I've been thinking about a 358 Norma but am not sure what sort of realities I'm facing with brass. Is decenty quality/quantity available commercially anywhere, and at a reasonable price? Or will I have to make my own, and what case should I be starting with?

I just decided that a Browning BLR in 358 Norma would really kick some ass. If the starting case happens to be available in the BLR new or used I should have an easy re-barrel job.

Thanks for any info. This whole AR thing kicks ass. A question pops up, I type it in, and within a day I have answers.

Norma makes brass, and very high quality it is. It isn't available everywhere, so when you find it, buy it (although it's usually pretty easy to find mail order). You can also make it very easily from 338 Win Mag or 300 Win mag brass. The 358 Norma is a hammer, and works very well on pretty much anything. In a BLR, you would have to start with one chambered for the medium length magnums (7mm Rem Mag, etc) and just rebarrel. It would make a great handling rifle, I think. - Dan

I would highly recommend you use 338 Win brass for forming. It's basicly the same cartridge only in a different bullet diameter.

A 300 win is longer and would require a lot of trimming and caseforming.

Voila. Asked and answered within the hour. I thought the 338WinMag was the best starting point.

Thanks to you both.

Practically, 358 Norma and 358 on the 338 Win case are identical in performance. I have a 358 Norma reamer, have built a couple of rifles. It is a nice cartridge and will take anything in North America. Graff and a few others sell brass and Norma Factory Loads.



However, there is a difference in case length and neck dimensions, take a peek at the cartridge drawings and the chamber reamer drawings. Original 358 Norma is longer.



Sooo, if one has a custom chamber cut for 358 on the 338 Win brass, and you stick in a 358 Norma Factory load and slam the bolt shut and touch it off, you could run into high pressures and a face full of hot gas.



Be careful, do a little research, review the drawings.

This may help


From left to right.
1. New 300 Win Mag
2. New 300 WM just resized 5 min ago in 358NM Die
3. Factory Norma 358 brass.
4. New 338 WM brass