My 338 Norma's Journey!

[KH_Outdoors]

A little more backstory on the rifle here for your enjoyment .


This Rifle is for sale, and a friend of mine mentioned I should add in some backstory and load info. So hey... why not just tell the story?


We built this rifle as an "All Alaskan Rifle", with big bears in mind, and potentially other critters (opportunities provided). It needed to be tough in the elements, accurate, and have authority for the largest Alaska has to offer.


The 338 Norma fits the bill with its efficient design for use with a variety of bullets/components and operating in a bolt action repeater style weapon.


The rifle's first test was Kodiak Island for Sitka Blacktail and Fox! Pic below of its first animal taken, a sweet 3x3! There were 7 deer taken that week with my 338 Norma, between 3 hunters. It passed the test! Allowing me to go into my G-Bear hunt with confidence the following year. At the beginning of that week my buddies poked me for bringing a 338 for deer and fox... by the end, almost everyone borrowed it to take a deer of their own that week!


This was early in its career with me and in its first configuration. I had it in a McMillan Game Hunter stock as shown below too. We set it up with the Hammer Hunter 246 gr mono going about 2940 fps.

 

[KH_Outdoors]

This rifle is for sale too btw! Here is the link incase you're interested. My hope is for someone to give it a good home and make more memories of their own. The Norma will treat you well I know!

For Sale - 338 Norma & accessories

I have for sale my 338 Norma. The rifle was built by Snowy Mountain Rifles in Montana. It's been on a handful of hunts over the past couple years and we've had our fun. Time to let someone else enjoy it! The rifle has a 400-450 rounds down it, they typically get 1500-2000 on a barrel. This one...

www.longrangehunting.com

 

[KH_Outdoors]

The next chapter in the Norma's Journey was getting ready for G-Bear! I decided that I wanted to try out an XLR Chassis in the mix of that too. Ended up loving it so much that I actually took this configuration on my hunt!

Still rocking the 246 Hammer Hunter, but toned it down just a hair to about 2900 fps. We used N560 for the first load. Works great! But not as temp stable as I'd like, so we switched it up to H1000. Just a little extra peace of mind .

The XLR Element 4.0 Magnesium folder configuration worked fantastic. Even with the big 338. Pics below! Alot of these were published by Snowy Mountain, XLR, Viking Armament, Salmon River Solutions, Unknown Munitions, and Hammer Bullets.

I was blessed with a Stud of a Boar Grizz, an ancient male Wolf! Love it when it comes together!

 

[KH_Outdoors]

Over the last year or so since the big hunt, I've tinkered around a little bit with some other load combinations here and there.

225 Badlands

250 Bergers

246 hammers continued...

They all just seem to shoot great in the rifle. H1000, N565, N560... they're all strong candidates in this rifle. I like to shoot 2800+ fps and with 250 gr projectiles it's always been 2900+. That's the only reason I haven't tried 285 eldm's or 300 bergers. However I do have some around to test if anyone wanted to go that route, I can do a load workup for them!

 

[KH_Outdoors]

Now to the latest configuration and what is now for sale.

I had it re-stocked to an AG Alpine Hunter Adjustable with an old school camo custom painted. The intention was to dedicate it to more of a long range rig. The 338 Norma is optimal for that purpose and this really takes full advantage of the rifle.

That's where it stalled a little. It sits next to multiple other rifles that serve the exact purpose in my small collection. I'm also going to build another 338 for "All Alaskan" type use, that will be a couple steps down from the great Norma case, in a lighter weight & shorter package.

Like many good things, memories made, and moving on. I am letting it go to someone who will get more use than I will going forward. As well as recoup some investment. Asking a fair price, and adding in extras.

Hope you enjoyed the condensed story! Reach out to me if you have any questions or go to my "For Sale" thread above if interested! Thanks!!

 

[Huntnful]

Very nice! That rifle has put down some great animals! Whoever buys it won't be disappointed!

 

[KH_Outdoors]

Very nice! That rifle has put down some great animals! Whoever buys it won't be disappointed!

 

[KH_Outdoors]

Someone asked, so we shall find out! 300 gr Berger Elite Hunter workup, starting with H1000 & Retumbo. Just going off of Hodgdons published data available online, it's pretty comparable to other combinations I've tried in this rifle. I'll start loads a couple grains under listed max and going up to, or a little over to find "pressure" in my setup.

 

[KH_Outdoors]

Berger 300 EH & H1000 / Retumbo testing is looking pretty darn good!

That Retumbo is looking promising

I like to get baselines with new combinations. Looking for pressure... noting point of impact per charge weight... velocity... overall grouping and if multiple charges start stacking. In this case Retumbo is looking like a clear choice.

Going to go shoot groups with 85, 86, 87, 88 gr and see how it goes! Betting it will do 1/2 moa groups no problem.

 

[KH_Outdoors]

This has been a pretty textbook load workup with 300 EH's in the 338 Norma. Went out and shot 85, 86, 87, 88 gr of Retumbo. It LOVES this combination.

Charge weights - 3 shot Group size, Average Velocity, ES, SD. 30-40 degrees F, 3-5 mph on/off breeze, sunny & clear.

85 - .485"

AV - 2558
ES - 3
SD - 1.3

86 - .258"

AV - 2596
ES - 22
SD - 11.4

87 - .823"

AV - 2623
ES - 20
SD - 10.4

88 - .322"

AV - 2681
ES - 16
SD - 7.9

 

[KH_Outdoors]

Sooo... based on what I've seen so far, this lines up fairly close to Hodgdon's listed data. If I really wanted to geek out I'd probably hone in on that 85-86 gr charge weight range. Seems like there's a very wide accuracy window there and pretty darn low ES/SD. Velocities are close to listed also right around that 2600 fps mark for a 24" barrel. That upper end charge of 88 gr obviously shot great too, and if a guy doesn't mind running things a little spicy then it's an option. There were no "pressure" signs like heavier bolt, bolt click, ejector marks etc.... but that had a 60 fps jump from 87 gr. So its probably right there on the edge. So in my mind, what's 80 fps or so when you have a BC like a 300 EH? Plus that 1/4 moa 86 gr group . Regardless, every charge tested with Retumbo has produced acceptable groups for hunting inside 1000 yards. I'll just call the 300 EH / Retumbo the easy button in a 338 Norma!

 

[KH_Outdoors]

Loaded up the rest of the brass I had on hand with the above 300 EH/86 gr Retumbo to test out at distance here.

Couple quick shots to tweak zero at 100 yds.

After that went straight out to 400/600/800. Only had about 15 rds to work with. Everything lined up with my drop card and trued.

Overall for the day, recorded 8 shots over a 2 hour period tinkering around. Just checking Velocity here and there from 30-55 degrees.

8 shots:

Average Velocity: 2596
ES: 27
SD: 10.2

Everything holds up true! Multiple days, multiple ranges, and environmentals. Holding half moa or better and pretty dang good spreads. Whoever ends up buying it will be pretty happy if they decide to shoot the heavies

 

[KH_Outdoors]

Here's the new link to the classified listing. I let the other one expire apparently.

For Sale - 338 Norma & Accessories

I have for sale my 338 Norma. The rifle was built by Snowy Mountain Rifles in Montana. It's been on a handful of hunts over the past couple years and we've had our fun. Time to let someone else enjoy it! The rifle has a 400-450 rounds down it, they typically get 1500-2000 on a barrel. This one...

www.longrangehunting.com

 

[KH_Outdoors]

This rifle is on the fence of getting pulled into some bullet prototype testing soon! I took some baseline measurements with the new McGuire Ballistics the other day. These things are perfect for long freebore chambers like the 338 Norma!