Terry Wieland On Ammo

From the Inside Out – How Norma Redesigned the Super 7x61

There has been nothing official – no press release to announce it – but it would appear that Norma has finally pulled the plug on the 7x61 Sharpe & Hart, a cartridge it has been making for more than 50 years.

The 7x61 no longer appears in any of its ammunition lists or ballistics tables, and anyone with a rifle chambered for this fine, but under-appreciated, cartridge would be well advised to grab any Norma brass while it is still available.

The 7x61 S&H arrived on the scene in the 1950s, the first real magnum 7mm to be commercially available. It should have had a bright future, but it was star-crossed from the beginning. Too bad: It is a good cartridge, and was chambered in some exceedingly fine rifles.

Philip B. Sharpe was an American writer, ballistician and cartridge designer who is given much of the credit for creating the .357 Magnum in the 1930s. After World War II, he came home with an idea for a magnum 7mm rifle cartridge, based on an experimental French round he saw in Europe while serving as an ordnance officer with the army.

In 1947, there was no 7mm cartridge in the U.S. except for the 7x57. Remington’s .280 and 7mm Magnum were still a decade or more away; the only competition was the proprietary 7mm Weatherby, and the Weatherby company was in its infancy. Sharpe set about designing a modern cartridge, suitable for .30-06 length actions, with a larger base, relatively straight case, and sharp shoulder.

Although a gun nut of the most deranged sort, Sharpe was rather contemptuous of wildcats, and wanted his creation to become a factory round that would bear his name. After several years of development, and a reported expenditure of more than $10,000, Sharpe came up with his final design. It was based on the .375 H&H belted case, and the belt was left on for the sake of convenience.

Sharpe then persuaded Norma of Sweden to make factory ammunition and brass, and Schultz & Larsen, the Danish target-rifle maker, to produce a sporting rifle. The Schultz & Larsen rifle was manufactured in several models between 1954 and 1970, each one better than the last, and all beautifully made and finished. They were de luxe rifles from the start, and never offered in a cheaper model.

Sharpe’s original ballistics showed a 160-grain bullet at 3100 fps. He was dreaming. Although chronographs were in short supply in the 1950s, enough tests were carried out to show the bullet was really only travelling a little better than 2900 fps. This alone would not have been life-threatening, but in 1963 Remington came out with its 7mm Magnum, claiming to launch a 150-grain bullet at 3,260 fps. It did not fulfil the claims either, but rifles, ammunition and brass were inexpensive and readily available, and those advantages were enough.

Philip Sharpe died around 1964 under somewhat mysterious circumstances. With no one to trumpet its virtues, the 7x61 quickly became moribund.

Both Norma and Schultz & Larsen had made considerable investments in the cartridge and the sporting rifles, and did their best to save it. Norma took the highly unusual step of redesigning the 7x61 internally to give it more powder capacity and hence, velocity.

With his usual overkill, Sharpe had made the cartridge case walls and web unnecessarily stout. Knowing their modern brass could withstand higher pressures, Norma thinned the web and walls, gave the cartridge about five grains worth of extra room, and re-released it as the Super 7x61. Norma backed the bullet weight off to 154 grains, velocity was upped to about 3050, and a very fine cartridge was reborn.

Alas, no one was much interested. In the early ’70s, the Schultz & Larsen rifles disappeared from the American scene. Still, thousands of custom rifles had been made for the 7x61 in the 1950s and ’60s, and Shultz & Larsen rifles were still to be found, so there was continuing demand for ammunition and brass. Norma continued to produce it for the next 40 years.

Except for someone suffering from terminal nostalgia, there is no reason to have a 7x61 rifle made now. There is, however, every good reason to grab one of the Schultz & Larsens if they come along. The Model 65, 65DL, and 68DL are as fine rifles as you will find this side of a $10,000 custom job, and they can usually be had for under a grand. They are a pleasure to shoot, the cartridge is easy to load and delivers excellent accuracy, and with modern loads it has all the killing power of the 7mm Remington or 7mm Weatherby.

Norma’s Super 7x61 brass is available from Huntington Die Specialties in California.