338 sherman field test

For long range purposes, I intend to use the Berger 250 and the Cutting Edge 252 and single feed them. I will have to check for that issue when I have my rifle in hand. I seriously doubt the Berger @ 3.565 will have that issue, though the CE bullet at 3.7ish might.

I load very long for several of my rifles. I have yet to have to pull the bolt to remove a loaded round. I have heard of such things when running a long action cartridge in a short action, but have yet to encounter that in a long action.

benchracer said:

For long range purposes, I intend to use the Berger 250 and the Cutting Edge 252 and single feed them. I will have to check for that issue when I have my rifle in hand. I seriously doubt the Berger @ 3.565 will have that issue, though the CE bullet at 3.7ish might.

I load very long for several of my rifles. I have yet to have to pull the bolt to remove a loaded round. I have heard of such things when running a long action cartridge in a short action, but have yet to encounter that in a long action.

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You will at 3.7 in a Ruger long action.

I loaded the 215 Bergers in this rifle...and with the ogive of the bullet just slightly above the case mouth of the 300 win mag, it would't eject without removing the bolt. the 3.565" will be REALLY close....

With the recent success with WW Magnum primers and RL26 with the 215's, I thought it would be a good idea to revisit the 285 ELDM. I figured it would help the slow for bore powder to burn a little better and build pressure a little more normally. I never dreamed of using that heavy a bullet when I designed the Sherman but it is looking like it might be an excellent choice for some applications, providing they will group. I will try that down the road. Today, I loaded some Norma cases with 67, 68, 69, and 70 grains behind a WM primer at 2.544" coal and strapped on the magspeed. I also loaded one round of 69 in a RWS case. I did not get a reading on the 70 grain shot as the bayonet slipped a little so the shots are as follows on the screen:
(1) Norma/67 gr. (2)Norma/68 gr. (3) Norma/69 gr. and (4)RWS 69 gr. Nothing was over max, including the 70 gr. load which would have been just below 2700' it seems. At 2700', that is a little over 4600 ft. lbs. of energy from an '06 sized case. That is a whole lot of pop!

codyadams said:

The only problem with single feeding the Ruger is most of the time if it's too long for the mag then it won't eject, and you need to remove the bolt to get a loaded cartridge out, and I just don't want to deal with that...and I want to use the more streamlined bullets, mainly the 250 Berger, that would be about the only bullet I would want to use. We have a 35 Whelen AI, so that fills the gap for a closer range hard hitting cartridge, I want a long range heavy hitter, I'm thinking the 338 ss, 300 ss, or a 300 WSM.

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I made up a dummy round, with a 250 EH loaded to 3.565 (which is .010 off the lands in my rifle) and it ejects without a problem. You are right, though, there isn't much room to spare. I'm thinking a guy could load another .005 shorter, for a bit of insurance, without affecting much.

Curiously, it feeds more smoothly than shorter bullets. I think the long nose helps guide it into the chamber. It is also easily possible to put one in the mag and feed one over the top of it.

There is no 338 short out there yet but I have dies and it should be the next up (but not by me probably) I think it probably would reach 2800' because the shortmags have equaled the sherman in other bore sizes.

elkaholic said:

There is no 338 short out there yet but I have dies and it should be the next up (but not by me probably) I think it probably would reach 2800' because the shortmags have equaled the sherman in other bore sizes.

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I'm thinking about it....I have a Remington 700 short action sitting around with a 22-250 barrel on it that is torched, I would have to either get a new bolt or have it faced because it's for a standard bolt face. And then probably run a Wyatts mag box to get as much length as possible....What would you estimate the OAL with the 250 Berger would be?

Here are the two 338 Shermans for comparison. The bullets are 250 Bergers and are seated where they should be. The SS measures 2.980 to the lands and the Sherman is 3.575........Rich

Ya know I could also rebarrel my Savage .308 short action to this....its detachable mag box is 3" long so it would work great with this, and I can just get a replacement bolt head and not have to have any gun smith work on the bolt....do you have a reamer for it?

codyadams said:

Ya know I could also rebarrel my Savage .308 short action to this....its detachable mag box is 3" long so it would work great with this, and I can just get a replacement bolt head and not have to have any gun smith work on the bolt....do you have a reamer for it?

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No, I have dies but no reamer as yet.

elkaholic said:

No, I have dies but no reamer as yet.

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How would I go about getting a reamer? for the 338 SS

p m sent

Anyone try Imr 4350? I'm sitting on a few kegs but haven't seen any data with that powder.

Accurate but velocity will be at least 50' below H100v or RL26
Start about 55 grains with 250 Berger