My shiny new light .338 Norma Magnum build thread!!

[sp6x6]

I had no problem with mine,has larger screw and pinned rail.I ran Mark 4,for a bit .But 6.5 on low end hard in timber,then the March,both in NF ultralites.

 

[codyadams]

Here is a nice photo of this arctic camo rifle in it's natural environment....hopefully I can get it to the range this week....

 

[codyadams]

100 yard 5 shot group from initial max charge work up with H1000, this was 87.5 grains going 2630 or so. I think she's gonna be a good shooter. Recoil is amazingly low, it feels the same or maybe less than my buddies 11.5 lb 338 NM with a T3 brake, and same stock, just the eh-1a model with the adjustable cheek rest. I would say both feel about like an AR-10 .308 or so. Definitely less than my old Ruger 30-06 with 165's, and less than my dad's 12 lb unbraked .264 win mag sending 156's at 3070 fps. I can't believe how good these brakes work.

After I go through a lb of H1000, and have some brass formed well and the barrel broke in, I'll move on to VV-N570 to try to get some more velocity, should be able to hit 2750 or so and stay under the CIP 63000 psi, hopefully there is a good node somewhere north of 2700 and within pressure range. I have a feeling this will get expensive, this gun is fun to shoot!!!

 

[codyadams]

Here is a video of my buddy shooting it. Recoil is very user friendly!! One thing I need to do though, is get a heavier bottom hinge release spring, it pops open every time ya shoot it!! Thankfully my local hardware store has a whole section dedicated to little gun screws, filler screws, and springs, so I should be able to fix that ha ha

 

[nathank]

beautiful love it

 

[Westernhuntr]

Awesome
I'm excited to get mine back!
It'll weigh around 10 lbs scoped, should be mellow with a T3 brake.
Thanks for sharing the video

 

[Mram10us]

I love when people post videos

 

[adamjp]

Nice build. Welcome to the lightweight 338 Norma club!

FWIW I agree with your synopsis of the alleged 'lug setback' issues of Remington 700s with Lapua/Norma cases. My summary is that people who try to push the cartridge further than it is intended to do are going to have problems. It seems your load of 87.5gn AR2217 (H1000 in the USA) and a 285gn ELD matches my preferred load too.

 

[sp6x6]

I was thinking of trying those bullets,werent out when I built mine

 

[Mram10us]

I am curious about lug setback. Don't want to derail your thread, so feel free to ignore the topic and I'll post it in another thread

 

[DJ Fergus]

Some of you may have seen bits and pieces of this in other threads, but I like having threads dedicated to each rifle build I do (more for my reference later so I can document and review why I did what I did ha ha) so this is for my most recent build, and so far my favorite I have done yet!!!

I have hunted for quite a while with a 13.5 lb .260 AI with a 29"+ brake barrel, and while it has served me well, and taken over 50 animals ranging from doe pronghorn to bull elk for myself, family and friends, I wanted something more manageable and better suited for elk, so brainstorming began.

Whatever I built, I wanted it to be 8-9 lbs, much lighter and rifles can get somewhat challenging for longer shots, and didn't want it any heavier for back country pack in hunts. As far as chambering, I wanted something big elk worthy, and also considering I hunt in Wyoming where Grizzly encounters are possible, I was led to either a .308 or .338 cal. I also had a Rem 700 long action to run on, and after extensive research, decided on a .338 Norma.

I know it's not a .750 bolt, and they can be prone to lug set-back, but after reading a thorough write up by Kirby Allen, who stated essentially that the reason .588 bolt face cartridges can cause lug set-back on 700 actions is that with tough brass such as Lapua and Peterson, you generally don't see the pressure signs on this brass until you are well above standard pressures. So, if you do a standard pressure work up until you see your regular pressure signs, you are likely at least 65,000 psi and very likely higher than that. Peterson even states on their site that they torture tested their .300 and 338 norma brass at 70,000+ psi without primer pocket loosening or other pressure signs. In Kirby Allen's opinion, the 700 Action is strong enough to handle the .588 bolt face, IF loaded to actual proper pressures and not overloaded. Also, Remington is making .338 Lapua's in standard 700 actions, so they are confident in them, at least with factory ammo. Kirby Allen did say that the chrome moly receivers tend to do better than stainless ones, but again, he stated if loaded properly both with handle it fine. So on my load workup, instead of loading until I see pressure signs on my Peterson brass, I will watch my velocities instead and make sure not to go over what the cartridge should be doing at standard pressure according to quick load, and try to give myself a little wiggle room as well. This also means my brass will likely last a very long time.

