300 Norma Magnum; The King of 1 Mile Cartridge
Updated 17 October 2022: 300 Norma Magnum to 2000meters+ capability!
5/5 Shot String at 1 Mile with 300 Norma Mag
This is why the 300Norma Mag can be called a 1 mile cartridge. During our weekend training shoot for Extreme Shot One Mile Italia competition (1st edition) held on 22-26 Sept. 2021, we ran 5 shots at 1 mile with the 300 Norma Mag running 230 Bergers at 3020ft/s with 14-16 MOA of Full value wind. Look at the MOA reticle on the spotter to understand how much wind we have dialed on the Nightforce ATACR scope. Rob ran out of windage at 15MOA so we kept 14 MOA dialed and I asked him to hold 2 MOA when the gust increased or hold on various segments of the plate to adjust ahead of the wind. I was doing the wind calls on a wide open valley with no wind flags. This is not Bisley ranges with 15 flags spread out. To my left descending into the valley was an olive grove with some mature trees spread out over 200 yards of width or so. They provide a good indicator of the wind that is coming into the valley pushing the bullet off the target to the mile. The difference between 14MOA hold and 16 MOA hold was the way the leaves rustled. Discerning it is the difference between a hit and a miss.
Italy Shoot to 2100 Meters – Cold Shoot EXLRS Italia
Find out more about this Cold Shoot Italia ELR calendar event in Europe held in Winter and Summer.
400MOA March Genesis scope – reach past Mark and Sam!
Need to reach out further? Up to 400 MOA elevation on the March Genesis 6-60×56 scope!
Background of the 300Norma Magnum (300NM)
Some four years ago or so, I came across an article on accuracy first blog stating that the 300 Norma Mag could shoot “20-round groups as small as four inches at 1,100 yards.”. The .300Norma Magnum was designed to improve upon the .338 Lapua Magnum when loaded with 19.44 g (300 gr) Sierra very-low-drag bullets in magazines and actions that restrict the .338 Lapua Magnum’s maximum cartridge overall length. This to me was not news, I’ve seen numerous common cartridges like the 284win, 308win and 7WSM shoot inside 5inch vertical at 1000yards routinely at Stickle down range at Bisley, UK from rifle platforms specifically built to do just that with half the powder charge (58grains VS 90gains =55% more)
Here you can see the 300Norma and 215 berger Vs the 284Win case and 180 VLD together with a string I shot with the 284Win in the morning at 1000yards on the Fclass target and 5 inch Vbull. If you want to read more about the smaller 284Win, checkout this article about the only 7mm you may ever need.
Every new cartridge on the block gets quite some media coverage and with social media and facebook groups comes a barrage of memes and promotional material subtly cloaked in cleverly made adverts. To mention one, the 6.5creedmoor which is a very competent round was made to look by some as if it were a 264win mag when other cartridges like the 6.5x284norma, the 6.5×55 and the 260rem had been giving us those ballistics for many years. The 6.5x284Norma was the cartridge of choice for many shots made by the guys at Best of the West Kill Reel – 2017 long range kill shots. I thought the 300 Norma Mag must be another 300 Lapua Mag. The 300 Lapua however has a long case so if you want to seat your bullets far out to make the most of the case capacity, you may have to seat the bullets deeper if you want to shoot from a magazine. Not a complete deal breaker but we prefer shorter fatter cases when possible.
My 284Win Fclass Open barrel Block rifle was built specifically for 1000 yard competition and can keep an entire string of 20 shots inside a 7 inch circle at 1000 yards with most landing in a 5inch circle. It sits on a seb joypod bipod. Built on a Nesika K action with 30 inch bartlein barrel, 1.9 twist, .312 neck turn only chamber.
Got a 300 Norma Magnum or similar cartridge?
Bring it to Extreme Shot One Mile Italia 22-26 September 2021. Full Program here.
300 Norma mag on forums
Once I saw this cartridge mentioned on some serious forums like www.longrangehunting.com and www.snipershide.com, I decided to look closer. I had been following the series of wildcat cartridges and rifles that Kirby Allen produces known as the Allen Magnums so I thought this round must get this performance in a smaller package with Lapua brass readily available. Ryan Pierce, Shawn Carlock and other long-range shooting forum members mentioned this round in one configuration or another.
