.338 Sherman Short Mag build

[RockyMtnMT]

Sorry I missed this thread till now.

Does not make sense that pressure was higher on the 236g Hammer Hunter. Should show significantly lower pressure than the heavier lead core bullet. Might want to look at another powder? I would expect an extra 100fps over the heavier bullet.

As to how much baring surface in the case neck, I like 3 drive bands making contact but 2 should be good enough.

Jumping is not an issue. As a hunter the only thing I don't recommend is touching the lands. We don't see any decrease in accuracy with jumping even .125" plus.

I will watch this thread more closely now.

Steve

 

[El Matavenados]

Sorry I missed this thread till now.

Does not make sense that pressure was higher on the 236g Hammer Hunter. Should show significantly lower pressure than the heavier lead core bullet. Might want to look at another powder? I would expect an extra 100fps over the heavier bullet.

As to how much baring surface in the case neck, I like 3 drive bands making contact but 2 should be good enough.

Jumping is not an issue. As a hunter the only thing I don't recommend is touching the lands. We don't see any decrease in accuracy with jumping even .125" plus.

I will watch this thread more closely now.

Steve

Thanks for the reply, Steve!! I am not that savvy when it comes to these things, so your input is very welcome. I was assuming that the difference was similar to the higher pressure you see in standard core bullets and copper bullets from other manufacturers, and it sounds like that might be erroneous.

However, I was recently engaged to be married, and saving for a wedding and providing for a wife is going to drastically change my ability to test powders and projectiles. Thus I will be saying "good enough!" quite frequently!!!

 

[elkaholic]

Congrats on the engagement! You may have been on the lands?

 

[El Matavenados]

It is possible. I used a bullet in a slotted case to get a starting length, then backed it off 10 thou.

 

[RockyMtnMT]

It is possible. I used a bullet in a slotted case to get a starting length, then backed it off 10 thou.

Rl16 might be worth a look. And don't worry about letting them jump as long as your case capacity is not being crowded.

Steve

 

[ruby76]

Rl16 might be worth a look. And don't worry about letting them jump as long as your case capacity is not being crowded.

Steve

Varget may now be the go to in the 338SS. Check out the "My 338 Sherman short mag" thread for all the testing Doc and I have been doing with ours. Doc is now testing 225 and soon 240 monos, I have 250 LRX to try soon.

 

[RockyMtnMT]

Varget may now be the go to in the 338SS. Check out the "My 338 Sherman short mag" thread for all the testing Doc and I have been doing with ours.

Varget is one of my favorite powders. Always seems very consistent.

Steve

 

[El Matavenados]

I have picked up this project again, and have made some progress. I had originally purchased a couple hundred Norma brass, but they are just too soft. I won't get into all the details, but I purchased 50 ADG cases with the 338 SS head stamp, necked up and fireformed, and that took care of the brass issue. I still wasn't super happy with my rifle's accuracy. Last Sunday, I shot it at 300 yards, and the 5-round group was .79 MOA, and that made me happy.

That was with 250gr Berger EH, 63.5 gr Hybrid 100V, at 2750 fps. Then, I picked up some Varget to try, and found that I got pressure signs at 61gr (heavy bolt lift, ejector swipe, light cratering). So yesterday, I loaded up 3 cases with 59.5 gr and 60 gr Varget, 250gr Berger EH. Velocities for the lighter loads were around 2815 fps, and the heavier were around 2830. But the grouping on the 59.5 grain load was fantastic!

That is .4 MOA at 100 yards, 3 rounds. I need to load and shoot some more to confirm that it's not a fluke, but this was very encouraging for me.

 

[MTbackwoods]

Any more data on this? I'm considering an SS cartridge and the 338 sounds too tempting

 

[ZReed85]

Interested on more info as well

 

[jsmitt6]

Going to resurrect this thread. I can't seem to find the info and want to make sure before I have a barrel chambered in the 338 Sherman Short. I guess I could call around but call me lazy. Is this legitimately a short action cartridge? I have a donor Remington 308 barreled action and would love to rebarrel to a 338 Sherman Short if it will fit in an AICS short action mag.

 

[elkaholic]

Going to resurrect this thread. I can't seem to find the info and want to make sure before I have a barrel chambered in the 338 Sherman Short. I guess I could call around but call me lazy. Is this legitimately a short action cartridge? I have a donor Remington 308 barreled action and would love to rebarrel to a 338 Sherman Short if it will fit in an AICS short action mag.

Put in a DBM as close to 3" as gou can and youre golden

 

[ruby76]

Going to resurrect this thread. I can't seem to find the info and want to make sure before I have a barrel chambered in the 338 Sherman Short. I guess I could call around but call me lazy. Is this legitimately a short action cartridge? I have a donor Remington 308 barreled action and would love to rebarrel to a 338 Sherman Short if it will fit in an AICS short action mag.

Mine is built on a Remington 700 wsm donor with accurate mag wsm magazine.

 

[Chase723]

Going to resurrect this thread. I can't seem to find the info and want to make sure before I have a barrel chambered in the 338 Sherman Short. I guess I could call around but call me lazy. Is this legitimately a short action cartridge? I have a donor Remington 308 barreled action and would love to rebarrel to a 338 Sherman Short if it will fit in an AICS short action mag.

It is a legitimate short action cartridge with DBM (Like Rich said) but there are a couple things to be aware of 1) In short action length you will be limited to shooting lead projectiles <250gr or monolithic projectiles <225gr. 2) In order to get the velocity you will want and that it is capable of then you need to have it throated with the longest reamer Rich has. Once you know that, then it's an absolutely awesome true short action cartridge and due to the cartridge design works very well in short barrels. I built one with a 19" Benchmark. I haven't done load development with it yet but with 225gr fireforming loads w/ 57gr of Varget I was getting 2750. I'm going to use the 230gr ELDX as my bullet of choice for it. For a couple reasons I expect it to run ~2800fps. That's pretty much the same as a 24" .338 win mag.

Otherwise, build it on a medium or long action and then you can run the heavies...I'm tempted to build one of those as well because with a longer tube and .300gr Berger I'm thinking the performance could be very close to .338 Lapua/Norma (not the same but close), would be mag fed, and I already have all the reloading stuff.