which 338?

[Thekid76]

this is from the new guy so i do not pretend to have anything on the allens and the like in rifle building, but i did email mr allen and his rec was to go with the 338 lapua for my 550 action that i have just acquired. for the Canadian it would be a better choice and it just so happens that i am building a sister to the CZ HET with their stock to boot. i will be using gary schnieders polyaginal barrel in 29 inches with a break, and for shock value i have been painting guns and such for the past three years and dura coat is good stuff to start with. no heat and not much mess. this rifle, like my last 6.5-06 will be going to G and A for article work first but will be for sail once finished. I will bet 300 bucks it will out shoot its sister from the factory. and its looks will kill in elk camp. Send me an email to reply to at markatbots@yahoo.com if you want picks sent out of what you can do with Dura coat.

[Rimfire]

338 Norma load a 300 grainer where it should be and oal is 3.6" Nice fit in a rem action

[GMBshootingclubM60]

Time to reheat this thread...

Are there any of the big 338s that are NOT accurate for a reason? For example, the Weatherby freebore might stink with a really long high bc bullet.. or maybe the Excaliber has so much case volume that it's not accurate with the powders that you have to use?

I was thinking of the Excaliber with a 32" barrel, Mark V action, single loaded with longer oal than the 3.88 single stack magazine would take.

But if the accuracy potential just wasn't there, a powerful miss isn't any better than a weak miss.

There seem to be some who say the 338 RUM is a naturally accurate round?

[royinidaho]

Originally Posted by GMBshootingclubM60

There seem to be some who say the 338 RUM is a naturally accurate round?

I heard that a major bullet manufacturer has switched to the 338 RUM for all of their testing. Don't know for sure.

I don't know what case the Excalibur is based upon but the 338s based on the Chey Tac case are doing well.

[Long Time Long Ranger]

The 338 RUM is as accurate as any big 338 on the market. I have worked with most everything out there. I am a big fan of it because of the performance in a low cost rifle and easily available components.

[angus-5024]

I have a .338 RUM and I must say that it is one of the easiest rifles I have ever loaded for. out of five diffrent bullets only one shot above 1 MOA and the 300 SMK and barnes 210 TTSX will always shoot below .75.

I have owned a Mark 5 in .340 Wby and it was a grea rifle. sold it because I wanted stainless and got a Rem. 700 (338 RUM). The RUM has been great, but when I get some extra $$ I'm gonna get my hands on a .338-.378 Accumark. I agree with JE and LTLR that the Wby actions are top notch. With the Wby's you get a longer Mag but remember that they are very hard to get DM for.

[Kevin Thomas]

Originally Posted by J E Custom

Jon .


As far as I know there is not an unsafe newly manufactured rifle out there and the Weatherby
is undoubtedly the strongest (9 Lugs and all) Years ago white laboratories tested all of the
commercial actions to destruction and the only action that they could not destroy was the Mk 5
Weatherby all of the others failed including my favorite action (The 700 Remington).



J E CUSTOM

Just an aside here, but I have seen a Weatherby Mk5 action totally destroyed in a reloading misadventure. Of the nine lugs, six (two columns) appeared to have been taken off in a mill, sheared off by the lug recesses when the bolt exited rearward. The other column of three appeared completely untouched, as the action had apparently opened up far enough to allow them to be completely free of the lug recesses, and miss them entirely on the way past. The sling swivels and the recoil pad were the only parts on the rifle that remained usable. The shooter took the bolt in the face, but survived. The cause was a combination of errors made by a shooter who should have been a poster child for factory ammo. He'd shot an elk with this same load the year before, and when he went to finish it, found he couldn't open the bolt. Had to take it to a gunsmith to get the bolt free. The 'smith (naturally) told him to break down that ammo and reduce the load. What's he do? Saves the remaining ammo for next year, and used it again, this time with more spectacular results. He claimed he'd gotten a 7mm bullet in a box of .277"s (gun was a 270 Wby Mag), so we tried duplicating this, Yes, you could load a 270 Wby Mag with 7mm bullets and still chamber the resulting rounds in the gun. The bullet maker involved in the suit fired quite a few of these loads, using the maximum of the load with H4831 data he claimed he used, but with IMR 4831 which was what he actually had in his possesion. After repeated firings (25-30) of a drastically over max load with an oversized bullet, all we got was sticky bolt lift; no catasrophic failure like he managed. My own personal belief here was that he'd inadvertantly substituted IMR 3031 (which he also had on his bench) for 4831. We didn't try that one, but I suspect that would have done it, no problem.

I'm an avid reloader, and a great advocate of it, but it's not for everyone. This guy should have stuck to factory ammo . . . or better yet, taken up golf.

Kevin Thomas
Lapua USA