I have a yard stick by which I like to measure the cartridges I choose and I compare them to the venerable 284win which I shoot for F-open class. In the format I load it for Fclass, it is approaching a 7rem mag. It’s a fantastic round, 58grains of N165 powder for 2930ft/s with a 180grain berger VLD from a 30inch barrel. This configuration needs 5.5MOA at 1000yards (915meters) for a 10mph full value wind. I consider that very flat shooting wind-wise. This is the round I’ve shot the most at 1000yards so I have a good feel of what it can do. I’ve also shot the 308win for a while in FTR albeit not in its standard SAAMI spec format and 2.800” cartridge overall length.
In 2016, The United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM) selected .300 Norma Magnum as their new Advanced Sniper Rifle Cartridge. This made many long-range shooters look closer at the cartridge with serious consideration. Worth the move? Let’s see.
Extreme Shot One Mile Italia – 22-26 September 2021 – Bring your 300NM here!
Interested in experiencing an amazing 5-day long weekend in Sicily, Italy surrounded by beautiful scenery and some of the best long range shooters and kit from all over Europe? for the full 5 days.
Join our
300 Norma Magnum load data
For the best indicative results for 300 Norma Magnum load data, we should check Quickload internal ballistics software. After I plug in all the data, Quickload returns this. The red arrow will show me the maximum 300 Norma Magnum load data I can use when a cartridge is loaded to the specs seen on the left hand side of this table loaded with 215 berger to 3.635″ COAL and 94gr of Vihtavuori.***(94 grain is way too high – do not use)
Let’s take a look at the increment Quickload provides us with for 300 Norma Magnum load data. Below you can see forecasted velocities for these charges. Remember these are indicative ONLY and you should always start at least 10% low and work your way up.
Infact if you continue reading on to the actual load development section and load testing you will find out that my 90gr load gave me 3196ft/s compared to the forecasted 3061ft/s shown below. Normally quickload is within 30-50ft/s. Here the actual firings showed a higher velocity than predicted. That’s why it’s important to work your way up.
For comparison purposes check out the 300 Norma Magnum load data published by VihtaVuori themselves.
The numbers I saw here where very impressive. I had no interest in the standard loading format and a 26inch barrel as is mostly implemented for hunting rifles. Not that this configuration is a slouch, but we like to maximize the cartridge as long as its safe to do so. I wanted to replicate the sort of performance that a 284win achieves when setup in an Fclass format, long barrel, bullets seated further out to maximize powder capacity. Moreover I knew from FClass that the 215 berger hybrid had a very good following, it holds vertical well even when loaded from a 308 win.
Let’s take another very popular cartridge – the 300 Win Mag, a long-time favourite sniping and hunting round with 200grain sierra bullet does about 2950ft/s in its standard format. Here with the 300 Norma Mag we are looking at a bullet that’s 215 grains doing 3200ft/s+ and maybe even more, Wow! I know that the 230gr bullet will do 2950-3050ft/s… If you want even higher performance, step up to the 33XC with a 300gr berger doing 3200Ft’s from a Desert Tech SRSA2 in 33xc!
Ballistics for the 300 Norma Magnum and 215 berger.
300 Norma magnum vs 300 win mag: a closer look at their ballistics
So let’s have a look at the ballistics for the 300 Winchester Magnum shooting 200gr Hornady ELD-x ammo from a 28inch barrel VS a 300 Norma shooting 215 berger at 3200ft/s.
In the graph below I am comparing the Windage required in MOA for these two cartridges in the above-mentioned configuration at each distance (meters) as well as the corresponding difference in windage required. On average, the 300 Norma Mag needs about 30% less compensation at each distance!! It is very forgiving especially when you are shooting in places where you don’t have wind flags and your wind reading maybe handicapped. So what is the trade off? Barrel life is the major trade off. You can only shoot 3-5 rounds at a go with the 300 Norma Mag, then you have to let it cool for a few minutes. Barrel life is about 1000-1200 rounds depends how you shoot it, how fast you push it and how you clean it. Ryan Pierce tells us its about 0.003 of throat erosion per 100 rounds.
