Looking for .308 Norma Magnum brass, or ammo.

[superhawk996]

I know, long shot.  Brass is available new but pretty spendy and most are quantity of 50 or more.  Hoping someone may have some laying around they'd sell.  Ammo is also available but really spendy, and I can't buy it in California.

 

I have no logical reason to want to shoot this odd-ball cartridge, other than nostalgia.  This is the first 'real' rifle I ever shot and I thought it was a cannon.  It belonged to a high school friend that killed himself a few years ago.  I got it through another mutual high school era friend.  It's dusty, rusty, and shitty looking, but the important parts all look solid & safe and I want to shoot it.

[XXitanium]

The FNG offered cerakote...?

 

https://www.cerakote.com/project-gallery

 

I have some fishing equipment that got a little pitted in the spring thaw a few years back. .300WM..

 

I used to neck down .30-06 for my .308 quite a bit. It's plentiful.

 

Can you find a donor cartridge?

 

 

 

[superhawk996]

Thanks!  You re-inspired me to look at converting cases.  I was seeing stuff about converting .300 WM and a few others that I don't own and they all involved some amount of additional tools and work that was making them unreasonable vs. just bending over and buying Norma brass.

 

Knowing already that it was a close cousin to .338 WM, and I have a bunch of that brass, I did a specific search using ".338 win mag" and it appears that the .338 just needs to be necked down in a standard .308 Norma FL sizer; woohoo!  I thought the .308 NM was shorter to the shoulder, but it's the opposite so it *should* be an easy matter of necking down then fire forming.  There's more research in my future, fortunately there appears to be lots of info available from people who've done it.

[SwampNut]

Worst cas......

[XXitanium]

1 hour ago, SwampNut said:

Worst case......

 

I see what you did there.

[XXitanium]

2 hours ago, superhawk996 said:

Thanks!  You re-inspired me to look at converting cases.  I was seeing stuff about converting .300 WM and a few others ...

 

Knowing already that it was a close cousin to .338 WM, and I have a bunch of that brass, I did a specific search using ".338 win mag" and it 

 

The .30-06 to .308 I used a couple passes through my .308 die. I think I tried it in one stroke, and it's been a while but, 1stroke gave poor results .

[superhawk996]

And, the .300 and .338 Normas are non-belted so they won't work since the .308 is.

[superhawk996]

14 minutes ago, XXitanium said:

The .30-06 to .308 I used a couple passes through my .308 die.

Seems like a crazy amount of reshaping, never heard of it done.  Maybe because .308 is usually so much more plentiful than .30-06.

Edited March 19, 2020 by superhawk996

[XXitanium]

1 hour ago, superhawk996 said:

Maybe because .308 is usually so much more plentiful than .30-06.

 

Wisconsin is .30-06 country, whitetail, brats, beer, cheese, Packers, Brewers.  .30-06 is all over shelves for buck season. My .308 doesn't care, buck, doe....

 

There aren't any spent cartridges at the range anymore. Brass has gained value. People don't leave it laying around. .308 never was as popular as .30-06 here though.

Edited March 19, 2020 by XXitanium

[SwampNut]

https://www.reddit.com/r/shittyreloading/

 

 

 

 

 

 

[superhawk996]

I've made a few fuck ups, but none that opened the the chamber's viewing port.

[superhawk996]

Extremely rare case of reloading bench luck; the powder I use for .338WM (RE-19) and the bullets I generally use for .308Win (cheapo 150ish grain FMJ) make a happy pair according to the manual spitting them around 500FPS faster than the .308win does.  With a 110gr and a different powder it's capable of 3800FPS, probably more given the usual safety margins in what they'll print, that's haulin ass!  Should make quick work of the game I usually go after...paper.  Should be impressive on fruits & other wet targets too.

[SR71BLACKBIRDXX]

On 3/19/2020 at 1:52 AM, superhawk996 said:

I know, long shot.  Brass is available new but pretty spendy and most are quantity of 50 or more.  Hoping someone may have some laying around they'd sell.  Ammo is also available but really spendy, and I can't buy it in California.

 

I have no logical reason to want to shoot this odd-ball cartridge, other than nostalgia.  This is the first 'real' rifle I ever shot and I thought it was a cannon.  It belonged to a high school friend that killed himself a few years ago.  I got it through another mutual high school era friend.  It's dusty, rusty, and shitty looking, but the important parts all look solid & safe and I want to shoot it.

