Norma ammunition

Swede as!

Marek Smith trials some explosive hunting ammo by Norma

Swedish ammunition manufacturer Norma can boast more than 120 years of experience, having built its reputation on precision and consistency using their own high-quality brass cases which are also popular with reloaders. The VermineXtreme line is their dedicated varmint offering, designed to deliver ‘massive shock effect’ and engineered for precision pest control and small-game hunting.

As a recreational hunter of more than three decades, I was eager to assess these claims of accuracy and terminal performance on such game.

The VermineXtreme .223 Rem 55-grain hollow-point bullet features an aggressive open-tip design, optimised for rapid and devastating expansion on impact, ensuring a rapid energy dump without excessive penetration. The design also minimises the risk of pests escaping after being hit. The brand is also available in .222 Rem (55gr), .22-250 Rem (55gr) and .243 Win (76gr).

Unboxing

The ammunition provided for review came in a 100-round box with loosely-packed cartridges. Other options available are a 20-round box or 900-round plastic tubs which, from what I’ve seen online, contain nine of these same 100-round boxes. On close inspection of the ammo, cases are highly polished with an excellent finish.

Range testing

For this I’d be using two rifles in a Tikka T3x Lite in .223 with 22” barrel and 1:12” twist rate, as well as a WFA1-L straight-pull in .223 with 16” barrel and a 1:8” twist rate. The latter prefers heavier projectiles and while I wouldn’t normally choose a 55gr projectile for it, I was keen to compare it to other 55gr ammunition I’ve used previously. The Tikka on the other hand loves lighter projectiles, so I was excited to see how this ammunition stacked up against other brands, especially in terms of performance on foxes.

Results

In both rifles I compared this Norma 55gr VermineXtreme HP ammo to the well-known and highly reputable Australian-made ADI 55gr Soft Point. I put three five-shot groups, one with ADI and two with Norma, through each rifle. The target at this range was placed at 100 yards and not metres which I’d typically shoot at.

For both, the Norma groups came in slightly tighter than ADI but at a noticeably slower speed. Also of interest was consistency of the Norma ammunition as, in each rifle, group sizes were almost identical as seen in the accompanying table.

Field testing

For this I took the Norma ammunition on a couple of outings with three regular hunting mates. Before getting down to business, I fired a quick confirmatory shot at both 100m and 200m from the vehicle at a small orange sticker on a steel target. Both shots hit the sticker on the first attempt, so I was comfortable with zero and ready to go hunting.

During field testing I successfully targeted and shot three predatory foxes. The first was a rapid follow-up shot on the raider hit by a 17HMR round from my mate’s rifle. Unfortunately it didn’t go down straight away from the impact of the 17HMR but, being prepared, I immediately followed up with the Warwick using the Norma 55gr HP and the fox died instantly.

In search of more targets we moved to another nearby farm in the fading light of early evening and started loading magazines and powering up our thermal optics. As usual I performed a quick scan with my handheld thermal just to check our surroundings and, to my surprise, spotted a redcoat trotting across the dirt driveway we’d come in on a few minutes earlier. Luckily I was ready and picked up my Tikka.

I ranged the fox at around 170m in open ground, walking away from us, so made a noise to attract its attention. It stopped, looked in our direction and I took the shot. The bullet struck it in the head as it was looking down the barrel, entering its forehead and exiting the back of the skull with no sizeable exit hole. The Norma 55gr HP round had done its job as the target dropped exactly where it stood.

The third fox was about 200m away on the same property a short time later. My mate and I managed to stalk a bit closer as it was sniffing around for food and as I took a sight picture, he whistled it in. The sound grabbed its attention as it started running in our direction. When it was about 80m away I made a noise and it stopped to look in our direction for a split second. I took the shot as it was facing me, aiming for the middle of its chest.

Amazingly it managed to stagger about 5m before dropping to the ground and on close inspection, the round had entered its chest as expected, yet a whole side of its lung cavity was missing with smoke still rising from the wound as we approached. This is exactly the kind of performance I was expecting from this ammunition – good initial penetration followed by explosive expansion.

In summary

I’d like to have taken more foxes or even a feral cat for this review but, from both my time at the range and results in the field, I was more than happy with how consistent and accurate this ammunition was and its performance on game, especially with my Tikka T3x. Needless to say I’ll continue to use Norma VermineXtreme on future hunts. And with how well it’s performed so far, I’ll be looking to buy this ammunition in the larger bulk packs, as those prices are better value than the smaller 20-round options. Not only did I find it an excellent factory round but, as a reloader, I’ll definitely be hanging on to this brass for future use.