Checkout what this 300 Norma Magnum rifle did at 1 mile in Sicily!
Want to see the rifle we built for the 300 Norma Mag? Read 300 Norma Magnum switch barrel rifle and complete load development from 600m to 1200m ladder testing!
RPA Range Master 300 Norma Magnum rifle with switch barrel capability to 338 Lapua with March 2.5-25×42 MTR3 and Swarovski ATS 65 with Vortex 30 MOA reticle, manfrotto portable Tripod and Tierone Evolution tactical Carbon Bipod
Shooting Balloons to a mile with 300 Norma Mag!
We have also tried the 300Norma Mag on Balloon sized targets out to 1500meters and was impressed by the consistency of this cartridge when one takes the time to develop a load for it and test it at long distance to optimise for that barrel. Checkout the article.
Want to learn how to ladder test for a big rifle like the 300 Norma Mag? Below is an extract of our article about the load development of this 300 Norma Mag.
Load development for 300 Norma Magnum
I sat down to load for the rifle, I wanted to start out around 90% from the load I had in mind and slightly higher. I wanted to settle for around 3200ft/s with 215 berger hybrid. I printed a sheet from quickload that would give me a good indication of what charges I should start at and listed them down.
This gave me a good idea of where I would start. Quickload tends to be a little conservative in its numbers so I knew there was a good chance that the numbers would be slightly higher on actual firings.
Loading for the 300 Norma Magnum
I loaded up 1 round of each charge across the entire spectrum. I then loaded up 5 rounds of the first charge to be able to zero with and make sure we are on target at 600m before I start my ladder test. I used Redding FL bushings dies and Wilson Inline bullet seating dies with an arbor press.
This enables me to
- get a very good feeling of the neck tension I want to impart on my bullet/cases
- gives me a very good feel of the actual neck tension when I am seating bullets.
- Load easily anywhere I am even on the actual range while in the back of my truck.
- No need of heavy presses to seat bullets with
Continue reading about Reloading ladder test for 300 Norma Magnum
Spotting for the 300Norma Mag
One question I regularly receive from our readers is what do you use to spot for these long range shots? Most of the times, you can pick up the bullet impact through your riflescope since it takes almost 3 second flight time to 1 mile however, using some of the best glass out there enables you to see the impacts easily and in a comfortable way.
Read about these spotting scopes in our optics section
Step up to the mighty 33XC!
Below Desert Tech SRSA2 in 33XC full load testing report!
Do you want to try something larger than the 300 Norma Mag?
We have prepared an indepth write up about the new 33XC!
300 Norma Mag with Hornady 250 Atips – A 2000m+ Combo.
There are many ways one can load the same cartridge to repurpose it for long range shooting. One of them is to load the same cartridge with longer higher BC bullets that may at times be heavier as well. One such configuration is the 250gr hornady Atip bullet. This bullet is very sleek, long and comes with an aluminium tip. When loaded to the right spec, it can be driven around 3000ft/s from a 30 inch barrel. Hornady recommends with 1.8 twist for this bullet. At the last Extreme Shot Italia II competition in September, we saw French Shooter Francois Dreuil from Group Mike in Caylus climb to second position shooting this combination bullet (moly coated by himself)
Francois chose this PGM rifle as the platform for his 300NM rifle with a bipod extender which he had made for it.
Francois prepares for his 2km shot as he lines up in Trapani Sicily during Extreme Shot Italia II
This combo landed French Shooter in 2nd place at Extreme Shot Italia II – It worked well for the French man!
Quickload data for the 300 Norma Mag and 250 Hornady Atips
Two 300 Norma Magnum rifles cross paths at a range in Italy during load testing. Desert Tech SRS A2 and RPA Range Master.
Sponsored Snippet
March 5-42×56 High Master scope for ELR.
The 5-42×56 March Hi Master has over 140MOA of elevation in 25MOA per turn. That’s over 40mrad of elevation travel! This scope can take this bullet to 2700m without running out of elevation or needing any additional appendices like the Charlie Tarac.
Need More Travel? You can opt for the March Genesis with over 400MOA of vertical / 115mrad! Below is a rig capable of 2mile shots in the right hands and spotter.
