300 Norma or 28 Nosler barrel life elr/ hunting

You also have to remember that the biggest advantage of the Norma isnt necessarily the case capacity. The biggest advantage of the design is that it provides a large capacity in the "shortest" package. This means being able to seat those big 215 and 230gr bullets up in the neck out of the donut area making more useable space for powder and all while still being able to feed from a CIP magazine.

Picture of my 300 Norma Improved case (right) next to a 28 Nosler case (left). My 300 NMI has over 16gr more H2O capacity than the 28 Nosler, is significantly shorter and still provides a longer neck for bullet seating.

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I found that H1000 is a little too fast for the Norma. Running 215s and 230s in an improved version, RL-33 and IMR 8133 give much better velocities. Have some N570 coming to test as well.

If you improve the Norma properly, then you can increase the capacity to 110+gr of H2O. The Norma becomes a different animal at that point.

Empty 300 Norma Mag Imp. case: 311.6gr
Filled (H2O) 300 Norma Mag Imp. case: 421.8gr
Total H2O capacity: 110.2gr

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Yeah I'm looking forward to my order of N570 as well, I'd like to revisit the 225 or 230's again and see if I can get them to shoot around 3000fps.
I will say though the 300 NM is proving to be super accurate and consistent.
How many rounds through your NM improved, and what sort of barrel life are you expecting?
 
Yeah I'm looking forward to my order of N570 as well, I'd like to revisit the 225 or 230's again and see if I can get them to shoot around 3000fps.
I will say though the 300 NM is proving to be super accurate and consistent.
How many rounds through your NM improved, and what sort of barrel life are you expecting?

Have about 100 rounds on it now so barrel is finally settled in. Working on some loads and found some with promise.

This is a 500 yard group I shot in gusty switching wind conditions. Wind strung the shots out a bit on me, but the vertical is pretty awesome on this group. Only a little over 1/2" of vertical. I'm excited to do some more tuning to dial it in.

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Have about 100 rounds on it now so barrel is finally settled in. Working on some loads and found some with promise.

This is a 500 yard group I shot in gusty switching wind conditions. Wind strung the shots out a bit on me, but the vertical is pretty awesome on this group. Only a little over 1/2" of vertical. I'm excited to do some more tuning to dial it in.

View attachment 137586
Good shooting!
My barrel must be slow..
With Lapua brass I shot a few 225's with 90 grains IMR 8133 and got 3010, bolt lift was really heavy and accuracy sucked.
How long is your barrel and what brass are you using?
 
Good shooting!
My barrel must be slow..
With Lapua brass I shot a few 225's with 90 grains IMR 8133 and got 3010, bolt lift was really heavy and accuracy sucked.
How long is your barrel and what brass are you using?

Is your Norma an Improved version or standard CIP Norma?

That target was using Peterson brass. I now have sold the Peterson brass and have 200 pieces of Lapua Brass to use.

My barrel on this rifle is a Broughton 5C, 31" long, with 1 in 8 twist. IMR 8133 will easily run them up over 3160fps. So will RL-33. Havent tried to go faster than that yet. VV N570 is almost the same burn rate as IMR 8133 so I'm excited to try that powder as well. Just got the N570 yesterday so I'm prepping brass to load.

The hunting version I have being chambered right now is on a Proof carbon barrel, 26" long, 1 in 9 twist. I'm sure the barrel will be a bit slower than my 31"
 
Ata
Is your Norma an Improved version or standard CIP Norma?

That target was using Peterson brass. I now have sold the Peterson brass and have 200 pieces of Lapua Brass to use.

My barrel on this rifle is a Broughton 5C, 31" long, with 1 in 8 twist. IMR 8133 will easily run them up over 3160fps. So will RL-33. Havent tried to go faster than that yet. VV N570 is almost the same burn rate as IMR 8133 so I'm excited to try that powder as well. Just got the N570 yesterday so I'm prepping brass to load.

The hunting version I have being chambered right now is on a Proof carbon barrel, 26" long, 1 in 9 twist. I'm sure the barrel will be a bit slower than my 31"
Its a standard version throated for 225's @ 3.6"
I can see how a 31" barrel would make a big difference.
 
Shot today. Rl33 performed well in the 300 Norma AI. Anyone else have some updated info?

300 yards
 

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I remember the days when the 28 Nosler would get 1000-1200 easy lol. In reality many got 500-600 before accuracy went down hill. When your pushing a lot of powder and using short necked cases they do not last long. Shooting more than 3 shots without letting them cool also speeds up wear. Which is not really a big deal if they are used for their intended purpose, hunting. If you want a dual purpose LR hunting/plinking rifle I would look at a 338, much nicer on the throats. Heres a 300 NI throat at exactly 100 rounds with H1000. Im a big fan of the 300 NI, 30-28 Nosler, and 30 Nosler, but I dont expect much more than 800-1000 from one. If I plan to shoot game at long distance with a rifle it has to be shooting its best. I think some just dont realize what it takes to make a hunting rifle group sub .5 moa at 1000 or farther. With that said if I could only have one rifle for lr hunting, it would be my 300 Norma improved 35.


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