.338 Lupua

[C.O. Shooter]

Wow!

What is your barrel length, maker, etc?

30" Bartlein, 1-9" twist, 5R.

(.371 Neck/.148 Freebore - Lapua Tactical Match)

 

[338 dude]

You sure it's not a 9.25?

I only know for sure what bartlein told me

 

[LRNut]

My Load: 300 Berger Elite Hunter, 91gr H1000, Lapua Brass, Fed215M Primers = 2851 FPS.

Depending on your chambering, you should find a load somewhere between 90-92 grains. I'd start around 88-89 and go up until you hit pressure. For me, my accuracy was found at .015 off, which for me is 2.989" BTO.

I shoot 90 gr H1000 in my Edge (300 Berger EH), Fed 215 and get 2880; would probably work as well in my Lapuas. My Edge has a Benchmark barrel and is relatively indifferent to seating depth, which is good because I have a standard mag. With today's FedEx delivery of 8 lbs of H1000, I now have quite a bit more H1000 than Retumbo. But I am down to 6000 Fed 215s...

 

[EFouraker]

Be sure that you aren't being too lax with recoil management. The bullet is still in the barrel when it is starting to recoil. I've found my .338s shoot better with a firm hold and a heavy load on the bipod.

 

[Wardog52]

Your brake adds anothe 2+ inches to the barrel length. Perhaps the harmonics are off. Can you easily remove the break then shoot a couple of groups. Are you shooting off a sandbagged bench? Does the rifle have a bipod attached? If you are shooting reloads, buy a box of factory ammo and try that just for a sanity check. Then shoot a session where you single hand feed each round, don't cycle it out of the magazine. Whomever put the rifle together for you, I'm sure they proof fired it, contact them and see what ammo they used and hopefully you can get the same ammo and give that a session. What is the twist rate on your barrel? for both that Berger and Nosler bullet the recommended optimal twist is 1:10. It would be interesting to see a group at distance (say 300yds or so) to see if the bullets stay stabilized.

1/10 twist. Most of the test loads, (not all) are longer than magazine. So they are fed one at a time. There is a chance, the threads on the brake are too thin as I wanted to enter change a suppresser. There is no need to shoot 300 yards until something is promising.

 

[Wardog52]

.338 Lapua update: I think I'm finally headed in the right direction with this rifle. I'll have to try and repeat it. I could not get a 300 grain Berger or a 300 grain Accubond to perform well. I got my hands on some 285 grain Hornaday ELD's. I'm not sure if the low shot was me. It was shot 1 out of the barrel. It was 50 degrees with a stiff north wind at my back. I'm seated .0150 off the lands. 94.6 grains of R33. Avg. velocity is 2800.

 

[Wardog52]

.338 Lapua update: I think I'm finally headed in the right direction with this rifle. I'll have to try and repeat it. I could not get a 300 grain Berger or a 300 grain Accubond to perform well. I got my hands on some 285 grain Hornaday ELD's. I'm not sure if the low shot was me. It was shot 1 out of the barrel. It was 50 degrees with a stiff north wind at my back. I'm seated .0150 off the lands. 94.6 grains of R33. Avg. velocity is 2800.

I should add that I purchased and used a Forester benchrest seater die and a CBTO bushing and measured. There was one bullet off on this measurement from the other four. I may have to sort all the bullets in the box. But I have a feeling I flinched on the cold bore shot. In my defense, the recoil is legit on that build. Lol…
This pay period I plan on ordering a neck tension die and mandrel. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm still new to the world of reloading.

 

[Gundog74]

Dang! Looks like you done awesome. Them big rifles can be hard to dial in. Not sure I'd mess with neck tension. Don't get much better than that. Way to go!

 

[Wardog52]

Update: it's been a long while since I updated my post. I found the load for this cannon! 265 grain LR Accubond, 101 grains of R33. MV is 3033 and no pressure issues. Bottom pic is 5 shots at 100 yards.

 

[Wardog52]

Update: it's been a long while since I updated my post. I found the load for this cannon! 265 grain LR Accubond, 101 grains of R33. MV is 3033 and no pressure issues. Bottom pic is 5 shots at 100 yards.

One issue I found was scope performance. Internals came loose. Upgraded to Valdada Gen 2 Recon. (Love it)

 

[jsmitt6]

Update: it's been a long while since I updated my post. I found the load for this cannon! 265 grain LR Accubond, 101 grains of R33. MV is 3033 and no pressure issues. Bottom pic is 5 shots at 100 yards.

Nice shooting! Where'd you find 265 ABLRs?

 

[Hard Head]

Before I would buy a bunch of expensive powder check your dies to make sure they are set wright ,check scope base screws and ring screws ,even after blue thread lock mine lusened up,cleaned on at a time and put red lock in,easy to get out just put scope wrench over flame and set in screw and it will come out,you might check to see that acton screws are correct and not tuching or bearing excesivly on stock. Remember she;s a expensive woman with expensive tastes ,she's sexy but worth the work,Pete