300 Norma Mag 250 Hornady Atips Ballistics
a 250 atip driven at 3000ft/s requires 74.3 MOA of elevation and 10.2 MOA for a 2000m shot in a 10mph full value wind. The 215gr berger hybrid loaded to 3225ft/s as in my current load requires 12.75 MOA of windage (+2.5MOA) difference. This combination is supersonic to 2200m! See below.
We are so convinced, we had Solidsolutiondesigns.com spin up a barrel that’s 33inch long for our Desert Tech SRS A2 so we can replicate these numbers!
| Trajectory | |||
| Input Data | |||
| Manufacturer: | Hornady | Description: | A-Tip™ Match |
| Caliber: | 0.308 in | Weight: | 250.0 gr |
| Ballistic Coefficient: | 0.878 G1 (ASM) | ||
| Muzzle Velocity: | 3000.0 ft/s | Distance to Chronograph: | 1.0 ft |
| Sight Height: | 2.70 in | Sight Offset: | 0.00 in |
| Zero Height: | 0.00 in | Zero Offset: | 0.00 in |
| Windage: | 0.000 MOA | Elevation: | 0.000 MOA |
| Line Of Sight Angle: | 0.0 deg | Cant Angle: | 0.0 deg |
| Wind Speed: | 10.0 mph | Wind Angle: | 90.0 deg |
| Target Speed: | 10.0 mph | Target Angle: | 90.0 deg |
| Target Height: | 6.0 in | ||
| Temperature: | 28.0 °C | Pressure: | 29.92 in Hg |
| Humidity: | 65 % | Altitude: | 386.0 ft |
| Vital Zone Radius: | 40.0 cm | ||
| Std. Atmosphere at Altitude: | No | Pressure is Corrected: | Yes |
| Zero at Max. Point Blank Range: | No | Target Relative Drops: | Yes |
| Mark Sound Barrier Crossing: | No | Include Extra Rows: | No |
| Column 1 Units: | 1.00 mil | Column 2 Units: | 1.00 MOA |
| Round Output to Whole Numbers: | No | ||
| Output Data | |||
| Elevation: | 4.427 MOA | Windage: | 0.000 MOA |
| Atmospheric Density: | 0.07148 lb/ft³ | Speed of Sound: | 1141.4 ft/s |
| Maximum PBR: | 581 m | Maximum PBR Zero: | 491 m |
| Range of Maximum Height: | 263 m | Energy at Maximum PBR: | 3097.1 ft•lbs |
| Sectional Density: | 0.376 lb/in² | ||
| Calculated Table | ||||||||||
| Range | Drop | Drop | Windage | Windage | Velocity | Mach | Energy | Time | Lead | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (m) | (mil) | (MOA) | (mil) | (MOA) | (ft/s) | (none) | (ft•lbs) | (s) | (mil) | (MOA) |
| 0 | *** | *** | *** | *** | 3000.4 | 2.629 | 4996.4 | 0.000 | *** | *** |
| 100 | -0.0 | -0.0 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 2883.8 | 2.527 | 4615.8 | 0.112 | 5.0 | 17.1 |
| 200 | -0.3 | -1.0 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 2770.3 | 2.427 | 4259.5 | 0.228 | 5.1 | 17.5 |
| 300 | -0.8 | -2.9 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 2659.6 | 2.330 | 3925.8 | 0.348 | 5.2 | 17.9 |