So then I had to carefully figure out how to meet my weight requirements, and also have the rifle be shootable as far as recoil is concerned. So for a Brake, I decided on MBM 5 port Beast Titanium. I wanted the lightest contour that I could still thread 5/8x24, pretty much the smallest thread that you want to do in a .338 bore. That turned out to be about a #5 contour (Krieger/Lilja #5) and I wanted to save as much weight as possible, so fluting was in order, and spiral fluting takes the most weight. Lilja offered spiral fluting, so they are who I went with. According to Lilja's weight calculator, spiral fluting in the length I wanted it to run would save me about .6 lbs off the barrel, and when weighing it, that was right on, so over half a point from spiral fluting that Lilja did. I had the fluting set up to where If I had the shank cut to extend 1" in front of the recoil lug, the barrel length would be 24". This gave me just enough meat at the muzzle to thread 5/8x24 and still have enough shoulder to seat the brake.

For a stock, I wanted light, but that didn't really narrow it down a ton, as there are several good carbon shelled stocks out there. However, I saw the Manners Elite Arctic camo, and thought it would look fantastic with the spiral fluting and stainless action, so an EH-1 was ordered.

I then sent off the bolt to be fluted by LRI to save some weight, but mainly for looks to match the barrel. They did fantastic, had quick turn around with a VERY fair price.

In another .338 NM I load for, the OAL with 300 Bergers is just under 3.7" OAL seated .020" off the lands, so I wanted a little more than the standard rem mag box. Wyatt's filled that gap with their 3.850" extended box.

For the bottom metal, PTG offers a BDL type aluminum guard that weighs almost nothing, so they got my business.

For the rings, I wanted something solid and 1 piece but light, so after research, that lead me to DNZ mounts. However this one was tricky, most of their mounts are right handed only due to the positioning of their crossbar, and I wanted it to have 20 MOA of cant and a 30mm tube. Their 4 screw tactical mount however, has the bar in the center, has 4 screw ring caps, and has 21.5 MOA of cant. Only issue....they only have it in black!!! Well, one phone call to them, and they custom made me one anodized in silver. Awesome!!

Had my smith put it all together, and then the wait started for the stock. Well, 7 months and 2 weeks later I had it, and here it is!!!View attachment 160544 View attachment 160545 View attachment 160546 View attachment 160548 View attachment 160549 View attachment 160550 View attachment 160552 View attachment 160553

The scope is on loan from a very generous friend, I will likely end up putting a Sightron SIII 6-24 on it sometime after the holidays. That scope is about 2-3 oz lighter than the March that is currently on it. The weight is without bedding and pillars, so should end up about the same.

This rifle came out very handy, and feels light in the hands, the balance point is at or just behind the front action screw. Can't wait to get out and shoot it, I will post up more photos as I bed it and get it shooting!!

Nice looking rig. I like sightron scopes. Lots of value in the sightrons and they track well.

 

[codyadams]

I am curious about lug setback. Don't want to derail your thread, so feel free to ignore the topic and I'll post it in another thread

I forget where it is, but there is a post and a quote from Kirby Allen that speaks of it. Essentially what it boils down to is that you can't rely on common pressure signs (bolt lift, ejector mark, primer pocket stretch and so on) with these .585 bolt face cartridges with lapua and peterson type brass, by the time those pressure signs show up you are well into the 75,000 psi+ range, simply because the brass is so tough it can handle the pressure, but repeatedly pounding the action with pressures like that and a .585 bolt face can result in lug set back.

So you have to keep pressure within saami or cip spec by other methods, such as monitoring velocity. If you think you just "have a fast barrel" because your sending a bullet 100+ fps faster than what is common with no pressure signs on the brass, sorry but your likely over pressure. In a standard situation like a .308 bolt face on a short action, that is not an issue because that action can take it, you will just kill your brass a little sooner, and it may still last 10 rounds, but that is not due to the fact your within pressure range and somehow just have more speed, it's simply because you have very tough brass. But open that face up to .585, and it allows more of the pressure to be transferred to the bolt/lugs (specifically the lower lug that has less support due to the feed ramp), and you can have issues.

In other words, you have to be very careful not to overload the action. Not because your necessarily at risk of blowing it up, but because long term useage over pressure results in lug set back. According to Kirby Allen however, if your very careful to keep your pressures within spec, you will be just fine. As a side note, Remington has several model 700's that are chambered in .338 lapua, and they are standard 700 actions. Also, Christensen arms 338 normas and lapuas are all a standard rem 700 bolt/lug setup, and they state they have had no issues.

 

[Mram10us]

Thanks Cody. Can't say that makes any sense to me since you have had many more powerful cartridges used in the Rem 700. I don't see how a boltface size makes any difference with respect to Newton's third law, but maybe I'm missing Something. Ejector mark differences might make sense since it's a bigger surface, but the lugs shouldn't be able to tell the difference.

I digress..... nice rifle . More target pics and videos!

 

[sp6x6]

I was cautioned this also,directly from Glenn at Defiance. I think it maybe has something to do with the amount left in action,hence large bolt being run.I had him look at a rifle for me and brought up bolt lift,and got the Warning