I just bought a Savage 110Ba .338 LM. I have a vortex 6-24x50 scope. Im using Lapua brass, Hornady A Max bullets, H1000 powder, and Federal 215m primers. I'm really not understanding how to measure how much of a jump it has... Someone tried explaining it to me, but I did not understand it at all. I'm also having problems with getting a group. I've tried at 100 yards and 200 yards and every round is somewhere different. A friend of mine is lending me his sled to try and take out as much movement as possible so i can really see if it's just me. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Any help with an explanation with the seating/jump, great detail and pictures or video would also be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance and I'm sorry If you need more info... I'll try to answer any questions you may have to help me. Thank you in advance for anyone that helps.
Beginner help with zeroing and seating/jump
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C Harrison
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I have the same gun and became so frustrated with the **** thing, I ended up putting a different barrel on it. To your question, several companies make modified cases that allow you to long seat a bullet and insert the round into the camber then measure the base to ogive distance. You can do the same yourself with a slightly expanded case. Take multiple measurements, pretty easy.
KPB71
Well-Known Member
you need one of thesehttp://media.midwayusa.com/productimages/504x378/primary/570/570611.jpg and Hornady Lock-N-Load Overall Length Gage Modified Case 338 Lapua To measure your c.o.a.l
C Harrison
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2014
- Messages
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Hornady Lock-N-Load Overall Length Gage Bolt Action
Hornady Lock-N-Load Overall Length Gage Modified Case 338 Lapua
Hornady Lock-N-Load Bullet Comparator Body
Hornady Lock-N-Load Bullet Comparator Insert 338 Diameter
Once you have the measurement from the modified case, seat your A-Max to .015 less than that using your seating die. Also, I got poor accuracy from H1000 with the 300 gr SMK and Berger but the 285 A-Max may like it. RL-33 gave me excellent accuracy and velocity. Retumbo may be another option if H1000 does't work. IMO, H1000 is too fast for the 338 Lapua.
Hornady Lock-N-Load Overall Length Gage Modified Case 338 Lapua
Hornady Lock-N-Load Bullet Comparator Body
Hornady Lock-N-Load Bullet Comparator Insert 338 Diameter
Once you have the measurement from the modified case, seat your A-Max to .015 less than that using your seating die. Also, I got poor accuracy from H1000 with the 300 gr SMK and Berger but the 285 A-Max may like it. RL-33 gave me excellent accuracy and velocity. Retumbo may be another option if H1000 does't work. IMO, H1000 is too fast for the 338 Lapua.
LaHunter
Well-Known Member
I would recommend getting 2 or 3 reloading manuals (at least) and read them carefully. The Sierra and the Nosler manuals are 2 that I like. Also, I have read posts about a book called the 'ABCs of Reloading', this may be a good resource as well. A good understanding of the basics is important when it comes to reloading.
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royinidaho
Well-Known Member
Money, money, everyone wants to spend money.
Heck, simply turn your hat around backwards, put on some camo and go country. That is common sense....
Take resized case and a dremel tool and hook up the cut off blade.
Put the case in a vise firmly but don't crush it. Fire up the dremel and cut 2 slots from mouth to shoulder 180 degrees apart.
You could use a hack saw but my attempts with one were very poor.
Next, smooth the edges.
Then, slip the bullet of interest about half way down the neck and wiggle it around to loosen the neck tension.
The idea is to hand seat it really long then chamber it. The throat will seat the bullet barely into the rifling. If the neck tension is too tight the bullet will stick in the bore. If so, drop a smaller caliber bullet down the barrel and knock it loose. A short brass rod, of appropriate diameter, works also.
So far no money spent.
Ok here comes the money part.
You'll need a decent caliper. A digital one for around 30 bucks is useable.
Being as the idea is to measure the overall cartridge length you'll need a tool for that.
Those suggested are fine.
I use a Sinclair Nut which is a bit clumsy but very handy with no set up time. If using it remember to zero the caliper on the nut before measuring the cartridge or you'll be around an inch long in numbers.
You'll soon find that bullets from different manufacturers are quite different when measuring this.
The Sinclair Nut is also convenient for measuring seating depth adjustments.
Between the Nut and the Grip N Pull setting seating depth is darn near fun.
Don't worry about zeroing at any specific distance until you get it grouping, anywhere on the target.
Then zero it at the longest available distance that you can shoot, within reason, then work backwards to validate drops turns out to be way better, for me at least, than getting as close to spot on at 100, 200 or 300 then going long to validate drops/bc etc. Learned that from a Kirby Allen post not very long ago. Can't seem to find it at the moment.
