Just read through this entire post and had to comment on a few things. Not sure how many 338 Edge rifles I have built for customers over the past 10 years but its probably close to 100 rifles. Of those I have used Lilja, Krieger, Broughton, Rock, Hart, Bartlein, Brux and pretty much every other top end barrel you could think of.
Have chambered the 338 Edge with barrel lengths ranging from 3.700" up to 4.100" OAL with the SMK and Berger 300 gr. and in barrel lengths from 26" up to 34" in length.
Pretty much every combination there is out there including conventional throats as well as my hybrid throat which is EXTEMELY similar to the DE +P throat design and I have learned a lot of things about the 338 Edge over the years. Here are some of those things:
1. in a 30" barrel length, with a 300 gr SMK, a 338 Edge with conventional throat design SHOULD average 2850 to 2900 fps and the length of the throat really did not have a great deal of effect on the final performance. The specific barrel had more effect on final velocity numbers then the throat design.
2. The 338 Edge will only gain around 15 fps per inch when barrel length increases over 28" in length. Past 30" its often in the 10-12 fps range. Very efficient chambering and does not need a very long barrel nor does it really benefit from a very long barrel.
3. The 338 Edge with my Hybrid throat will add around 100 fps to the average velocity for any given barrel length with the 300 gr bullet weights, that means 2950-3000 fps. And that's with the best powders out there for this chamber and throat design. Those being RL33 which produces performance nearly identical to N570. H-1000 is certainly not a preferred powder for top velocity as it pressures out much to quickly. I prefer Retumbo to H-1000. Higher load densities, slightly higher velocity and a bit more comfortable chamber pressures.
4. If your not getting AT LEAST 4-5 firings per case before primer pockets are loosening up, your pressures are to high.
I may have missed it in your earlier posts but I did not see what your receiver was. From the pictures it looks like whatever it is, your using a receiver that has a CRF design with the extractor over the left bolt lug. THis design results in the left bolt lug being relatively small compared to the right lug. This IS NOT the type of receiver I would recommend pushing the envelope as far as pressures go as that small lug is a weak link.
I also find it interesting that you start reporting about velocity in the 3150 fps range and by the end your using 92.7 gr for 3020 fps velocity, still very fast velocity but on the upper end of realistic for the 338 Edge.
There is really only one way to get velocity and that is a simple function of pressure and time. The amount of pressure behind a bullet and the amount of time the bullet is in the bore so the pressure can accelerate that bullet. Only two ways to increase velocity and that is either to increase chamber pressure or increase the bore time by using a longer barrel.
Simply put, I am not trying to offend you in any way. Had you opened your thread with the velocities you are currently using, that being 3020 fps, they would have been fast but not totally unrealistic. 3140-3150 fps, that's WAY over where you should be, WAY OVER!!! Especailly for that receiver design and especially using H1000.
Just some friendly advice, I would still tone things back to 2950-3000 fps and be happy with that. You will get plenty of velocity and your brass and rifle will be much happier. You will also be much happier if you happen to run into a case with a slightly weakened case head.....
Anyway take it for what you will. For those that want a 338 Edge, even a 32" barreled rifle, DO NOT expect to get 3100 fps, you will not be happy and in most cases, you will be running very unsafe pressures.
