.338 RUM & 180gr Nosler BT

4570Forever · #1 05-12-2005, 12:12 PM

Bear with me as this is my first post on this site. I live and hunt in central Miss. temperatures durng deer season can run from the teens to the mid 70's in a few days, sometimes in the same day. I have a Rem. 700LSS in .338 Rem. Ultra Mag that I hope to use for "long range" hunting, 400 yds. - not to exceed 600 yds. I realize the rifle and I must be capable of delivering a clean killing shot at those ranges so I am looking for loads for this cal., bullet, and rifle that will give me the requisite accuracy, and the velocity to keep the drop minimal. I particularly like the Hodgdon "Extreme" concept for powders, but I am open to others. I have the Nosler handbook and have some loads from other online sources. As I mentioned I like the temperature INsensivity of the "Extreme" but haven't seen any loads for H1000, Retumbo, etc. I believe there is another powder company that offers some powders with a similar temperature INseneivity but I don't know which it is. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Brent · #2 05-12-2005, 02:15 PM

Welcome to LRH.

I've used RL22 and RL25 extensively and would compare them to the Extreme line of Hodgdon's. Anxiously awaiting RL30's production too, if they ever get around to seeing our need for it! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Your combo is MORE than capable of 400-600 yd clean kills, rest assured.

sniper2 · #3 05-12-2005, 04:17 PM

Welcome to LRH let me tell you the .338RUM is a killing machine.I don't have one but have a 300RUM necked to .338 with a 30" barrel. I like the R25,H1000,IMR7828,WMR but the WMR is getting hard to find.I live in NE Alabama and haven't
had any problems with the powders listed.You can come up with a good "Dope Sheet" for your RUM, good tool for shooting known distance!

4570Forever · #4 05-16-2005, 12:43 PM

Thanks for the info. I am sure there are other bullets that are probably preferrable for what I want to do BUT the info I had at the time indicated the Nosler 180 gr BT could exceed 3500 fps and equal equal or exceed the 165 Nosler BT out of the 300 RUM at 400yds and beat it by 1/2" at 500. (Any way I've got 150 of them) I am looking for as flat a traj. as I can get to reduce the range estimation variable.
I like to sight in about 3" high at 100 yds this generally gives the best "point blank" range and "hold even with the back" range. I have a serious problem trying to "guesstimate" hold over against a background of trees, sky, ? at an unknown range BEHIND the target.

budlight · #5 05-17-2005, 11:14 AM

Back when I used a 338, I only used 250 gr. Sierra SBT. I tried some 275's The 180's must have very poor BC. That would make a 250 boat tail pass the 180 in speed in the 400-600 range. I would do some BC work ups and see what's really going on.

R-22 7828 and h-1000 is about all i use anymore

4570Forever · #6 05-17-2005, 03:22 PM

You are right about the BC, I haven't checked the tables yet on vel & traj of the 250 Spitzer Boatail type but I am after Mississippi whitetails, 300 lbs is big, and hope to get the good terminal performance of the Ballistic Tips - I've been told they are very effective if put in the right place. Also I have not done any shooting with these loads yet so am unsure of my, and the rifles, usable range - I must be able to deliver a clean kill shot consistently under field conditions or it is out of range! I hope that range is 400 to 600 yds. but we'll see.

budlight · #7 05-17-2005, 04:24 PM

The .338 RUM is a cannon. I've got a couple of deer with my .458's using Barnes X 405 grain. Very impressed with the knock down power.

In testing I shot into very fine dry sand at distances up to 400 yards. The only real difference in the perfect peel back was how far it peeled back over the length of the bullet. I weighed some of them and the worst weight retension was 397 grains out of 5 shot's at 100 yards. That is a little over 1% loss.

Barnes sells a Tripple shock bullets for .338's and deer do not run away. They get knocked off their feet.