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First field testing of rifles submitted for US SOCOM's new ASR ( Advanced Sniper Rifle ) begins next week, with follow-up testing scheduled for July. At this point little is known, other than it has been announced that the 300 Norma Magnum cartridge has been selected as the ammo for the new sniper rifle to shoot. With Berger's 230 gr Hybrid bullet, it is said to remain supersonic out to 1,500 meters.

Here is an article about this with further details:

SOCOM chooses 300 Norma Mag for ASR - Long Range Shooting Handbook

And here is a photo showing a comparison of the 300 Norma Magnum to other cartridges:

300-Win-Mag-vs-300-Norma-Mag-vs-338-Lapua-Mag.jpg


This cartridge was created by shortening the case of the 338 Lapua Magnum down to where it will now fit inside a standard magnum length rifle action.

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I have heard of the 308 Norma magnum is this a new catridge?

Yes, this is a totally new cartridge. It is NOT the old 308 Norma Magnum. It is considered to be a competitor to the 300 Remington Ultra Mag.

The loaded ammo from Norma typically sells for $84 for 20 rounds, with the 230 gr Berger Hybrid bullet.

Here is a video of a guy who got a 300 Norma Magnum for long range hunting. He purchased an ELF rifle from Christensen Arms in that caliber:



I do not know of any major gun maker that is yet offering rifles in this caliber.

I believe that the military has found the heavy weight, heavy recoil, and loud muzzle blast of rifles in 338 Lapua and 50 BMG to be too much, especially for Special Forces. But, they want something that can shoot farther and hit harder than the 300 Winchester Magnum, which is what is currently used in the M2010 sniper rifle.

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The old .308 Norma Mag is a .338 Win Mag necked down, if I'm not mistaken. For a while I thought the OP was talking about that one.

Seems kinda silly to dump the old .300WM for this new cartridge, given that it is used throughout the military, and its performance can't be that much worse. Wouldn't the logistics side object?
 
Yeabut a 220 @3000+! and no belt, and...
I wonder what can be done with a standard action?
I know the WSSM's use a short action and forget what they are "equal" to.
 
The old .308 Norma Mag is a .338 Win Mag necked down, if I'm not mistaken. For a while I thought the OP was talking about that one.

Seems kinda silly to dump the old .300WM for this new cartridge, given that it is used throughout the military, and its performance can't be that much worse. Wouldn't the logistics side object?


I'm pretty confident that both the 30 Nosler and 300 Norma Magnum have a definite performance edge over the old 300 Winchester Magnum.

300 Win Mag is getting to be rather old in the tooth now. After all, it was introduced back in 1963. Certainly ammunition technology has improved since then.

I'm a bit surprised myself that the Norma was chosen, since as DieselScout mentioned, the 30 Nosler pretty much offers the same performance.

Whatever happened to our government buying American??

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Someone probably just sold them on it.

Maybe they just want someone different from what everyone else is doing.

Any word on if this new round performs differently when suppressed? Other than the .338 and 50bmg.

I have no knowledge of large caliber long distance shooting. So I'm just throw ish at the wall
 
Someone probably just sold them on it.

Maybe they just want someone different from what everyone else is doing.

Any word on if this new round performs differently when suppressed? Other than the .338 and 50bmg.

I have no knowledge of large caliber long distance shooting. So I'm just throw ish at the wall


That would be interesting to know. I'd like to learn more about long distance shooting and reloading.
 
Any word on if this new round performs differently when suppressed? Other than the .338 and 50bmg.

Good point to raise. The spec for the new rifle requires that it have a suppressor.

I've seen claims made that this round is more efficient than its competitors, due it being shorter and apparently fatter. The claims sound somewhat similar to what we heard back when all of the Winchester Short Magnum cartridges were introduced.

Whether the claims are real, or more marketing hype than actual tangible benefit, I don't know.

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