308 Norma Mag.

When Norma brought out the "Super 7x61 S&H" they increased the case capacity by thinning the web and case wall. They did the same thing, at the same time, to the 308 Norma brass. In the 308, they used the same load and the increased capacity lowered pressure and velocity a bit.

Good knowledge to spread. Particularly for reloaders. I like the 7x61 quite a bit, have a dumoulin mauser in that cartridge. - dan
 
When Norma brought out the "Super 7x61 S&H" they increased the case capacity by thinning the web and case wall. They did the same thing, at the same time, to the 308 Norma brass. In the 308, they used the same load and the increased capacity lowered pressure and velocity a bit.

I have some older, thicker 7x61 Norma brass. Head stamp is "+NORMA Re 7x61 S&H". Then, some newer stuff with the thinner web and walls head stamp reads "NORMA Super 7x61" Same size on outside, different volume on inside.

Then, only a couple "Re.308 Norma Magnum" The rest say just ".308 Norma Magnum". I never tried to measure interior volume on the 308 Norma ones. I do not have enough of the "Re" marked ones to bother with.

For both cartridges, I presume that the "Re" stuff is the older and thicker cases.

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On fired brass, the difference in web thickness is readily seen. I mostly use sized and trimmed 300 Win Mag brass for my 308 Norma brass. My go to powder, for fifty years, has been 4350. 180's go 3070 fps and that's not bad.
 
I have some older, thicker 7x61 Norma brass. Head stamp is "+NORMA Re 7x61 S&H". Then, some newer stuff with the thinner web and walls head stamp reads "NORMA Super 7x61" Same size on outside, different volume on inside.

Then, only a couple "Re.308 Norma Magnum" The rest say just ".308 Norma Magnum". I never tried to measure interior volume on the 308 Norma ones. I do not have enough of the "Re" marked ones to bother with.

For both cartridges, I presume that the "Re" stuff is the older and thicker cases.

View attachment 564711

RE apparently stood for relaodable, which they felt they had to point out at the time. - dan
 
I have a couple of boxes of those older "Re" headstamped cases, but reduce the load a bit when I use them.

The latest Norma cases have yet another headstamp, and appear to have slightly more capacity again.

My pet load with the 180 Partition and 180 Accubond is 7x.5 grains of Norma MRP, fired by a WLRM Primer.
With the 200 Accubond, Partition and 200 A-Frame I use 7x.0 grains of IMR 7828, CCI 250/RP 9½M.

These are very persuasive loads that just anchor bigger animals with authority. Dave.
 
Eageye - can you describe what that third head stamp looks like?? I thought there were only the two types, and was sorting brass purchases accordingly. I did not know about a third version - what should I be looking for??
 
Eageye - can you describe what that third head stamp looks like?? I thought there were only the two types, and was sorting brass purchases accordingly. I did not know about a third version - what should I be looking for??

I will post pics of the 3 headstamps on 308 Norma brass that I have.
The first picture is the latest brass: weighs 220 grains avg, Second is the common one: 225 grains avg
The last is the early "Re" brass: 245 grains avg. Dave.
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I neglected to mention that my #1 Ruger really likes the Nosler 210 LRAB.
I chase it with 75.5 Grains of Retumbo, and I shot a bull Moose with that
load in the fall of 2020, and it was a basically broadside presentation at
around 120 yards. I did not recover the bullet, only the moose, lol Dave.
 
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