 

My uncle has a .308 Norma. He probably has some brass laying around. I'll inquire if you want

[superhawk996]

1 hour ago, SR71BLACKBIRDXX said:

 

My uncle has a .308 Norma. He probably has some brass laying around. I'll inquire if you want

I would love to have some real stuff, thank you!

[SR71BLACKBIRDXX]

I'll ask him I'm the AM. Not sure how much he has laying around. I remember shooting and reloading for that thing years ago. Not your normal .308.. That's for sure

[superhawk996]

Normal, Norma; it's just one letter different. 😁  I look forward to putting a 3,800 FPS .308 into a watermelon and see how well it vaporizes.

[superhawk996]

The dies should be here tomorrow, then I get to figure out if the chamber was reamed to Norma specs (extra long leade) to then figure out the proper load data to use.  If I had some proper brass it would help.  No pressure brother, it was a long shot from the start and I appreciate that you tried even if you can't get me any.

[XXitanium]

Spendy...

 

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1021710830?pid=769213

 

[superhawk996]

That's 300 Norma, but not far from .308 $.

[XXitanium]

3 hours ago, superhawk996 said:

That's 300 Norma, but not far from .308 $.

Sorry, missed that. How far off for the rest of the case dimensions? Although at that price I suppose it would make sense to just buy the right one.

[superhawk996]

3 hours ago, XXitanium said:

Sorry, missed that. How far off for the rest of the case dimensions? Although at that price I suppose it would make sense to just buy the right one.

Unusable.  The .308 is a belted case, the cartridge headspaces off the belt.  Technically I guess you could get by without the belt if the shoulder were in the right place, but I'm not brave enough to try without dire need.

 

My dies came in today so I grabbed a brand new .338 case and resized it.  The bolt was very hard to close and re-open, hard enough that I probably shouldn't have tried, but I had to know.  It appears that the .338WM case is a red headed cunt hair longer between the base and belt, I couldn't find any other obvious contact area.  They're supposed to work, maybe this gun is just slightly tighter than normal.  It didn't have this problem with the proper ammo, but AFAIK the gun's been sitting a couple decades so maybe there's some crud in there I missed.  I'm gonna detail clean all the parts, spray dykem on the case, and try again just to make sure.  Probably a tomorrow task.

[superhawk996]

Duh, my manual has case specs.  The .338 is supposed to be only .001, approximate red cunthair, longer between the base and front of the belt.  I guess if the gun was made to extreme precision it could be that thousandth of an inch that makes it hate the .338 case.  I'll still try cleaning/rechecking.  Maybe try another brand of brass and see.

[XXitanium]

The die should be adjustable for the length. Mine are. If you're not getting the case in far enough, you may not be "swaging" the diameter of the body down to the new diameter.

 

What brand are the dies?

 

[XXitanium]

http://www.larrywillis.com/resizing.html

 

[superhawk996]

2 hours ago, XXitanium said:

The die should be adjustable for the length. Mine are. If you're not getting the case in far enough, you may not be "swaging" the diameter of the body down to the new diameter.

 

What brand are the dies?

 

RCBS.  Initially I set the die to where it lightly touched the shell plate at full stroke.  After feeling that the case didn't want to chamber I cranked it down to where the empty die offered a fair bit of resistance to the shell plate to make sure the case was getting a full resizing, still tight in the chamber.

 

With the .338 I've been neck sizing the same pieces of brass for a long time.  Occasionally I can feel some resistance on bolt closing, but it's minor.  Belted cases are abnormal, with most cases the headspace is where the shoulder meets the chamber so when they're tight it's usually because the shoulder has grown.  Don't mean to mansplain if you already know about belted cases, many have never dealt with them.  The .338 cases are shorter than .308 Norma so the only place it should be able to bind is at the belt, and that appears to be the issue.  There were no chambering marks I could see anywhere on the case except the front of the belt and the base.  Tomorrow's experimenting should show for sure where it's tight.

 

And thanks for chiming in and helping.  Even tho I'm not doing anything new, it's my first time adapting a case so I almost feel like I'm creating a wildcat cartridge.