Brainstorming an Ultra-handy large caliber Long ranger

AKdan said:
Wildrose- this may or may not have any effect on the subject of faster and slower powders but one of the things I have been considering is powder volume with a given suppressor. The can I am running is rated for magnums into the 338L arena however hearing safe levels of reduction start to become an issue. I knew this when I bought the can (small for that case capacity) but I wanted something a little lighter and handier hence the new trend of short! This is one of the reasons to consider a 375 ruger over a 375-338 Norma...less powder volume, lower noise level. A 340 Weatherby or 33 nosler with a faster burning powder may well be a good way to go. I am glad to see so much response and great ideas rolling out here.

Thanks for the good comments guys!

Dan
Click to expand...

Dan I bought my first .375 R specifically for an African trip and was incredibly pleased with it's performance on everything up to and including buff. More importantly the PH's and outfitters that had not yet seen them in the field were really pleased with it.

I've shot it a lot on the biggest boars I can find and shooting the Perigrines I'm getting full body penetrations and exits even with a straight on head/chest shot exiting the flanks or right through the back end.

Shooting the factory hornady loads I got all pass throughs at least partially but was not happy that even with shoulder shots the bullet and jacket would separate completely. I recovered either the jacket or the lead core or some portion of both with each shot and none of the shots that didn't break the shoulders or sever the spine still resulted in them at least attempting to run off. Worst was with the 300DGS that with a perfect pass through heart/lung still allowed for him to charge me from over 250 yards requiring a pretty dramatic series of rapid follow ups.

There is nothing in the world I would not be confident in shooting out to 400 yards with it, especially in the 26" custom I bought last year. It's a real monster killer.

Adding the .375 Ruger to my arsenal completely eliminated any need I would ever have for a .338 of any kind. If I want to shoot beyond it's max Range my Rums are all I will ever need.

I will do some plinking beyond 1000 yards but I will never need to kill an animal bad enough to shoot beyond that range.
 
I can't help but think either a 338rum or 33 nosler built on a timberline magnum action with a 20-22" carbon fiber or carbon 6 sendero contour barrel bedded in a manners e5a stock with tbac 338 ultra suppressor. Would be on wicked elk moose bear. Short handy and light enough to pack around and be a favorite rifle.

I feel I would go with the 33 calibers because I like the selection of suppressors better than having to go the extremely big bore.
Just my thoughts.
 
WildRose said:
"Necessary" isn't a factor except as I noted. but you can achieve higher velocities with faster powders in shorter barrels and greatly reduce muzzle flash and recoil by getting the more complete burn.


Even with most suppressors you have a muzzle blast and the excess pressures created inside the suppressor from the still burning powder can damage it and certainly makes for much more frequent cleanings.

There's no sense in burning excess powder outside of the barrel, it's simply a waste if nothing else. You can eliminate that waste by going to a faster burning powder. In doing so you greatly reduce the internal pressures within the suppressor.
Click to expand...
Which calibers have you worked with in both short and long barrels to come to this conclusion?
 
Aside from being able to find a can for the larger bores....it seems that there is a rather large step up from the 338 to the 375 for barrels and bullets. Wysongdog mentioned the carbon barrels. Proof makes a 375 barrel in 22" but it is a 1:12 twist a little slow for 330-350 gr. Short 338 carbon barrels are fairly limited (carbon 6, custom jobs). Seems like 375 barrels are catered mostly to the H&H and cheytac groups for length, shank diameter, and twist rates. It seems there is a larger selection of hunting bullets for the H&H(low BC) or cheytac(really heavy). That gap between the two (where the 375-338 Norma /375 lapua would fit) really leave me looking at the 338.
 
In a packing weight rifle, 375 good to ~500yd. 338 good to 900yd.
If you want your packing weight rifle for LRH, I'd lean toward 338 also.
This loose rule of thumb can, of course, be argued and debated to no end.

yorke-1 shoots 140gr powder charges from both 18-20" barrels and 30" barrels. If he says trim your Lapua barrel back to 20" - no big deal - then you won't get better insight from any other member.

If your existing barrel is a confirmed shooter, cut it back until there's enough meat to thread it for your suppressor, and run it full throttle. Avoid the risk/expense of gambling on a new barrel's accuracy.

PM yorke-1 for the skinny on short barrel performance from your Lapua 338 capacity cartridge.
 
AKdan said:
Wildrose- this may or may not have any effect on the subject of faster and slower powders but one of the things I have been considering is powder volume with a given suppressor. The can I am running is rated for magnums into the 338L arena however hearing safe levels of reduction start to become an issue. I knew this when I bought the can (small for that case capacity) but I wanted something a little lighter and handier hence the new trend of short! This is one of the reasons to consider a 375 ruger over a 375-338 Norma...less powder volume, lower noise level. A 340 Weatherby or 33 nosler with a faster burning powder may well be a good way to go. I am glad to see so much response and great ideas rolling out here.

Thanks for the good comments guys!

Dan
Click to expand...
Call me crazy but I think you're really in the right territory with the .375 ruger. Remember it was developed with the short barreled dangerous game gun in mind most of which come in either 20 or 22" platforms.
 
WildRose said:
Call me crazy but I think you're really in the right territory with the .375 ruger. Remember it was developed with the short barreled dangerous game gun in mind most of which come in either 20 or 22" platforms.
Click to expand...

The 800-1000 yard requirement is the deal breaker for the 375 Ruger... IMO
 
Report back on the remaining velocity @ 1000yds. It will most likely be less than necessary for positive expansion. Especially after it ricochets off the stratosphere...
 
I couldn't find any 260gr Peregrine...but the 250gr Plainsmaster has a BC .428, so at 2850 fps it'll need approx 36 moa of up to get to 1000 and will have a retained velocity of 1186 fps with energy of 781 ft/lbs...
 
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