My 338 Sherman Shortmag

[Tidesloe]

Im gonna jump in here with comment. This is good stuff. Pretty doggone impressive. Good job to all involved, and the mastermind behind it all driving the train. Its not often that a cartridge, in this case a series gets my attention.
Spent the last couple of days reading testing notes on all of them, I found my self going back over and over to 338 SS.
Im gonna climb up on the train. Already been in contact with a smith that I was pointed to on an SS project. Thanks to the efforts of all you guy's, the rest of us can reap the reward.
Im looking forward to the new project.

 

[jpfrog]

What would your recommendation be to build off the Remington LA? No specific use. Just something to shoot comfortably and all. Was thinking the 30 Sherman or the 6.5 Sherman. I'm intrigued by that 338SS but my bolt is .308 dia.

I built a 280 Sherman. Pushing a 143gr Hammer Hunter out of a 24" tube with RL23 at a comfortable pace just shy of 3100fps. I could go faster with a different powder, such as RL26 if I could find any, but I have plenty of RL23 on hand so I'm sticking with that.

 

[bdlesh]

Im gonna jump in here with comment. This is good stuff. Pretty doggone impressive. Good job to all involved, and the mastermind behind it all driving the train. Its not often that a cartridge, in this case a series gets my attention.
Spent the last couple of days reading testing notes on all of them, I found my self going back over and over to 338 SS.
Im gonna climb up on the train. Already been in contact with a smith that I was pointed to on an SS project. Thanks to the efforts of all you guy's, the rest of us can reap the reward.
Im looking forward to the new project.

I was going to just build a 338 wm, until I did some research. I was thinking, " you can find ammo for it anywhere", them it hit me, I not going to use factory ammo anyway. So asking a few questions and being lucky enough to hear from the man himself, I am now building 338 Max. I will do everything I need it to and more. Rich has made some amazing cartridges with magnum power ina short action.....of course the Max is long action. I cant wait to get it together.

 

[Westernhuntr]

What is the reason behind these 338 wildcats?
Does the Sherman Max give better velocity than the SS?
It just seems like a lot of trouble for a 338 with so little volume..
Wouldn't it be much easier to just go with a 33 Nos, not to mention quite a bit faster?
Not trying to knock anything, I'm genuinely curious

 

[ihuntak]

Does anyone know if a 338 Sherman or 338 SS has been done in a Blaser R93 barrel? Looking for a new caliber and this one has peaked my interest. the Mag box is long enough for 375H&H so should work well, and I have both a magnum and standard bolt face so I think can do either. Any help is appreciated.

 

[tim_w]

What is the reason behind these 338 wildcats?
Does the Sherman Max give better velocity than the SS?
It just seems like a lot of trouble for a 338 with so little volume..
Wouldn't it be much easier to just go with a 33 Nos, not to mention quite a bit faster?
Not trying to knock anything, I'm genuinely curious

The Sherman Max is no more work than a SS unless I missed something. Its the same RSAUM case but kept at full length as many people are wanting to put them in actions that have 3.4 3.5 COAL magazines. Tikka T3 is an example.

One thing for sure its a great time as we have so many great choices. The work and cash outlay Rich did to get high quality factory ammo is what sets the Sherman line apart for 99% of the wildcats. Reamers dies cases all in one place and reasonably priced.

Personally I think it makes it easy to goto if you do not want to deal with aftermarket dbm wyatt box AI mags. If your willing to do that then you can go to a sherman magnum or as you point out a 33N.


The only extra step with the max version as it only comes in a 7mm diameter so you need to expand to whatever cal. Then its the same fireform to get the 40° shoulder as the SS. No trimming.

Rich, please correct me if I am in error.

 

[ramrod79]

What is the reason behind these 338 wildcats?
Does the Sherman Max give better velocity than the SS?
It just seems like a lot of trouble for a 338 with so little volume..
Wouldn't it be much easier to just go with a 33 Nos, not to mention quite a bit faster?
Not trying to knock anything, I'm genuinely curious

The Sherman max is much easier than the SS but neither are any trouble I buy brass neck it up and shoot to form couldn't be any easier PLUS the SS shoots a 230-250 @ 2850-2950 in a 22-24 inch barrel and the max is about 50-100 faster yet all this in a short or medium action using good brass. The SS and max do this with a lot less powder than a 33N and with their design have Much better barrel life trust me I know !! The 26 N 468 rounds barrel toast. 28N my bro's new gun 742 rounds accuracy fell off and throat is torched.
There are many calibers that are fun to play with I just chose the Sherman line due to the barrel life and efficiency of the short little cartridges.
I would be interested in a 33 N velocity with 22 barrel verse Max there won't be enough difference to matter and I'll use way less powder.
I know the 33 N can be loaded hotter than what Noslers web page says but still for reference they list the 250 being pushed at 2840 with 10-20 grains more powder out of a 26 " pipe and it's a temp sensitive powder to boot !! Just saying.

 

[wildwilderness]

What is the reason behind these 338 wildcats?
Does the Sherman Max give better velocity than the SS?
It just seems like a lot of trouble for a 338 with so little volume..
Wouldn't it be much easier to just go with a 33 Nos, not to mention quite a bit faster?
Not trying to knock anything, I'm genuinely curious

from what I gather, the reason is efficiency. the Max does require a long Action. The SS can use a short action, but should have an extended mag- 2.95 col, the new 338 sst should work in a factory 2.84 magazine. That is what I am looking for, true 338 power in a short action.

