Vintage Norma .303 FMJ, I have some questions...

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I've found myself with several hundred rounds of this stuff and can't find a single online reference to Norma .303 beyond their soft point hunting loads. Was this stuff for a foreign military contract? Maybe some civilian marksmanship organization in a distant part of the commonwealth? I'd also like to know if anyone has shot it and if so, how was the brass for reloading?

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Nice looking stuff, always admired the Cupro nickle bullets, never seen any FMJ or boxed Norma like that either, if you shake one can you hear powder in the case? Wondering if it's powder or cordite.

Edit: most definitely rare is correct, iam unable to find anything at all online either. Some fellows in the milsurp section might know more.
 
I notice the headstamp "Norma Re" and then the small "NP" embossed on the primer - might be clues to age of it. I had read that the Norma 7x61, as designed by Phil Sharpe, had that "Norma Re" headstamp - then when Remington brought out the 7 mm Rem Mag (after Phil Sharpe had passed on), Norma engineers were alleged to use a "better alloy" / different heat treat of case brass and created an attempt to match to Remington - was then called Super 7x61 and that "Re" went away. Did not quite match, but got within about 5%, I think. There are both "Re" and 7x61 Super, here. I also have similar on some Norma 308 Norma Mag cases - both with and without "Re" - so I presume that they may have been done that "improvment" through their entire line??

From previous posts and threads on CGN - I was told that the embossed "NP" was only seen on factory loaded ammo - Norma apparently did sell primers for reloading, but only the factory stuff had that "NP", not the primers for reloading.
 
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I have salvaged primers many times from re-loads, for one reason or another - hundreds for sure, but probably not a thousand. I do not recall pressing out unfired primers from factory ammo though. So, your report is first that I have heard that Norma may have made NP marked primers available for reloader - several previous CGN posters were quite certain that primers for reloading did not have the "NP" - is too bad that you can not be certain of the origin.

I do notice that Norma stuff seemed to "catch on" in B.C - especially Central B.C. - 7x61 S&H and 308 Norma Mag especially - not certain that I have ever seen Norma ammo or Norma cases, primers or bullets in a store in Saskatchewan or Manitoba - maybe I just did not look hard enough.
 
I see nice brass and a generic nickled bullet, like a Mk VII. The packaging uses the cartridge's English language name, not some metric 7.7×56mmR. The quantity per package is quite large, so not likely for a casual sports minded buyer. To my mind, this ammunition was made for export from Sweden. The hardball bullet suggests a military or target shooting association end user. But no date on the headstamp is puzzling.
 
Brutus said:
I think this ammo was destined for somewhere in South Asia. India, Pakistan, Afghanistan or Kashmir.
A once British colonial nation.
Maybe second line troops or police in India/Malaysia.
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The test will be the powder. If it is cordite, ball or stick. True military specification Mk VII will be cordite sticks. Even though South Africa is a long way from the best willow, alder or whatever sources for cordite, that is what they used. Ball or stick would suggest to me the ammo is not military specification, by the regulations.

I'm not sure the Indian subcontinent or South Asia was the destination. There are plants today still making .303 Br for guards and police in Pakistan and India. A lot less demand than 30-40 yrs ago, but there is still a market.
 
Cocked&Locked said:
Cordite was used only in the very early 303's, long before this stuff was made.
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No. Cordite was used for British Mk7 ball until 1955 at Radway Green in full production and until 1957 in smaller quantities. Mk7 was loaded with both flake and cordite during WW2. Flake powder was used alongside cordite from about 1938 when the British adopted the Mk VIIIz machine gun round but did not fully displace it until the adoption of 7.62NATO. Kynoch loaded cordite .303 for foreign orders into the 1970s.
 
AFAIK no firm outside of Britain ever used cordite for loading cartridges.

SIR used to carry Norma cartridges, including their jaktmatch target / fur-bearing loads in 50 packs, which all had Tombac bullets, as did most of their older hunting bullets. I bought a bunch back in the 90's when SIR was on Ellice & Empress, before they moved kitty-korner across the street, further east on Ellice. Pulled the FMJ bullets, seated soft-points and voila, relatively inexpensive hunting ammunition.

I still have a few of the .30-06 rounds and all of the primers have the little NP (norma projectilfabrik) on them.

As I understand it, the Re stands for Reloadable, ie. boxer primed, as opposed to their common in Europe, berdan primed brass.
 
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