THINKING ABOUT BUYING A USED 1.. DO YOU MAKE YOUR BRASS FROM A 338 OR BUY NORMA??

I have enough Norma to last me for a good while now, but I have used 338 brass in the past. It comes up a little short, but it is usable. Better to resize 300 Win Mag and trim. Or size down 375 H&H and trim. Good cartridge tho'. - Dan

Tom,

what is the gun built on? we gun nuts love details on stuff like this. I do not have one, but know a fella (very good friend of my stepfather's) that has hunted with one for years built on a 1917 Enfield. Used it last year for Elk in Washington. He must love it since he has a custom Rem. in 375AI and a ton of others.

tell us about the deal that you get.

Red

Buy it, but only if you are handloader!

Great calibre -- almost a .375 H&H in power, but you can use cheap pistol bullets for lots of cheap practice (try that with a .338 Win or .375 H&H!)

Nothing wrong with buying .358 Norma brass but it is expensive. Currently, I make my brass from .300 Winchester because the body is longer than .338 Win. Size it in your .358 Norma die so that it will *just* chamber and that is it (this way you headspace on the shoulder not the rim and avoid all case stretch).

I'd also advise investing in a good recoil pad -- my .358 Norma Mag kicks a bit more than my .375 H&H because the former has a worse stock design (soon to be changed).

jpb

I've got an early '60s vintage Husqvarna Crown Grade .358 Norma, love it. I lucked into a large supply of Norma factory loads in the early '90s for the whopping sum of $7 a box. Have plenty of brass too so I'm pretty well set for fodder.

Dan -



What action is your .358 Norma on?



I sold Erv Heiman my first .358 Norma Mag in 1981. It was on a nickel-steel 1903 Springfield action, with a Mills stock. It had been a .30-06 "across the course" gun, with one of the good old Buhmiller barrels put on it by Herr Buhmiller himself.



Had a bit of excess headspace in its later life and I wasn't shooting full-bore at the time, so I had Al Petersen over in Riverhurst, Sask, rebore and rechamber it to .358 Norma. (Suggested at the time by Ron Storvold, if you remember him...)



Turned out to be the most accurate medium-bore rifle I ever owned. I made all but a few of my cases from .375 H&H...the few were about 40 Norma .358 Mag cases I came upon at Erv's when the Custom Gun Shop was over on Jasper Avenue.



A truly great cartridge.



AC



N.B.: Later had an S&L '68 rifle factory chambered in the .358 Norma cartridge. Wasn't anywhere near as nice a gun for accuracy or shooting comfort.

I bought my Husqvarna 1651 a little while ago. Till now I haven't used it on any game, but I find the rifle itself to be a gem!

I have a feeling that I will use it a whole lot more than my Tikka M65 in 300 Win Mag and my Remington 700 in 458 Win Mag.

Both of the latter can cope with deer and moose, but I think the 358 Norma is the best overall caliber. Plus, the gun handles like a dream! I absolutely love it and I think it will accompany me on many a hunting trips.

Of course I'm a bit biased being a Swede 'n all. Really want to see this caliber/cartridge live on and prosper - cause it's a damn good one!

Mine's on a 98 Mauser. Jeez, Custom on Jasper, that brings back memories, there was another shop right downtown on 101 st, I forget the name now, and Jacks up on 118th, Edmonton Gun on Whyte, Klondyke on 115th. A friend of mine and I got stopped walking back from the shop on 101st with a Win 94 in his hands one Christmas. He had just bought it and was taking it home, it just had a shop bag wrapped around the action and stapled on. The police were quite polite , just curious. Now days you'd get to meet the SWAT team I would imagine. - Dan