| 400 | -1.5 | -5.2 | 0.4 | 1.4 | 2551.5 | 2.235 | 3613.2 | 0.474 | 5.3 | 18.2 |
| 500 | -2.2 | -7.6 | 0.5 | 1.8 | 2446.0 | 2.143 | 3320.5 | 0.606 | 5.4 | 18.6 |
| 600 | -3.0 | -10.3 | 0.6 | 2.2 | 2342.9 | 2.053 | 3046.6 | 0.743 | 5.5 | 19.0 |
| 700 | -3.8 | -13.1 | 0.8 | 2.6 | 2242.2 | 1.964 | 2790.4 | 0.886 | 5.7 | 19.5 |
| 800 | -4.7 | -16.1 | 0.9 | 3.1 | 2144.0 | 1.878 | 2551.4 | 1.036 | 5.8 | 19.9 |
| 900 | -5.6 | -19.4 | 1.0 | 3.6 | 2048.4 | 1.795 | 2328.8 | 1.192 | 5.9 | 20.4 |
| 1000 | -6.6 | -22.8 | 1.2 | 4.0 | 1955.3 | 1.713 | 2122.0 | 1.356 | 6.1 | 20.8 |
| 1100 | -7.7 | -26.5 | 1.3 | 4.5 | 1865.0 | 1.634 | 1930.5 | 1.528 | 6.2 | 21.3 |
| 1200 | -8.9 | -30.5 | 1.5 | 5.1 | 1777.7 | 1.557 | 1753.9 | 1.708 | 6.4 | 21.9 |
| 1300 | -10.1 | -34.7 | 1.6 | 5.6 | 1693.5 | 1.484 | 1591.7 | 1.897 | 6.5 | 22.4 |
| 1400 | -11.4 | -39.2 | 1.8 | 6.2 | 1612.7 | 1.413 | 1443.4 | 2.096 | 6.7 | 23.0 |
| 1500 | -12.8 | -44.1 | 2.0 | 6.8 | 1535.6 | 1.345 | 1308.7 | 2.305 | 6.9 | 23.6 |
| 1600 | -14.3 | -49.3 | 2.2 | 7.4 | 1462.5 | 1.281 | 1187.1 | 2.524 | 7.1 | 24.2 |
| 1700 | -16.0 | -54.9 | 2.4 | 8.1 | 1393.8 | 1.221 | 1078.2 | 2.754 | 7.2 | 24.9 |
| 1800 | -17.7 | -60.9 | 2.6 | 8.8 | 1329.9 | 1.165 | 981.6 | 2.995 | 7.4 | 25.6 |
| 1900 | -19.6 | -67.4 | 2.8 | 9.5 | 1271.2 | 1.114 | 896.9 | 3.248 | 7.6 | 26.3 |
| 2000 | -21.6 | -74.3 | 3.0 | 10.2 | 1218.1 | 1.067 | 823.5 | 3.512 | 7.9 | 27.0 |
| 2100 | -23.8 | -81.8 | 3.2 | 10.9 | 1171.0 | 1.026 | 761.0 | 3.788 | 8.1 | 27.7 |
| 2200 | -26.1 | -89.7 | 3.4 | 11.7 | 1129.8 | 0.990 | 708.4 | 4.074 | 8.3 | 28.5 |
| 2300 | -28.6 | -98.3 | 3.6 | 12.4 | 1093.9 | 0.958 | 664.2 | 4.370 | 8.5 | 29.2 |
| 2400 | -31.2 | -107.4 | 3.8 | 13.1 | 1062.7 | 0.931 | 626.8 | 4.676 | 8.7 | 29.9 |
| 2500 | -34.0 | -117.0 | 4.0 | 13.9 | 1035.1 | 0.907 | 594.7 | 4.990 | 8.9 | 30.7 |
| 2600 | -37.0 | -127.3 | 4.2 | 14.6 | 1010.6 | 0.885 | 566.8 | 5.313 | 9.1 | 31.4 |
| 2700 | -40.2 | -138.1 | 4.5 | 15.3 | 988.4 | 0.866 | 542.2 | 5.644 | 9.3 | 32.1 |
| 2800 | -43.5 | -149.5 | 4.7 | 16.0 | 968.1 | 0.848 | 520.2 | 5.982 | 9.6 | 32.8 |
| 2900 | -47.0 | -161.5 | 4.9 | 16.7 | 949.4 | 0.832 | 500.3 | 6.328 | 9.8 | 33.5 |
| 3000 | -50.6 | -174.0 | 5.1 | 17.4 | 932.1 | 0.817 | 482.2 | 6.681 | 10.0 | 34.2 |
| 3100 | -54.4 | -187.1 | 5.3 | 18.1 | 915.9 | 0.802 | 465.6 | 7.041 | 10.2 | 34.9 |
| 3200 | -58.4 | -200.8 | 5.5 | 18.8 | 900.8 | 0.789 | 450.3 | 7.408 | 10.3 | 35.6 |
300 blackout case gauge