300 norma or 30-378
- Thread starter tyrarace
- Start date
Re: 300 norma or 30-378
Both are hard on barrels. Go with 338 Norma with 300gr bullets. Less wind drift and better barrel life.
Both are hard on barrels. Go with 338 Norma with 300gr bullets. Less wind drift and better barrel life.
Hi, I shoot a 300 Norma and a chap I know shoots a 30-378 in long range competitions that we hold over here in the UK. I would say that it is easy to see that the felt recoil is immensely greater with the Weatherby cartridge. This is significant, in that the variation in muzzle deflection is significant on the target unless every shot is released precisely. We are shooting the same 240gr bullets but his rifle is much harder to shoot consistently than mine.
M
milo 2.0
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+1 on what this guy says. 300 Norma is awesome though too!
I'd do everything in my power to stay away from a belted magnum.
300 Norma mag is a good choice. I bought my components some time ago, but if I left my brass lay it would cost $1.80 per shot. Not bad for a cartridge capable of 1 mile shooting.
The reason I want to consider 30-378 brass is I want to be able to push 230 and 240 gr bullets to 3000fps
with out getting loose primer pockets I want the brass to last 15 reloads. What is the brass life like for the
chap that shoots 30-378 and how fast can he push them. My rifle will be heavy I put my component on the
bathrom scale and it was 16 kilos it will also hawe a brake so I think it will be easy to shoot
I was able to wisit UK last summer for my first F class experiance at Diggle it was great and ther was also
a great shop Fox firearms I will be back one day
Use to have a 30-378 custom A-5 style stock, Harris bi-pod, this was like 13 years ago, cannot remember the twist ratio, you need at least 28inch barrel to stabilize the bullet. Also it did kick, a different takes a while to lose the flinch factor, I would suggest to get a old bigger gun shoot a few rounds like 5 to get use to the flinch factor then fire the benchrest rifle I was doing this with me .378 and when I fired the 30-378 it was like firing a .22. Also you need really good rings I had a nightforce 12-42X56 mounted on it and the scope would move!!! I tried everything to stop it from moving anyone got any suggestions ?
Hi Tyrarace, apologies for the delay in reply, I’ve been fairly busy. I’ve spoken with my friend recently and regarding the 30-378 brass life – you won’t be pleased! He says 3 – 4 reloads is usual then start again. Also, he has to pay £3.50 a case here in the UK – I guess this is about $5.25 at today’s rates. We talked about velocity for the moly coated 240gr and he holds it around the 3000 mark for barrel life although he said he’s been up to 3300 with the 240gr but this sounds way too fast to me. My fastest load with .300 Norma and the moly 230gr Berger starting into the lands is 2920 and this is about max from my rifle. This load uses 80.9gr of H1000 in a fire formed case. If I jumped the bullet I could reduce the start pressure and perhaps gain some more velocity but I usually work very close to or into the lands with all my cartridges I load for as I load for accuracy over velocity. This year I intend to work more with the moly Berger 215’s and see how it goes. I can’t give you a steer on case life for the Norma as all of my cases are only two loadings old, have been neck sized only, annealed from new and are all still good as new as you would expect.
Given the choice, for me there’s no question – I would never go down the Weatherby route.
I’ve shot at Diggle a few times – a great bunch of blokes up there. If you can shoot well there you can shoot well anywhere.
Hope your project goes well, I'll keep you posted on the moly 215's
Hi bigg_sexy1, apologies for the delay in reply – I‘ve been away this Easter. This McMillan MCRT action rifle has a 30” Dan Lilja SS match grade Heavy Varmint Contour with a 1 in 10” twist to suit the new heavy .308 calibre Berger Match Hybrids. This rifle shot 0.55 MOA at 1000yds first time out without any over fancy load development so far. Hope this helps.
Thanks WH! I have settled on a Benchmark light palma, fluted, 26", 1 in 9" twist barrel. I plan on running the 230 Berger. Just waiting on the barrel at this point. Hopefully it will be assembled and shooting by the end of June.
Beg your pardon CHEYTAC - I went back to 02/07/13 and now I remember what the question was - another senior moment! Best regards - WH.
I'm running the 208 A-MAX in my 300 Norma, 28" 9 twist barrel with H-1000. Getting 3100 fps with 8 fps ES. Put 3 shots in 1.25 at 400 yards. Gonna try it out at Thunder Valley in a few weeks.
Please allow me to resurrect this discussion. I would like to make a point, and please feel free to disagree. If you have a 300 Norma with a 225 bullet, and a 30/378 with the same bullet at the same velocity,, shot in a rifle that is identical you will have the same recoil.. For example a M40A3 stock with the same scope, all the same except,, that one is 300 Norma and the other is 30/378. Please begin.
Well to be fair he did acknowledge the necro thread aspect. As far as the question as to why a 30-378 would have more recoil vs a 300 nm I suspect will have to do with case design, shoulder angles and such but I am not an expert in this field and did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express so will wait for those with the requisite knowledge to chime in.
More like increase in gas volume and bullet acceleration.
30-378 has a good bit more case volume than 300NM