HTH
Heck, simply turn your hat around backwards, put on some camo and go country. That is common sense....
Take resized case and a dremel tool and hook up the cut off blade.
Put the case in a vise firmly but don't crush it. Fire up the dremel and cut 2 slots from mouth to shoulder 180 degrees apart.
You could use a hack saw but my attempts with one were very poor.
Next, smooth the edges.
Then, slip the bullet of interest about half way down the neck and wiggle it around to loosen the neck tension.
The idea is to hand seat it really long then chamber it. The throat will seat the bullet barely into the rifling. If the neck tension is too tight the bullet will stick in the bore. If so, drop a smaller caliber bullet down the barrel and knock it loose. A short brass rod, of appropriate diameter, works also.
So far no money spent.
Ok here comes the money part.
You'll need a decent caliper. A digital one for around 30 bucks is useable.
Being as the idea is to measure the overall cartridge length you'll need a tool for that.
Those suggested are fine.
I use a Sinclair Nut which is a bit clumsy but very handy with no set up time. If using it remember to zero the caliper on the nut before measuring the cartridge or you'll be around an inch long in numbers.
You'll soon find that bullets from different manufacturers are quite different when measuring this.
The Sinclair Nut is also convenient for measuring seating depth adjustments.
Between the Nut and the Grip N Pull setting seating depth is darn near fun.
Don't worry about zeroing at any specific distance until you get it grouping, anywhere on the target.
Then zero it at the longest available distance that you can shoot, within reason, then work backwards to validate drops turns out to be way better, for me at least, than getting as close to spot on at 100, 200 or 300 then going long to validate drops/bc etc. Learned that from a Kirby Allen post not very long ago. Can't seem to find it at the moment.
HTH
snowpro440
Well-Known Member
If you were in pa. or close you could bring that gun over an I will tune it and find a load for you , Probably cheaper than all the components you wasted. The .338 is not the friendliest to shoot nor the cheapest.
yobuck
Well-Known Member
Well basicly im on board with Roy. No special tools needed for obtaining a good seating depth. I started loading over 60 years ago when there werent any special tools.
Simply seat a bullet long then finish seating it by chambering it in the gun. Best to use an old neck split case or make a split with your dremel. I then turn the die stem to seat that bullet legnth plus about 1 turn more. if you use the magazine, it will dictate legnth. Your groups will determine what is best depth for that gun. Save the finished dummy round for future die settings. I dont think working up a load for any
good gun is much different personaly. Dont be expecting the gun to like the powder
and bullets you think it should. The 338 Lapua is a very popular cartridge and lots of good info is available for it. As a rule there will be some sacrifices as to the velocity
or accuracy youd like. The best velocity isnt always the best as for accuracy.
And it isnt usually the best as for case life. These things you need to find out for yourself by your own experiences. Your apt to hear about great velocity numbers,
but little will be said as for the cost by way of case life.
Simply seat a bullet long then finish seating it by chambering it in the gun. Best to use an old neck split case or make a split with your dremel. I then turn the die stem to seat that bullet legnth plus about 1 turn more. if you use the magazine, it will dictate legnth. Your groups will determine what is best depth for that gun. Save the finished dummy round for future die settings. I dont think working up a load for any
good gun is much different personaly. Dont be expecting the gun to like the powder
and bullets you think it should. The 338 Lapua is a very popular cartridge and lots of good info is available for it. As a rule there will be some sacrifices as to the velocity
or accuracy youd like. The best velocity isnt always the best as for accuracy.
And it isnt usually the best as for case life. These things you need to find out for yourself by your own experiences. Your apt to hear about great velocity numbers,
but little will be said as for the cost by way of case life.
Thank you very much!! That helped make everything make sense!! Now I have another question from getting that answered. He said once he measured both to the bolt and to the bullet, he said to drop about .020" and start there. Now would you want to go longer or shorter from there?
I am in PA... I'm about 30 mins south of Pittsburgh. Are you near there? Thank you very much for responding and offering your help
I've read 2 different reloading manuals but I'm not really great at learning by reading. I learn better at seeing and doing. It helps if I know what I'm looking at also. I had a TON of questions from reading and once I bought the stuff and saw how it worked a lot of what I read made more sense. I have not read the bowler reloading book though. I will read that this weekend. Thank you for your input.
Thank you... I'll check around for some retumbo to give that a shot.
