338-378 wby 225 CE Bullet

[Long Time Long Ranger]

Did some shooting this morning trying my new loads with the 225 grain Cutting Edge bullet. The rifle is a rebarreled Wby MK5 with a 28" #4 Hart barrel 1-10 twist. The rifle weighs 10 1/4 pounds scoped out with bipod.

I started a new lot of H-870 powder and my best load was 128 grains with a fed 215 match primer and a COAL of 4.05". Velocity 15 feet in front of the muzzle averaged 3506 fps. It shot a 7/8" 3 shot group at 300 yards for zero refference then dialed in for 1000 yards. It shot a 3 shot 6 7/8" group at 1000 yards. The three shots were 3507 fps, 3507 fps and 3504 fps. The BC with this bullet is showing to be between .65 and .66 after two range sessions at 1000 yards.

After this morning I have decided to go with the 225 CE bullet for all shooting with this rifle. I have reserved this rifle for extreme long range shooting using the 300 grain smk since before that bullet was released to the public. The recoil in a 10 pound rifle is noticable. The recoil with the 225 CE bullet is not noticable. My accuracy load with this rifle and the 300 smk is 3064 fps.

I ran the numbers when I got home out to 1300 yards comparing the 300 smk to the 225 CE. Windage is identical to 1300 yards with a .7" difference in a ten mph wind. At 1300 yards the 225 CE drops 279 inches. The 300 smk drops 361 inches. That is with a 3" high at 100 yard zero which I use frequently. Velocity at 1300 yards is 1975 fps with the CE bullet and 1842 fps with the 300 smk. The CE is a hunting bullet recommended for hunting with nearly a third better ballistics than the 300 smk and hardly any recoil in my rifle. I am switching to the CE bullet for this year and pending how it performs on game will shoot it permanently until something better comes along.

 

[highridge1]

Incredible velocity but we still will have quite abit more energy way out there like 1000 + yards with 300 gr sierra's or Bergers.Enough that I think it matters.Thru about 800 yards though I can see how 225's and 250's are worth while.Compare the energy levels it's pretty significant.

 

[Rocky Mountain]

The 225gr BC .640 cutting edge seems to be workin very well for you with the advantage of slightly less recoil. The figures might be a bit different if you were comparing the Gen2 300gr hybrid BC .820 or 300gr BC .835 cutting edge instead of sierra 300gr SMK BC .768. The cutting egde 252gr BC .720 looks very interesting and could be a very good compromise with BC recoil and velocity.

 

[lazylabs]

They look like nice bullets but man $2 a pop for the 275's makes me cry a little. I know it's chump change when you consider the cost of the guns and truck load of gear most of us take out but still mentally challenging. What if I just get the 225's and see if I can get them to 4000fps in the 408 case, $2 per PD might make it super fun to watch.

 

[Long Time Long Ranger]

The beauty of the big 338 bullets is any of them at 2000 fps has excessive energy to do the job. A 225 grain bullet going 2000 fps will kill anything and shoot through elk size game with the monometal bullet. Energy to spare with these big bullets so I am not concerned with energy at the ranges I would shoot.

I plugged in the 252 grain .72 bc CE bullet with my accuracy load of 3280 fps. It is 2" better in a 10 mph wind at 1300 yards but drops 36 more inches. The 300 grain berger at 3064 fps is 4" better in a 10 mph wind at 1300 yards than the 252 grain but drops 71 more inches than the 225 CE bullet. At 5000 feet elevation where I live with all three zeroed 3" high at 100 yards the 225 drops 279" with 66" wind drift, the 252 drops 314" with 64" wind drift and the 300 Berger drops 350" with 60" wind drift. The 300 SMK drops 361" with 66" wind drift. Windage is all very close but the drops are quite a bit in favor of the 225 grain.

If I was doing a specialty hunt going out over a mile I would go to the 300 grain CE bullet or maybe the 325 Rocky Mountain bullet if that bc over 1 is accurate. I have never shot that bullet to test bc so wouldn't know.

I still like the light recoil of the 225 CE allowing me to shoot a little better with no concern about recoil in my 10 pound rifle. A big plus is not needing rails to over 1300 yards with this set up using my mil dot scope and setting my drops off the last mil dot. Every ounce I can take off my gun is a plus for a backpacker. Backpacking 15 rounds loaded with 300's is a lot heavier than 15 rounds at 225 grains each. Heck, I take food out of wrappers and combine it in zip locks to save weight backpacking and a bunch other stuff. What I do is very refined considering my hunting style to cover country glassing. If I could haul my gun on a horse or an atv I might come up with something different. With my weight rifle and for the way I hunt the 225 grain looks worth while to try for a season and see what happens. Performance on game is yet to be known so wait and see on that one.

