300 Norma

[Xmotoxr]

I’ve been considering building a 300 NM. With Hornady’s 300 PRC is it still worth the hassle?

 

[TuckTruck]

I personally love my prc. I was also considering a Norma, but I had a 300 wm sitting around that was super easy to convert to a prc.

 

[TaperPin]

It’s not a bad idea to shoot any of the bigger mags before going all in. I had a big 30 cal, just slightly larger case than the 300 Norma, and it wasn’t for me. 340 Wby/375 H&H level of recoil didn’t bother me, but the jump in recoil with a big 300 was too much without a muzzle brake, and one season hunting with the brake was enough for me to toss in the towel. Now I have a 300 PRC without a brake. I may eventually build another big 300, but it would be closer to 10 lbs and probably have a can of some kind.

If you always wanted one, you should do it - there’s a rush shooting something with that much powder. Many guys are getting fantastic long range accuracy with the Norma.

 

[180ls1]

Only if you need the extra capacity. PRC is the easy button.

 

[khuber84]

I’ve been considering building a 300 NM. With Hornady’s 300 PRC is it still worth the hassle?

300wm 91gr powder
300prc 94gr powder
30 nosler 101 gr powder
300norma 103gr powder
300 norma imp 109gr powder
300 rum 113gr powder.

With the same bullet/powder there is around 150-200fps between all these cases loaded to the same pressure.

If you're going short barrel, and still want velocity, you need the big cartridges horsepower. Recoil goes up very quick above the 30 nosler. Honestly I feel the 30 nosler with 225 freebore is a great cartridge, will out perform a prc, win mag, and run right with a Norma. My problem with standard Norma is the shallow shoulder angle, it's like a big 308 case. The brass grows very quickly. The improved shoulders are much better in that regard and offers substantial capacity increase, along with recoil and blast. I have owned the win mag, nosler, Norma, Norma imp, and have shot prc and rum. The PRC and Nosler is a great cases unless you want to run heavier than 215gr bullets. Once you go heavier, the bigger cases start to pull away.

Pick what bullet you want to run, chose your goal of muzzle velocity, consider your planned barrel length, chose the case with appropriate boiler room to get your desired speeds without running high pressure to get em. Every rifle should be built with a purpose driven plan, there is no one rifle that does everything perfectly. There will always be tradeoffs in certain categories.