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Guest
Ok! Here's the question: "If you were considering building up a Mag .338....which cartridge would you pick; the .338 Remington Ultra Mag or....the .338 Lapua cartridge! I'm not interested in taking a .378 case down so I'm considering the above two. I have a Remington LA available which will work real well with the Remington cartridge. If I choose the Lapua cartridge...that presents a problem of having to open up the bolt face and I'm really not hot for doing that!

Which one? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

"I WANT NO RIFLES THAT I CAN OUTSHOOT!"
 
So...you're one of the BROTHERS! Been in your shoes before; 40 years back! I know the drill! Shot with the BROTHERS out of USAMTU at Benning! Wish I could do it all over again!

My thinking is the same as yours on the choice I need to make!

Hang in there! I appreciate your service and contribution!

"I WANT NO RIFLES THAT I CAN OUTSHOOT!"
 
Rick

I have had several 338 Lapua custom rifles and at least one 338 RUM custom. About the only difference I noticed is that the brass for the Lapua was of better quality than I could get for the RUM (at the time concerned). None of my rifles had muzzle brakes and I could load the 300 Sierra to speeds sufficient to make shooting the rifles an unpleasant experience for most (they'd make snot fly, spatter tears onto the inside surface of my glasses and cause headaches) with either chambering. The fastest I've ever shot a 300 Sierra is just under 3150fps from a LONG barreled 338 Lapua but the precision was not too good once I went past 2900fps or so. The furthest I shot the 338 RUM with the 300's was just a few yards short of 1 mile (28 inch barrel) and the rounds were still plenty supersonic (starting speed about 2825 to 2850 fps).

The only problem/quandry for me is that there is match grade ammo available for the 338 Lapua (Lapua and Black Hills manufacture) but only hunting loads available for the 338 RUM. Every once in a while I'd like to be able to just stop in and pick up some match grade "plinker" rounds for a rifle, this can't be done (that I'm aware of) for the 338 RUM.

If you're only considering loading your own mathc grade ammo with no possible need or desire to get match grade factory ammo I'd say get the RUM.
 
Brass is the cheapest component in a LR accuracy system. Buy the best quality. Lapua is only $1 each and last 3-10x as long as Rem and very little if any sorting.

The 338 Ack Imp, I have for sale here is pushing the 300 gr SMKs at 2875 fps and could easily go up to 3100 but the pure accuracy is right in this area.

BH
 
Dave

The only time I've shot factory ammo during the past 50 years is when some of these "Rednecks" in these here parts ask me to check their rifles (Rem 742s & 760s) zero for them!! Always load my own stuff! Whatever I build up, which will more than likely be the .338 RUM....will have a brake installed! Recoil doesn't bother me much but anytime one can decrease recoil.....you're also improving accuracy!

Thanks for your reply!
 
From the reading I have done I would tell you to go with a 300 rum and open it up to 338 cal. This takes advantage of the longer 300rum case and I think it actually gives you more case capacity than the lapua.

Just my opinion
steve
 
I personally think they skewed up when designing the Lapua case. It is one of the only cartridges designed in the last 13 years that has almost as much case taper from head to shoulder as the 22-250! It was made to cycle well through autos (and it does this perfectly) but what does that do for me if I have a bolt action? It only produces more bolt thrust and makes me have to trim and FL size all the time!

Granted, the brass is excellent on weight uniformity, but it still has to have some TLC in other departments.

THe 338 ultra mag on the other hand seems to have better brass than the 300 ultra in my experience. If you go to page six of my 338 thunder project thread, you can see how the weights came out on 150 pieces.

I think the trick is to buy 1 more bag of brass (of the same lot) than what you'll think you need and just segregate by weight. You will probably end up with 20 or so pieces that you can just use for load development or fouling shots.


The 338 edge is certainly something to look at also. Very easy to make the brass (I'm assuming cause I have never made it) as it is just necking up the 300 ultra to 338.


As for the 338 thunder, it will be on the rifle range shortly and we shall see if it will shoot or not. It is a tad shorter than the 338 edge but has a sharper shoulder angle and a longer neck which both things help when shooting heavy bullets. I might be sticking my neck out here, but I will bet I surpass the edge in velocity even though my case capacity is a few grains less. Now, whether it can hit a bus at 100 paces might be a stretch! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
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