Norma .38 Special ammo

Miss Fire · Mar 9, 2009

I recently purchased Dad's old Model 36. Along with the gun he gave me an assortment of ammo, some Super Vel HP a box of S&W HP and a few rounds of Norma hollow point ammo without the original box, along with a few hundred reloads.
At the range Saturday I fired a few rounds, and discovered quite a differnce from the standard 158 gr ammo he had reloaded years ago. That's some spunky stuff. Dad says he thought he remembered it being considered pretty hot and comparable to the Super Vels of the early 1970's.
I have Googled it and haven't been able to find much info, other than rifle ammo. If anyone remembers this stuff, any and all info about it would be greatly appreciated.
Was it that much better than other ammo, what grain is it? It it similar to +P ammo?
Tell me everything you know.

Miss Fire · Mar 9, 2009

I recently purchased Dad's old Model 36. Along with the gun he gave me an assortment of ammo, some Super Vel HP a box of S&W HP and a few rounds of Norma hollow point ammo without the original box, along with a few hundred reloads.
At the range Saturday I fired a few rounds, and discovered quite a differnce from the standard 158 gr ammo he had reloaded years ago. That's some spunky stuff. Dad says he thought he remembered it being considered pretty hot and comparable to the Super Vels of the early 1970's.
I have Googled it and haven't been able to find much info, other than rifle ammo. If anyone remembers this stuff, any and all info about it would be greatly appreciated.
Was it that much better than other ammo, what grain is it? It it similar to +P ammo?
Tell me everything you know.

Gun 4 Fun · Mar 9, 2009

www.bhshooters.com This is a link to their US distributor.

Norma ammo has always been loaded to the top of the pressure limits. It is quality stuff and Norma loads all of Weatherby's ammo for them.

They don't have all the frivolous lawsuits in Sweden that we do here, so they are more free to load at the limit. I have some old Norma handloading manuals around here, but I didn't go check any to see what they have listed. If I recall correctly, their 10mm ammo was highly sought after because it turned up much higher velocities than American ammo. I will see if I can find some of the old flyers and data I have.

I'm sorry I can't answer all of your questions but, welcome to the forum and howdy neighbor!

photoman · Mar 9, 2009

If that years old ammo was ever stored in the heat, the potential for increased pressures is very high.

Gun 4 Fun · Mar 9, 2009

Originally posted by Photoman44:
If that years old ammo was ever stored in the heat, the potential for increased pressures is very high.

That only holds true if it is fired after being stored in the heat. If it is taken out of the heat and stored back in a cool place for enough time to bring the ammo back to the ambient temperature it will act as though it had always been stored there. I have proven this to myself several times using my chronograph.

RON in PA · Mar 10, 2009

If I remember correctly there were problems with Norma 38 special ammo & recalls back in the 1970s, claims by them of loading to normal pressure while in fact it was loaded way too hot.

Trooperdan · Mar 10, 2009

Norma loaded a 110 grain HP in .357 that was very inexpensive in the military R&G clubs in Europe in the late '60's and it was hotter than the hinges of Hades. I shot a good bit of it and liked it very much.

Miss Fire · Mar 10, 2009

Originally posted by Gun 4 Fun:
www.bhshooters.com This is a link to their US distributor.

Norma ammo has always been loaded to the top of the pressure limits. It is quality stuff and Norma loads all of Weatherby's ammo for them.

They don't have all the frivolous lawsuits in Sweden that we do here, so they are more free to load at the limit. I have some old Norma handloading manuals around here, but I didn't go check any to see what they have listed. If I recall correctly, their 10mm ammo was highly sought after because it turned up much higher velocities than American ammo. I will see if I can find some of the old flyers and data I have.

I'm sorry I can't answer all of your questions but, welcome to the forum and howdy neighbor!

I'd be very grateful if you can find that old info, I'm curious about this stuff. Even though it packed a good punch in a Chief Special it was fun to fire.

