Fiftydriver
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Well guys, there have not been A LOT of these 300 Raptors ship to customers, mainly because of the brass issue that came up dealing with Bertram but now that a third party distributor is now importing 338 Raptor brass into the states from Bertram, we are back up and running.
A simple refresher on what my Raptor wildcats are first. Simply put, this is a unique case design that I developed and hired Bertram to make brass for me to my specs. Basically its a case that is the same diameter as the 338 Lapua but the case body is stretched to basically match the length of the 408 Cheytac cartridges.
The idea of this case all along was to get the absolute most capacity practical for use in my APS Raptor receivers and it does this very well. In the 30 cal version, the 300 Raptor, I admit that the case capacity is really pushing the practical limits on what we can do with a 30 cal bore with available bullet weights and powders. That said, while the combinations are somewhat limited, there are some very good ones that function very well.
For a little size comparision, the 300 Raptors are the two on the left, 300 RUM on the right. Most of my Raptor rifles will be single shot rifles because of their very long OAL in ammo. These shown here are loaded with the 230 gr Berger Hybrid to an OAL of 4.245". We can use some large repeating receivers and use the magazines designed for the 408 Cheytac but this really defeats the purpose of the round. If your going to use those big receivers and mags, why not just step up to my 338 Allen Magnum.....
Anyway, RL50 and H50BMG have always been my go to powders for this wildcat. Since H50BMG is no longer being produced, at least not for the time being, I will offer performance numbers using RL50.
Top loads generally will top out in the 121.0-122.0 gr range with the 230 gr Berger and lit with a Fed-215 primer. Out of a Raptor LRSS with 30" barrel length, this load will produce 3290-3320 fps on average.
Using Hodgdon US-869 powder, we will generally top out in the 123.0-125.0 gr range and get into that 3350-3375 fps range.
On some very limited occasions I have experienced some minor hang fires using US869 powder but only when shooting in cooler temps. For example, with this last rifle I tested for a customer, I had zero hint of hang fires during the entire load development process when shooting in 45-50 degree temps.
However this morning when long range accuracy testing, in temps I the 25-35 degree range, I experienced two minor hand fires very early in the shooting session but none after.
RL50, being a much bulkier stick powder produces significantly higher load densities and have never experienced a hang fire with that powder. So, I would likely rather give up 25-50 fps velocity for a bit more assurance there would be no hang fires.
As mentioned, the development of the 300 Raptor has proven that this is just about the max practical capacity we can use in the 30 cal bore diameter with the powders and bullets we have commonly available today. Powders such as VV20n29 certainly have a more appropriate burn rate for this expansion ratio design but I have found that you can run into powder bridging issues with this very large stick powder. As such, right now powders such as RL50, H50BMG if you can find it, US869, AA8700 and similar powders are best. Also surplus powders such as WC860 and WC872 work very well also but are not the best if your shooting in a wide range of temps.
If using these powders, one should always develop their loads in the hottest temps they would possibly ever be shooting in and then measure the velocity in lower temps to see what difference there is. Developing top loads in cooler temps and then shooting in hot weather will certainly result in excessive pressure signs.
I am very interested in the new 250 gr Hornady A tip bullets. I feel this heavy weight 30 cal will help dramatically to settle this monster 30 cal down and start getting into a bullet weight that will really make this beast run well. When I designed the Raptor wildcats on paper many years ago, my good friend Richard Graves was still the owner of Wildcat Bullets in Alberta, Canada and he made me some 290 gr ULD RBBT test bullets just for this purpose. Sadly he sold his business and the new owners never really got it back up and running.
A 275-290 gr 30 cal would be a huge asset for this big 30 cal but only if they were designed with extremely heavy jackets so handle the extreme RPM levels needed to stabilize them.
With the new 250 gr Hornady, I am hoping to see load densities get up into the 92-95% range compared to 88-90% currently with the 230 gr. This alone will help eliminate the possible hang fire issues using the ultra slow ball powders.
The 300 Raptor has always been an experiment to see what could be done in the 30 cal bore diameter. It is also another testament that my 300 Allen Magnum, based on the 375 cheytac simply is to much capacity to function in the 30 cal bore.
I am also starting to work with Peterson brass to see if they would be willing to make me some of their fine brass in the 300 Raptor and 338 Raptor specs. This alone would help as their brass can take much more pressure then the Bertram brass. Still the Bertram does well for the time being.
The rifle tested today was sort of a Raptor Hybrid. Shot extremely well at 1000 yards. Just shooting at a 1/3 moa sized target rock, it was not hard to make consistent repeatable hits on targets of that size.