 

[Westernhuntr]

The Sherman max is much easier than the SS but neither are any trouble I buy brass neck it up and shoot to form couldn't be any easier PLUS the SS shoots a 230-250 @ 2850-2950 in a 22-24 inch barrel and the max is about 50-100 faster yet all this in a short or medium action using good brass. The SS and max do this with a lot less powder than a 33N and with their design have Much better barrel life trust me I know !! The 26 N 468 rounds barrel toast. 28N my bro's new gun 742 rounds accuracy fell off and throat is torched.
There are many calibers that are fun to play with I just chose the Sherman line due to the barrel life and efficiency of the short little cartridges.
I would be interested in a 33 N velocity with 22 barrel verse Max there won't be enough difference to matter and I'll use way less powder.
I know the 33 N can be loaded hotter than what Noslers web page says but still for reference they list the 250 being pushed at 2840 with 10-20 grains more powder out of a 26 " pipe and it's a temp sensitive powder to boot !! Just saying.

Thanks for the info
I'm with you on barrel life, I've been down the road of super overbore magnums.
So you're saying a 338 Sherman Max will push a 250 grain bullet 2950 fps?
If true that's pretty unbelievable in a saum case, I'd be curious to see some loads guys are using for that performance.
I'm a huge Tikka fan, might be a pretty sweet lightweight combo.

 

[ramrod79]

Western my SS pushes the 250 at 2835 so the max will get you to 2950 with right powder. My 230 ELDX loadwitch I like better is 2885 I had more room to go and didn't hit pressure until 2931 but group opened up just a bit not enough to bother me but the slower load shoots a 2"- group at 600 yards.
there is a post on here from Doc he is running 338 Max with a 265 LRAB @ 2900+.
Tikkas for these are perfect and I believe Docs first one in the SS was on a tikka I'm not sure if his max is or not.

 

[highplains]

I am having a barrel built for my Blaser R8 in 338 Sherman Max. Should work great as you pointed out.

 

[tdot]

I need some help/advice from the collective!

Rifle details: 338ss, in a Ti medium length action. 22" barrel. Lands are at 2.100". I have room for 3.200" COAL. 150 rounds down the barrel. ADG brass.

Right from fireforming, I have had pressure signs in this rifle a few grains earlier then other people have reported. Now that I have fully formed brass with 2 firings on it, I'm running some final pressure tests and seem to be a bit slower then I'd expect.

I will get an ejector mark, with only the tiniest flattening of the shoulder of the primer (Fed 215M) as the first sign of pressure. It will typically take 2 grains more powder before I see a substantial flattening of the primer and an increase in the bolt lift.

The gun is going back to the gun Smith to fix a mistake he made on the stock. While it's there, I'm thinking about having him increase the throat by .050" to .100" .

It seems I can get an additional 2.5 to 3 grains of powder in the case, before I hear about the same level of Varget crunch, if I seat it 0.100" further out. Of course this is somewhat meaningless, but thought I'd try.

I do have one load that I'm happy with. It is a Hammer Hunter 213, running about 2850. Loaded .010" off the lands. I cant load this bullet any longer, so if I increase the throat, I will have to jump this bullet further.

But I was hoping to run heavier bullets in the 225 to 250 class.

The pressure tests I've run to-date are, first signs of pressure showed 1 grain above these loads. I've run faster and slower powders, all with similarly or slower results.

235 Hammer Hunter @ 2.090" BTO, w/58.0g Varget, 2670fps

250 Berger Hunter @ 2.090"BTO, w/58.0g Varget, 2600fps


Thoughts on increasing the throat by 0.050" to 0.100"? Any guess on what increase in velocity I might see?

 

[nvschütze]

Nice, fat barrel on that batsard. I'm likin' it big-time...

 

[tim_w]

I need some help/advice from the collective!

Rifle details: 338ss, in a Ti medium length action. 22" barrel. Lands are at 2.100". I have room for 3.200" COAL. 150 rounds down the barrel. ADG brass.

Right from fireforming, I have had pressure signs in this rifle a few grains earlier then other people have reported. Now that I have fully formed brass with 2 firings on it, I'm running some final pressure tests and seem to be a bit slower then I'd expect.

I will get an ejector mark, with only the tiniest flattening of the shoulder of the primer (Fed 215M) as the first sign of pressure. It will typically take 2 grains more powder before I see a substantial flattening of the primer and an increase in the bolt lift.

The gun is going back to the gun Smith to fix a mistake he made on the stock. While it's there, I'm thinking about having him increase the throat by .050" to .100" .

It seems I can get an additional 2.5 to 3 grains of powder in the case, before I hear about the same level of Varget crunch, if I seat it 0.100" further out. Of course this is somewhat meaningless, but thought I'd try.

I do have one load that I'm happy with. It is a Hammer Hunter 213, running about 2850. Loaded .010" off the lands. I cant load this bullet any longer, so if I increase the throat, I will have to jump this bullet further.

But I was hoping to run heavier bullets in the 225 to 250 class.

The pressure tests I've run to-date are, first signs of pressure showed 1 grain above these loads. I've run faster and slower powders, all with similarly or slower results.

235 Hammer Hunter @ 2.090" BTO, w/58.0g Varget, 2670fps

250 Berger Hunter @ 2.090"BTO, w/58.0g Varget, 2600fps


Thoughts on increasing the throat by 0.050" to 0.100"? Any guess on what increase in velocity I might see?

What is the COAL of your current loads and those of bullets you might want to use to touch the lands?

Whatever the difference between the longest coal of those and your mags max coal is what you have to play with in increased freebore.