lungs, with the entry point just behind the shoulder. This second beeste is the one where we found the front petals in the very outer layers of the hide --- hence the reason for my initial inquiry. The expanding portion of the bullet did not penetrate beyond (perhaps) a centimeter. The solid shank penetrated well, but the wound channel was very narrow, as if I'd been using a solid. I believe that with a bullet that had held together better and expanded in a more controlled manner, the follow up on this bull would have been much shorter. The reason for my use of the Norma Kalaharis was that I was using ammunition that Tholo had in camp, so I am uncertain as to their age. However, they showed no visible signs of corrosion. The next day I abandoned the 300 win mag and shifted to my own ruger No. 1 in 450-400, shooting Hornaday 400 grain DSX ammunition. Nothing shot with that rifle moved more than about 10 feet from the point of impact. My experience with the Barnes TSX bullets is that the expanding portion mushrooms significantly, but stays attached to the shank.

27 June 2019, 07:12

BaxterB

Distance?

It just sounds like the tips are fragmenting due to hitting at high velocity/close range.

If I had to guess, Norma got wind of the TSX 'problem' of the tips not opening, so they drilled a larger hole (in comparison to Barnes) to prevent the tips from closing in and 'penciling' through. In doing so, they made them more frangible at high impact speeds.

27 June 2019, 07:13

LeonKomkov

Saeed, I see I failed to answer one of your questions above. Wildebeeste #1 was app. 50 yards away, standing in the center of the road. Wildebeeste #2 was probably just less than 100 yards. No intervening branches or brush, so I'm fairly sure that the bullet didn't get damaged by deflecting off of something solid.

27 June 2019, 07:27

medved

quote:
Originally posted by Saeed:
quote:
Originally posted by LeonKomkov:

This does not look bad at all.

More questions on where they were hit.

First one you mentioned was hit in the head.

Where in the head?

What position was he standing in?

How far?

Second one hit on the shoulder, what was his position?

I am trying to see where the problem was, as from the look of the bullet photo you posted it looks like they performed as they should.

They look the same as ours do, and they never failed, as such.

I have had two occasions where our bullets "failed", but still killed the animals in very short distance.

The propblem we found wasd with the copper rods we were using.

They had invisible faults inside the rod, which we could not see either before or after making the bullets.

After examining the rods, we found that some had tiny corroded pockets inside them

This came from the manufacturing process, and was not detected by us.

After that occasion, we weighed every single bullet we made, and avoided this sort of thing complete.

On one occasion I shot a buffalo, hit on the shoulder.

The bullet broke his shoulder, made an awful mess with the bone, turning it into the consistency of sand!!

The bullet never penetrated into the chest cavity, but the buffalo could not run at all, and was finished within a few yards.

Second one was hit behind the shoulder as he was walking, broadside.

He took a couple of steps and dropped.

We found parts of the bullet under the skin on the opposite side.

But the bullet was in pieces, and we could see very clearly the corrosion on it.

Walter hit a wildebeest in the head, with a 7x64, using Nosler Partition bullets.

The wildebeest ran for quite a while, eventually I had to kill it, as Walter refused to shoot it because it was too far.

We found his hit was in the jaw, as the wildebeest was almost broadside, looking back at us.

His intention was to shoot him in the shoulder.

what can you expect from a 7x64 and a blaser ....