Norma hunting ammunition

[FL-NC]

Recently I have been noticing an increasing availability in Norma ammo at sporting goods stores, gun shops, and gun shows. In the past (before things got "weird") I always bought my hunting ammo from the American "household brands" that we all grew up with :Winchester, Remington, and Federal, off the shelf in stores like wally world or academy. I never even gave Norma much thought. In addition to its availability in the more popular calibers, I have also observed that it is very competitively priced, and I have recently bought some in 243, 308, and 6.5 CM, since I have begun to plan ahead for future hunting seasons, and my old "go-to" rounds in those calibers from specific brands are generally unavailable or unaffordable. I haven't had a chance to try any of the Norma out yet at the range, though. Is anyone else noticing this trend, and what has been ya'lls experience with Norma, as far as accuracy/consistency and terminal performance in animals?

 

[d2wing]

I have had good results with Norma rimfire ammo. No experience with centerfire.

 

[edwardware]

Norma makes some of the nicest centerfire brass I've picked up, so that promising. That kind of consistency isn't accidental.

 

[.45Coltguy]

I shot some Norma 7mm RM ammo in my Mod 70 some years ago. Very good ammo. In fact, I still have the 2-3 boxes of the empty cases. Think you'll like Norma.

 

[Beck]

Norma is great stuff... made in Sweden. I've heard good reports from friends. High quality as loaded, and nice brass for reloading.

So far I've only used their 7.62x39. It's some of the best factory x39 out there. I wish I would have bought more when the cost was a lot lower. It's gone way up like everything else.


EDIT: Correction
Norma is based in Sweden, but they outsource some ammo manufacturing to other countries. My Norma 7.62x39 is made in Hungary.

 

[.455_Hunter]

Norma of old used to be only "Made in Sweden", when a box ammo for a classic milsurp could come close to the cost of the rifle.

Now they have expanded the brand to "Made in the EU", with some the lower cost stuff actually coming out of Eastern Europe.

 

[BigBlue 94]

Ive run some norma, have norma brass, and some ancient handloads of my grandpa's in norma brass and boxes. Some of their offerings are on par with Lapua. As noted, they also have cheaper lines of ammo.

 

[Hugger-4641]

I haven't hunted with any, but I did sight in a new .270win for a friend back in the fall. He gave me some Win power pt, Hornady American Whitetail, Fed Fusion and Norma Whitetail ammo. The Norma was the most accurate factory ammo in his gun.

 

[lightman]

I haven't shot any Norma ammo in a long time. As mentioned, at one time they were known for being about the only source for older military rifles in metric calibers like the 7.7mm Jap.

I do have some of their brass in 308 Norma Magnum, 308 Winchester and 300 WSM. Its specs are nearly as tight as Lapua.

 

[marksman13]

I’ve been finding a ton of Norma 308 at Academy recently and I’ve been stocking up. I haven’t really shot much of it at the range outside of confirming zero, but the 150 grain soft point stuff has been pretty devastating on the pigs I’ve shot with it. No complaints on my end, especially at the current price point compared to other brands.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

I shot a lot of 7.7 Norma back in the day. Always thought it was top of the line stuff. Recently I picked up some PPU brass, but up until recently I've been reloading the same 40 chunks of Norma brass over and over and over and over, without a single brass failure, cracked necks, expanded primer pocket, etc., nothing. Nada. Zip. It's good stuff. I would not hesitate to stock up on it, and stick with it. !!!

I have shot some deer with it, (maybe one?) but don't remember the performance. But at 7.7 velocity a premium bullet is not required. I would bet that any bullet they load now would be equal to any other bullet on the market, with exception of the super $$$$$$ bullets, which don't always perform that much better, although we have been convinced that they do. (and I'm sure they do at super high velocity) In the calibers you mention, I'm sure whatever bullet Norma uses would work just fine.

 

[daniel craig]

Recently I have been noticing an increasing availability in Norma ammo at sporting goods stores, gun shops, and gun shows. In the past (before things got "weird") I always bought my hunting ammo from the American "household brands" that we all grew up with :Winchester, Remington, and Federal, off the shelf in stores like wally world or academy. I never even gave Norma much thought. In addition to its availability in the more popular calibers, I have also observed that it is very competitively priced, and I have recently bought some in 243, 308, and 6.5 CM, since I have begun to plan ahead for future hunting seasons, and my old "go-to" rounds in those calibers from specific brands are generally unavailable or unaffordable. I haven't had a chance to try any of the Norma out yet at the range, though. Is anyone else noticing this trend, and what has been ya'lls experience with Norma, as far as accuracy/consistency and terminal performance in animals?

I know some guys in Europe that use Norma almost exclusively.

 

[Captcurt]

The only centerfire Norma ammo that I have shot was 6.5 Carcano in the 70's and 308 Norma back in the early 80's. One box of 308 Norma was $45 and a box of brass was $30. I didn't keep the gun long. If memory serves it was a sporterized 03 Springfield. The Carcano ammo was 156gr round nose that didn't expand. I put one through the lungs of a small buck at the gosh awful range of 13 yards. I probably could not have hit it if it had been any farther. Probably the worst rifle that I have owned. The buck ran over 100 yards and it's lungs looked like they had a pencil poked through them.

 

[bfoosh006]

Given the current ammo shortages... I think we will see all sorts of "out of the norm" brands of ammo.

Remember Norma also "just" built a USA manufacturing or distribution plant... in Savannah, Georgia

FWIW... RUAG Ammotec,... the parent Company of Norma, RWS, GECO, Rottweil, Swiss P, Hirtenberger, and MFS was just sold to Beretta.

 

[Sniper66]

My brother was a big game hunter. He killed everything in North America mostly trophy quality critters and lots of meat of his freezer. And lots of African trophies too. He swears by Norma and Weatherby. Says they are the best. I've shot lots of Norma Tac-22 and is very good mid-cost .22 rimfire ammo.

 

[Gordon]

Norma made Weatherby's ammo for many, many years . The brass is top notch , at least as good as most domestic brass. The Powder is excellent, most Norma powders were a little ahead of domestic powders and their primers were great. Their bullet lines, like the Oyrx , wokrd ok , but I think domestic bullets are way ahead of any thing , before Covid at least. Any way YES, I just bought some very reasonable Norma ammo for 6.5 Creedmore and .300 Weatherby . and 6.5x55 .

 

[cdb1]

I’ve never shot any but know a couple of people who speak very highly of Oryx bullets.