let me here yals thoughts on the 338s

[Sully2]

You leave a lot of info out of your posts that some would like to know. What size groups at what distance does it shoot?

Are you, yourself worth a diddly-damm as a rifle shot? I mean if you cant hit the ground with your hat..dont expect the rifle to do magic for you

What sort of ammo are you using to shoot these terrible groups?


A few answer as to these questions might just help someone figure your problem out.

 

[86bowhunter]

I'm just gonna have a new barrel bit on and turn it to a Norma... The big reason I chose the Norma is because this action was made pre-CIP length. And the Norma with the shorter length will fit this action better.

@sp6x6 I tried loading 300gr corbon, 300gr smk, 250gr smk and 300gr Berger otm and vld. With lapua brass and H1000 All tested at 100yds. All gave the same results. Groups would tighten down to just over a minute and then stay there.

For can load up SMKs and get them to shoot in 9 out of 10 guns. And if that 1 gun won't shoot an SMK them good then chances are it isn't going to shoot anything good.

@cuz and @LBZ it's a 1 in 9 Broughton. At least that's what the guy at APA (the builder) said it was. It will be replaced with a schneider

@sully2 you'll find the answers to your questions above. And as for my abilities as a shooter it's those abilities that cause me to have a high standard for accuracy. Custom rifle, proper handloading to produce a group no less than a minute is unacceptable. Any custom rifle with good handloads that doesn't produce a single hole or tight shot out hole at 100yds isn't worth having.

 

[Cuz]

My norma has a 1-9.3 twist brux and shoots the 300 berger well with h-1000. Just had a stiller barreled up with another brux and am waiting on a stock. I am sure the norma is not much different than the lapua, but it has worked well for me.

 

[86bowhunter]

Let me know how it shoots... I've used several brux barrels for builds and they have all shot well.
Yeah the lapua and Norma run neck and neck. The lapua is just a hair faster in most cases but it's not enough to make a difference. One reason I'm using a schneider barrel is because they generally run faster velocities than another barrel of the same specs. So I figure that will make up for what the cartridge might lack in speed.

 

[Cuz]

This is from the savage at 1189 yds. Playing around at the deer camp. Have not put a stock on the stiller yet. Savage is at 2770 over a magneto speed.

 

[86bowhunter]

2770 isn't bad if you're running 300gr bullets.
I'm putting a 26" barrel on and if I can get somewhere close 2800 I'll be satisfied with the velocity.

I've seen a lot of people posting good results from the savage. It seems to be a great gun for the money

 

[Cuz]

I am getting 2770 with h-1000, which I have a bunch of. I have heard ramshot magnum gives higher velocity. My barrel is 28" and i am not pushing my loads hard.

 

[86bowhunter]

I've got a lot of h1000 too because that's what I load in all my big guns. So hopefully that works so I can just buy 1 powder but I am going to try retumbo as well. I know a lot of guys that are getting faster loads with the big bullets using retumbo. But from what I've seen its a small margin.

 

[Cuz]

I haven't tried retumbo. Started with h-1000 and got good accuracy and velocity and stopped there. Worked up a load for berger 300 grners and a load for barnes 285 lrx. Ended up shooting several animals with the bergers and they worked well. Tear up coyotes pretty bad, but not to bad on deer. Stayed off of the shoulder. Found one bullet in a hog that was shot at about 250 yds and it was mushroomed out pretty good.

 

[IdahoCTD]

You could do a 338 Norma Imp if you wanted to run with a Lapua. They are almost identical capacity wise. The down side is having to fireform brass and custom dies but you'd have a lot less case stretch too. My 30-338 Norma Imp. is a shooting sob.

 

[Cuz]

What are your specs and performance on your 30-338 norma? Interested in one.

 

[IdahoCTD]

It's a 338 Norma necked down with a 35* shoulder. The 338 Norma has a bit larger shoulder dimension then a 300 Norma. I gained about 5-6 grains of water capacity and have very little case stretch. Norma cases hold 110.3grains of water. That is within a grain or so of a 300RUM so they are basically equals for velocity but they are .350" shorter in case length. My loaded rounds are 3.608 with a 230 Berger so they easily fit in a standard magazine length. Right now I'm shooting 90grs of R-33 and it typically shoots 3 in the .1's at 100yds and 5 in the .2-.3's. The velocity is 3045fps with a 30" barrel. So not blazing fast but the accuracy is phenomenal so that is where it stays. It doesn't shoot as well loaded hotter. I built another on a 26" barrel but broke the extractor on the Competitive Edge bolt before I got to shoot it and they are no longer in business. So one of these days I'll have to make a extractor and go shoot it to see the velocity difference.

 

[86bowhunter]

Cuz, were you shooting the Berger otm or the elite Hunter?

 

[86bowhunter]

Idahoctd, I think I'll stick with the Norma, the lapua just beats it by a hair in most cases. A few weeks ago I found a post where a guy compared a lapua and Norma side by side. Both were the same exact gun except one was a Norma and one was a lapua. He used the same bullets and powder in both rounds and I believe he loaded up till he reached pressure in each one. But the results in what he posted showed the lapua beating the Norma by less that 100fps.

It didn't sound very scientific and there wasn't any mention of trying different bullet powder combinations. But the moral of the guys test was that it's not a very big margin between the two.