Three .338 Winchester magnum To the left. And Three .358 Norma magnum To the right.cartridge cases " Brass " .
Though introduced in 1959 by a Swedish company, the .358 Norma was designed for American hunters, due to Norma's chief designer Nils Kvale's close contacts with American colleagues.
The .358 Norma would be far more popular but for the .338 Winchester Magnum. Introduced in 1958, the .338 Winchester was slow to take off, but has probably become the most popular medium-bore cartridge in the world, certainly in the U.S. The .358 is slightly more powerful, but the .338 is chambered by every American and most European gunmakers.
the handloader can easily make cartridge cases by necking up and fire-forming cases from any similar,.532-inch base diameter, belted magnum: the .338 Winchester Magnum, .308 Norma, etc., or by shortening and forming longer belted magnums. Norma continues to make factory cartridge cases in this caliber.
One advantage many handloaders enjoy is that the bore, being .358-inch, allows use of the vast variety of relatively inexpensive bullets designed for the popular .38 Special/.357 Magnum handgun cartridges to be used for plinking, hunting small game and vermin, and lower-recoil target practice. Light (lower power) loads with bullets designed to expand at lower velocities, that emulate lesser cartridges such as the
.35 Remington or .358 Winchester, can also be handloaded for use on deer and other smaller big game, something that cannot be done with the .338's and .375's for lack of suitable bullets.
The .338 Winchester and .358 Norma are "short magnums," designed to work in "standard"--.30-06-length--rifle actions; many 30/06 rifles over the years have been rebarreled to the much-more powerful .358 Norma. The .340 Weatherby and .375 H&H require longer, heavier "magnum" actions. Norma's factory ammunition for the .358 Norma drives a 250-grain bullet at 2880 fps, about as fast as the .30-06 can launch a 165 grain bullet. The .358 Norma produces more than 4,600 ft-lbs (foot-pounds) of kinetic energy at the muzzle, and can deliver a foot-ton 500 yards downrange. Its recoil is similar to that of the .338 Winchester and other medium bore magnum rifles.
The .358 Norma Magnum is a superb cartridge for the largest of North American game - elk, moose, brown bear, Bighorn Sheep, and bison, and shoots fast--and therefore flat--enough to be useful to 400 to 500 yards on game the size of American elk (Wapiti).
2 окт 2024
