What is .308 Palma?

[Dangermouse]

Over the last few months I am seeing more mentioned on the .308 Palma but so far can not find out what it is (except it was designed for the US Palma team) other than cases are more expensive than winchester.

Any ideas?

DM

[ovenpaa]

Isn't Palma American Target? To be honest I have never looked into it but I do have a handful of Palma bullets if you ever want to try them.

[20series]

I think I'm right in saying the new Lapua "Palma" .308 brass has small primer pocket instead of the normal large and then they charge about £20 per 100 extra.

Sierra make the Matchking 155 grain Palma (ref 2156) which has a slimmer profile and better BC than the older (ref2155).

Alan

[rox]

It's the small primer 308 case.

http://www.lapua.com/upload/downloads/b ... se2010.pdf

[ovenpaa]

Ah yes of course

[Dangermouse]

Thanks, I am not convinced that a small primer is not just a case of the kings new clothes.
Perhaps some day I will give it a go,

DM

[dodgyrog]

.308 Palma refers to the 155gr Sierra bullet used for acccuracy, I bleieve developed for the Palma Match in the US of A.
Lapua developed the 6,5 x 47 case to go in a .308 length action and this smaller capacity case uses a small rifle pocket.
I'm sure others can give more extensive information.
ATB

[woody_rod]

The term "palma" means quite a few things, but it all can be traced back to the competition that used to bear that name. The competition is now the World Long Range Championships, with the overarching body being ICFRA. There are still Palma councils etc, but I am not sure the exact relationship of how it works these days.

Otherwise, Palma can be related to:

Bullets in 30 cal that weigh under 156 grains
Cases for the 308 win or 7.62 NATO
Profiles for barrels (as in the weight of them)
other stuff that people come up with to use the word for marketing

[sanselm]

Woody is right Palma is now a marketing term used by companies such as Sierra and Lapua to refer to their products which specifically designed for this competition which is probably one of the most Prestigious Competitions around. It is essentially target rifle but shot on the same targets we use for F Class. In fact the format we use is derived from Palma matches where we shoot 800, 900 and 1,000 yds. The bullets Sierra first called the Palma bullets were the s2155 bullets that we specifically designed for the 1000 Palma matches where you are limited to 155gr, they have released an updated version which is the S2156 which is longer overall and is factory pointed. Last year Lapua released new 308 brass which is called 308 Palma as it was developed in commission with the US Palma team and as mentioned previously has a small primer pocket. Theory being better extreme spreads of MV leading to better long range accuracy. Same as the 6.5 x 47 lapua which was originally a large primer pocket before decided the small primer pocket worked better as in the 6mm BR. (Only know this because Vince had some of the original brass given to him by Lapua and it is the large pp.)

[The Gun Pimp]

Dangermouse,

To add to Stuart's reply -

F/TR shooters on both sides of the pond have been pushing the ballistics of the 308Win (some are getting 3100fps with the 155 bullet!) and for the first time, I'm beginning to get slack primer pockets in my 308 brass after just a few firings.

The small primer will put more 'meat' in the casehead and hopefully keep the primer pockets tight. Some will claim better accuracy/consistency but I tried small-primer Remington 308 brass 15 years ago - with no improvement in accuracy.

Cheers
Vince