This seems like a very versatile cartridge - at least according to the reading I've been doing. Is anyone shooting this one? Anyone have any ideas on why it never became popular? Is factory ammo still being produced by Norma?

From the dimensions I have, the 358 Norma reamer should completely clean up a 35 Whelen chamber, so getting a rifle for this ought to be quite simple.

My first thought on this was that it is so close to the 9.3x64, performance should be identical. Just neck it up .008" and remove the belt, and you pretty much have the 9.3x64 case. But you have a better bullet selection in .358 than in 9.3mm

If anyone has a rifle in this caliber, how do you like it? the_captain

never so one myself but, one of the rangemasters where shoot uses one yearly to hunt moosem, My guess as to why it never caught on was the advent of the .338 win mag. The 9.3X62 is closer to the whelen then the mag. it is not a problem to convert a whelen to a norma.
...tj3006

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Originally posted by the_captain:
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Yes, they still produce the ammo. www.norma.cc

Fritz

Yup, versatile. Ballistically, it is right inbetween the 338 and the H&H, and it's usefullness is right in between as well. I can't think of anything I'd shoot with the Norma and wish I had either of the other two. If anything, you can find better BC bullets in the 338, but anything out to 350 yd should succumg to the 35-cal bullets available. For longer range stuff, I might rather have a .284" or .308" gun.

I really like mine.

The .358 Norma is an enormously powerful cartridge and is fully the equal to the .375 H&H and IMO that's it's main problem. Further the .338 Mag is fully capable of anything that needs doing in North America and it was just hard to sell a .358 Magnum between these two very popular rounds and the .35 cal hasn't been much loved in America as seen by the lacking sales in the .358 Winchester, the .350 Remington Magnum and the .38 Whelen.
Possibly had the .358 Mag been legal for cape buffalo in African countries things would have been different.....but one can't sell that past the love of the .375 H&H. Better yet, had Norma bought out the .375 Taylor as a commercial round the shooting world might be a very different world.
BTW one can get 280 grain Swift A-Frames for the .358 Norma and IMO this is fully the equal of anything one can do with a 300 grain bullet from the .375 H&H.....now that's real power.

I've used my 358 Norma almost exclusively for the past 4 or 5 years and love it. I rebarreled a Sako AV in 375 H&H because I wanted better ranging, and more power than a 338. Not that I take long shots but it has been my experience that while moose hunting, shots beyond 300 yards are more common than one might think.
I use a 225 Nosler Partition, although I have used the 250 Nosler and 250& 280 grain Swifts. I like the shape of the Noslers best. I have thought about going to the new Triple shocks but thse Noslers shoot so well in my rifle (3/4") I can't justify going to anything else.
The beauty of the 358 is you can use 69 gr. of H4895 with the 225 for 2950 fps out of my 23" barrel. I could go on and tell you the story about our cow moose hunt that just ended and the 450yd+ shot that tagged a good sized cow that now rests in my freezer but I wouldn't want to bore you. Email me if you want more info on the all-time sleeper of a cartridge. The 338 is to the 358 like the 308 is to the '06. No exaggeration.

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The 338 is to the 358 like the 308 is to the '06. No exaggeration.

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Please explain.

The .308 Win. is almost ballistically the equal of the 30-06 sprfd. My .308 Win. is within 100-150 fps of most 30-06s that my buddies have shot at the range with me.

I think you just answered your own question CanadianLefty,100-200 fps mpre speed with the same bullet weights, and a bigger hole in the game. - dan

I have a .358 Norma Mag and like it a lot.

I would not recommend it to a non-handloader, but if you do handload it is hard to beat!

I shoot pounds of cheap pistol bullets for practice -- an important option not available for the .338 Win Mag or .375 H&H

jpb

I had a .358 Norma on a Rem 721 action a few years ago. Nice round, but shooting max loads with 250 gr bullets off the bench was a bit much for me though, ouch!