Jim Watson · Mar 10, 2009

No way to tell without the box, but you might have some of the Norma ".38 Special Magnum" ammo. They originally advertised it as +P velocity without +P pressures due to their proprietary powder. When retested to SAAMI specs, it came out +P and they had to label it as such for US sales. But it was hot stuff.

44forever · Mar 10, 2009

I have some of the NORMA 10mm 170 grain loads that list 1300 FPS and 47,000 PSI on the box. That's hot by anybody's standards.

The Norma pistol ammo had the reputation of excessive penetration due to strong, heavy jackets and little or no exposed lead.

.455_Hunter · Mar 10, 2009

When my wife and I were hiking/backpacking in Alaska in July 2004, she carried Norma's .357 Magnum 158 gr. FMJ-SWC loads as back-up ammo for her Ruger Police Service-Six. She had 180 gr. Federal Cast Cores in the cylinder and the Norma rounds in HKS speedloaders for hang-up free rapid reloading. I chronographed these .357 loads and they were a little milder that standard US ballistics, but not my much.

n4zov · Mar 10, 2009

Norma produces top quality ammo and components in my experience. Back in the late '60's a local distributor carried the entire Norma line of reloading components, and at very competitive prices. The exchange rate is so bad now, that any European made ammo is very expensive.

NiklasP · Mar 10, 2009

Norma, like most European ammo makers, load for max performance, especially for hunting ammo. Been that way for as long as I can remember. One basic difference is that nearly all European and Scandinavian shooters, especially hunters, use high quality, strong guns that can handle full pressure loads. IF a breakopen gun, say a drilling, goes off face, it gets put back in good working order.

As regards exchange rates, currently a USA dollar gets more than 9 Swedish crowns (kroner), a much better exchange than for about a decade.

Niklas

photoman · Mar 10, 2009

Originally posted by Gun 4 Fun:

Originally posted by Photoman44:
If that years old ammo was ever stored in the heat, the potential for increased pressures is very high.

Click to expand...

That only holds true if it is fired after being stored in the heat. If it is taken out of the heat and stored back in a cool place for enough time to bring the ammo back to the ambient temperature it will act as though it had always been stored there. I have proven this to myself several times using my chronograph.

Not my experience with .44 Magnum factory loads. We'll agree to disagree assuming you are agreeable to disagreeing.

banger · Mar 14, 2009

Originally posted by Jim Watson:
No way to tell without the box, but you might have some of the Norma ".38 Special Magnum" ammo. They originally advertised it as +P velocity without +P pressures due to their proprietary powder. When retested to SAAMI specs, it came out +P and they had to label it as such for US sales. But it was hot stuff.

I still have a quantity of this ammo among my "mess".

Jim is correct, origionally it was advertised as being a "NON" +P load. As has been stated, this was changed somewhat later on in its sales. In fact, I have boxes that carry an adhesive sticker to reflect the +P status.

The explaination, (years ago) was that European and American ammo manufactures used different methods of determining their pressures.

BTW, Norma has ALWAYS been a "top notch" ammo maker. Some might possibly recall that the origional Norma 10mm ammo was some of the hottest ever loaded.

Gun 4 Fun · Mar 14, 2009

Not my experience with .44 Magnum factory loads. We'll agree to disagree assuming you are agreeable to disagreeing.

We'll have to agree to being agreeable to disagreeing

Please don't ask me to sat that again. I think I damaged my keyboard trying to say that electronically.

Lubbock Louie · Mar 28, 2009

Miss Fire....that Super Vel would be a collectible to some.

Happy shooting.

LL

Buford57 · Mar 31, 2009

I had some Norma 110 .38 SPL HPs in the late 70s that I carried in a mid-20s era M&P. (Didn't have a clue about heat treating back then). It had a tiny cavity and a sharp recoil. It had the reputation of being as hot as Super-Vel, but I had no way of verifying that at the time.

Norma .38 Special ammo

Miss Fire

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Miss Fire

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Gun 4 Fun

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photoman

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Gun 4 Fun

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RON in PA

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Trooperdan

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Miss Fire

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Jim Watson

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44forever

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n4zov

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