338 Norma Reloading Data
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This is excellent! I've been working on a new load for my 300 grain Berger's since retumbo is nearly non existent.
Working with N570 right now. At 86 grains and touching 2650fps. I'm going to keep pushing it to see if I can get at least 2750.
Granted two shot groups don't mean much, but it was promising. We will see what shakes out tomorrow. This was only at 100 yards.
@SheepShapeAK I think you've mentioned it before but what barrel length are you running?
I've got a 26" 9.3 twist Bartlein tube.
I haven't dipped into the 570 stash yet. Getting 2730 fps with 87.0 grains of 7977 but running out and obviously can't replace it. I picked up some Staball HD and we'll see how it goes.
Edit to add: 2730 with 300 SMK
I got lucky a while back and was able to snag two 8lb jugs of N570. Got a bunch of 7977 that I started doing a load work up with, but then the retumbo was more promising, so I went that route.
Be a lot cooler if the days of powder and primer on the shelves came back.
Been a while on mine, looked at my notes.Took it to 90.5 Retumbo,f215,2812v. My load is 88 gr,2740 w/300 otm.I have a 100 240 BDII,nad some Berger 250 that ill shoot up too.Have two 338NM both 26'',feed then the same near identical chambers
Made it to the range this morning and went up to 91gn of N570 behind the 300 grain Berger's. Didn't hit pressure, so I'll probably keep going up until I do.
Four shots of 91gn N570 gave me an average of 2787. ES was 9.8 and SD was 4.29.
But, the best group of the morning was 87gns N570. Gave me an average of 2672fps, ES 3.67 and SD of 2.03.
Also ran my hunting load of 275gn SBD2 with 86.9gn of H1000. Seems a little faster than I remembered. Was getting an average of 2795fps.
Four shots of 91gn N570 gave me an average of 2787. ES was 9.8 and SD was 4.29.
But, the best group of the morning was 87gns N570. Gave me an average of 2672fps, ES 3.67 and SD of 2.03.
Also ran my hunting load of 275gn SBD2 with 86.9gn of H1000. Seems a little faster than I remembered. Was getting an average of 2795fps.
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91 grains of N570 is where my 338 Norma Desert Tech also shoots the best with 285 grain Hornady ELD's. Mine are running at 2,780 fps, 26" barrel 1 in 10" twist; very similar velocity to your loads.
Went back today and did a seating depth test with the 91 grains of N570 since it had the speeds I was looking for. Found a nice little seating depth node for the 300 grain Berger's.
Average speed was 2777fps.
Average speed was 2777fps.
How far off the lands did you end up? I'm having trouble getting the Berger's to shoot in mine even though that's what it is throated for.
Shoots the 275 CE Lazers and weirdly enough the 300 ABLRs in one hole groups.
Roughly .014 off the lands. Those two groups were seated at 2.759" and 2.756" base to ogive. My rifle has quite a few rounds through it so I would need to check with my case gauge to know for sure.
Have you tried finding jam and then backing off in .003" increments to see what works well?
That's all I did with this seating depth test.
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I haven't gotten that far yet. Mine is an improved version and I have only been shooting from jam so far. But since the reamer was ground to be set up like that I figured it would be good to go there.
I have 2 other customs in different calibers/cartridges set up the same way and they shoot 1 hole from jam. But they aren't shooting OTM tactical profile Bergers. They are shooting elite hunter and target hybrids.