Now with rifle accuracy proven, time to get cerakote finished in Coyote Tan, will look rather sharp when coated!!!
A simple refresher on what my Raptor wildcats are first. Simply put, this is a unique case design that I developed and hired Bertram to make brass for me to my specs. Basically its a case that is the same diameter as the 338 Lapua but the case body is stretched to basically match the length of the 408 Cheytac cartridges.
The idea of this case all along was to get the absolute most capacity practical for use in my APS Raptor receivers and it does this very well. In the 30 cal version, the 300 Raptor, I admit that the case capacity is really pushing the practical limits on what we can do with a 30 cal bore with available bullet weights and powders. That said, while the combinations are somewhat limited, there are some very good ones that function very well.
For a little size comparision, the 300 Raptors are the two on the left, 300 RUM on the right. Most of my Raptor rifles will be single shot rifles because of their very long OAL in ammo. These shown here are loaded with the 230 gr Berger Hybrid to an OAL of 4.245". We can use some large repeating receivers and use the magazines designed for the 408 Cheytac but this really defeats the purpose of the round. If your going to use those big receivers and mags, why not just step up to my 338 Allen Magnum.....
Anyway, RL50 and H50BMG have always been my go to powders for this wildcat. Since H50BMG is no longer being produced, at least not for the time being, I will offer performance numbers using RL50.
Top loads generally will top out in the 121.0-122.0 gr range with the 230 gr Berger and lit with a Fed-215 primer. Out of a Raptor LRSS with 30" barrel length, this load will produce 3290-3320 fps on average.
Using Hodgdon US-869 powder, we will generally top out in the 123.0-125.0 gr range and get into that 3350-3375 fps range.
On some very limited occasions I have experienced some minor hang fires using US869 powder but only when shooting in cooler temps. For example, with this last rifle I tested for a customer, I had zero hint of hang fires during the entire load development process when shooting in 45-50 degree temps.
However this morning when long range accuracy testing, in temps I the 25-35 degree range, I experienced two minor hand fires very early in the shooting session but none after.
RL50, being a much bulkier stick powder produces significantly higher load densities and have never experienced a hang fire with that powder. So, I would likely rather give up 25-50 fps velocity for a bit more assurance there would be no hang fires.
As mentioned, the development of the 300 Raptor has proven that this is just about the max practical capacity we can use in the 30 cal bore diameter with the powders and bullets we have commonly available today. Powders such as VV20n29 certainly have a more appropriate burn rate for this expansion ratio design but I have found that you can run into powder bridging issues with this very large stick powder. As such, right now powders such as RL50, H50BMG if you can find it, US869, AA8700 and similar powders are best. Also surplus powders such as WC860 and WC872 work very well also but are not the best if your shooting in a wide range of temps.
If using these powders, one should always develop their loads in the hottest temps they would possibly ever be shooting in and then measure the velocity in lower temps to see what difference there is. Developing top loads in cooler temps and then shooting in hot weather will certainly result in excessive pressure signs.
I am very interested in the new 250 gr Hornady A tip bullets. I feel this heavy weight 30 cal will help dramatically to settle this monster 30 cal down and start getting into a bullet weight that will really make this beast run well. When I designed the Raptor wildcats on paper many years ago, my good friend Richard Graves was still the owner of Wildcat Bullets in Alberta, Canada and he made me some 290 gr ULD RBBT test bullets just for this purpose. Sadly he sold his business and the new owners never really got it back up and running.
A 275-290 gr 30 cal would be a huge asset for this big 30 cal but only if they were designed with extremely heavy jackets so handle the extreme RPM levels needed to stabilize them.
With the new 250 gr Hornady, I am hoping to see load densities get up into the 92-95% range compared to 88-90% currently with the 230 gr. This alone will help eliminate the possible hang fire issues using the ultra slow ball powders.
The 300 Raptor has always been an experiment to see what could be done in the 30 cal bore diameter. It is also another testament that my 300 Allen Magnum, based on the 375 cheytac simply is to much capacity to function in the 30 cal bore.
I am also starting to work with Peterson brass to see if they would be willing to make me some of their fine brass in the 300 Raptor and 338 Raptor specs. This alone would help as their brass can take much more pressure then the Bertram brass. Still the Bertram does well for the time being.
The rifle tested today was sort of a Raptor Hybrid. Shot extremely well at 1000 yards. Just shooting at a 1/3 moa sized target rock, it was not hard to make consistent repeatable hits on targets of that size.
Now with rifle accuracy proven, time to get cerakote finished in Coyote Tan, will look rather sharp when coated!!!