 

[Long Time Long Ranger]

Lazylabs, The 225 CE bullets are $1.50 each. Such a bargain. The way I figure it is I set it up for hunting and shoot it sparingly. Considering what I spend on hunting all over north america the bullets are cheap. What 408 case you shooting.

 

[Pdvdh]

The beauty of the big 338 bullets is any of them at 2000 fps has excessive energy to do the job. A 225 grain bullet going 2000 fps will kill anything and shoot through elk size game with the monometal bullet. Energy to spare with these big bullets so I am not concerned with energy at the ranges I would shoot.

With my weight rifle and for the way I hunt the 225 grain looks worth while to try for a season and see what happens. Performance on game is yet to be known so wait and see on that one.

My hunting is all backpack hunting, and you've presented the data and arguments in a very rational manner, for the LRH living off his back or on the go. I won't be shooting farther than 1300 yds, and I agree that the 225 gr bullet is completely functional out to that yardage. The CE bullets seem very accurate in your rifles. I'll be interested to learn of your terminal performance experiences on game during the upcoming hunting season.

Thanks for sharing your experience with the CE bullets to date.

 

[Long Time Long Ranger]

Thanks Phorwath, I will be up your way in Alaska for six weeks in August and September. Shoot some caribou with us if you have time.

 

[WyoElk2Hunt]

Lazylabs, The 225 CE bullets are $1.50 each. Such a bargain. The way I figure it is I set it up for hunting and shoot it sparingly. Considering what I spend on hunting all over north america the bullets are cheap. What 408 case you shooting.

At this point in the game, the cheapest thing is the bullets and to find one that works great its a bargin. Sounds like you are having fun.

 

[Long Time Long Ranger]

I was having a lot of fun this morning. My 225 grain accubond load hit 3440-3460 fps. I hit this load at 3507 fps with a .65 bc and amazing accuracy and have been excited all day planning what I am going to do with it. I have got to work this gun in on some hunts this year. This is the best load I have ever had in this rifle. I will pay for the bullets if they work. I am hoping they do well on game. I will get plenty of chances starting with caribou in Alaska. This rifle is just way fun to shoot. The bullets really are the cheapest thing of the hunt and the most important. If a guy shot targets regularly they would get expensive. But get the right load and just check zero each year this rifle will not get much use other than killing stuff. Bullets are cheap that way to have that kind of accuracy with a .65 bc going 3507 fps.

 

[yobuck]

i recently had the pleasure of meeting dan of cutting edge bullets.
i also got a tour of their large and beautiful new facility in drifting pa.
our camp is not far away. we had a long talk about bullets.
i bought a box of his 252 gr. for my upcoming 338x408.
he claims the 252 gr. would be best all round for that cartridge up to about a mile. especially since im using a 10 twist barrel.
he also claims his 300 gr. 338 wont properly stabilize in more than 8 twist barrels.

 

[HARPERC]

Long Time Long Ranger.
I always learn something when you post. I've reread this a couple of times and couldn't find which case you're using with the CE bullets.
Thanks

 

[RDM416]

LTLR, Which 225 bullet are you using they have several listed, the "MAX" I assume?? I am going to order a box today and give them a run out of my Khan, who knows I may be able to push 3550 out of it.gun) It will be real interesting to see what the 338 AM will do with that bullet when Kirby gets mine done later this fall.

Thanks for a great write up and sharing your results with the rest of us.

 

[Long Time Long Ranger]

I am using the MTH-D62 bullet. They list a .64 bc but my drops are showing between .65-.66 at 1000 yards. This may he due to me driving them 3500 fps. I was using Norma 338-378 cases with necks turned, primer pockets cleaned up and trimmed to length.

I would guess this bullet would work at 338-408 speeds since it is monometal and don't have to worry about it blowing up. That 338 AM would be amazing to shoot if the bullet works. I try a bunch of stuff trying to find something that works the best. Many are a waist of time and money with bullets that don't work at my velocities or overhyped BC's. I only have two range sessions with these but so far so good and the bc seems to be accurate as listed. I am going to try and shoot them in some of my 338-300 RUM's, 338 Lapuas and 338 RUM's by the weekend.

I am excited about this new lot of H-870. My last two 8 pound kegs so I must conserve. Every lot of h-870 is different and can vary by nearly 10%. Some lots give amazing results. This lot is like some I had about 10-15 years ago that gave amazing velocities. Sniper2 on here watched in amazement with that batch as I pushed 250 SGK's into the 3400's fps out of this rifle. About 150 fps faster than normal.