Reloading my .308 Norma Mag. by P.O. Ackley(#6930) made?.

[albert jr]

Hello to all. I joined THR to learn safe reloading of my P.O. Ackley, Salt Lake City, Utah (#6930). MADE IN JAPAN is stamped under gun.



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No other markings. Not even caliber. I first saw this gun in dad's collection in about 1979. Can anyone tell me about when it was made?

Before this hunting season I made a casting of the chamber to determine the caliber and found a box of original .308 Norma magnum bullets for $74.50 at Carter's Country in Houston. I sighted it 3 inches high at 100 yards, took 2 bucks and 2 does and have 4 rounds left.

The new set of RCBS dies are on order.

I have never seriously considered reloading for rifles or pistols until I found a large ammo crate full of RCBS reloading equipment and dies (no .308 dies) after this past hunting season. It will be a year this March that my dad left me the Ackley, a Walther and Remington 22 Hornets, 30-06 Browning, 243 Sako.......a very old 9mm Walther P-38, Colt Super 38, S&W 38 Special....... (I did reload shotgun shells for myself 25 years ago before marriage and kids.)

I now look forward to doing alot more shooting!!

 

[gotboostvr]

.308 Norma Magnum, had to look that one up! Not even in my Nosler manual.

Case capacity is 88 grains of water vs. 68 for the 30-06 and 96.3 for the 300 Winchester Magnum. Kind of a middle ground for the two cartridges.

Looks like brass is fairly simple to make from 300 Win Mag cases (full length resize, and case trimming to length).

It looks to be a similar pressure cartridge to 30-06 and would probably do well with similar powders. It should probably do best with 175-200gr bullets. I hear Varget will work decently in just about most rifle calibres. These are just guesses! Check with at least one reputable manual, cross reference if possible(but you knew that)!

I think it may have been rebarreled possibly. I think that would explain why there are no calibre markings (which are typically on a factory barrel) A gunsmith with a barrel blank and a chamber reamer might not bother with doing the extra work of clearly labeling it. Not to imply that it was done poorly!

It looks like a beautiful weapon. I hope it serves you that well for a long time.

 

[albert jr]

Thanks for the info. What reference book do you recommend for a beginner. I have a neighbor who volunteered to be my mentor after I showed him the mess of RCBS handed down. He has been reloadin' for 40+ years.

I have an unopened can of IMR 4350 at least 25 years old. It has been stored in a home with central air. Can I use it to start reloading when my Norma dies come in?

 

[Jim Watson]

The P.O. Ackley Mauser actions were made in the mid-1960s.
He only got 150, 50 of them lefthanded, before the Japanese manufacturer went bankrupt, which was the end of that project.

With no markings, it is not possible to tell whether your rifle was built by Mr Ackley or somebody else using one of the few actions he imported.

The .308 Norma was announced in 1960 with rifles and factory ammunition coming out in 1962. It never amounted to much, because the .300 Winchester Magnum came out in 1963 and has pretty much dominated that market position.

Load data is in Sierra 4th edition, Nosler 4th edition, Speer 12th edition, and Ken Waters' 'Pet Loads.' I don't know about later publications, my Lyman 49th edition does not include it. You could probably find a manual with it at a gun show or second hand at Amazon. Or phone Sierra and they will help.

If you have to form brass, it is a neck down from .338 Win Mag (There is an almost identical wildcat .30-338 popular with target shooters of the day.) or up from 7mm Rem Mag.

I think I would buy it some fresh powder to start. That old 4350 is PROBABLY ok, but why push it?