338 AM assembled, pics....

[Fiftydriver]

Brent,

I personally feel the 338 Lapua, 338 Lapua Imp and even the 338-378 and 338 Kahn are best served by the 300 gr bullet weights for extreme range shooting. The reason is because these cases simply don;t offer the HP to muscle the huge 350 gr ULD RBBTs to high enough velocities to compete with the 300 gr bullets.

I have tested this in my Kahn and proven it to myself that the 300 gr ULD RBBT is a better choice then the 350 gr ULD RBBT in that round.

Now that said, If your looking for the ultimate big game hammer for ranges on the short side of 1/2 mile, I would take a look at the Wildcat 325 gr FBHP. This is a pure big game bullet, not ULD. If you want something that will penetrate ANYTHING on the planet with your Lapua, this is the beast. Your velocity will be pretty low and thats why its best for just conventional big game hunting in that size of a case but it is the most serious big game 338 bullet I have every played with.

Penetration will be at least as good as the heavy X bullets and expansion will be similiar as well. Not much but enough to do the job and penetrate from any angle. With a 338 bullet, expansion is not as critical as the smaller calibers. If you get some of these, ask Richard to use the 0.030" jacket or whatever he recommends for hunting with this class of round.

Good Shooting

Kirby Allen(50)

 

[Fiftydriver]

Uncle B,

Yes, the 5" forends sure are stable but most do not realize there just are not many rests out there that will work with them. For that reason I recommend the 50LBR over the HBR for most projects.

Good Shooting!!

Kirby Allen(50)

 

[Brent-AR-30-338]

Fiftydriver,
That is what I thought, thanks.

 

[remington 1]

Uncleb,

Harbor Engineering makes a front rest for the 5 inch HBR stocks. I have one of these on top of a Sinclair rest and it is extremely stable. It also has a windage adjustment, which while not really necessary for the lighter rifles, is awesome with these big and heavy setups. The people at HE were also extremely nice and helpful.

The link is http://www.slrharbor.com/mechrests.html

What are you guys using for the 3.5 inch stocks? While I haven't measured my setup, I doubt that one of these would fit on a standard Sinclair rest type? What top and front bag are you using?

Shoot straight…

Rem

 

[hjl]

Kirby,
2 great looking rifles.Could you please list the specs on your 257 am rifle ? Why did you go with a laminated thumbhole stock instead of a fiberglass one? What do you think of the McMillian Lazzeroni thumbhole stock?
Good luck with your 338am.
Regards
hjl

 

[Fiftydriver]

Hjl,

Are you referring to this 257 AM?

If this is the one you are referring to, here are the componants used in that rifle:

-Fully accurized Rem 700 Chrome moly
-Holland Comp Lug
-30" 1-7 twist, 3 groove #5 Lilja SS barrel
-Holland QD Muzzle brake
-Boyds thumbhole sporter stock, pillar bedded
-H-S Precision DM system
-Burris one piece base, Signature rings
-Weaver Tactical 4.5-14 mil dot
-Rifles Basix 1.5-3 lb trigger set at 2 lbs

This rifle is about to get an overhaul so to speak. The barrel will be replaced with a 28" slightly heavier #6 contour. Driving a 156 gr ULD RBBT to 3300 fps in a 1-7 twist is just more then a 30" #5 can handle without some serious barrel whipping. If you stand behind the shooter you can acutally see the barrel quiver after the shot!!!

A slightly shorter and heavier barrel will improve consistancy with this round.

It shots alright as is, took this goat at 545 yards with one shot but just not quite what I want in my rifles.

As far as the stock choice. I actually prefer the feel of wood to the fiberglass stocks. Not saying they are better. Nothing is as stable as a quality composite like a McMillan but up here in Montana it can get pretty darn cold durning hunting season. My favorite time to hunt big whitetails is the last week of November.

It is not uncommon for temps to be well below zero at times while out hunting and a wood stock is just much warmer on the face then a composite.

That said, My two soon to be made hunting rifles, one in 338 AM and one in 7mm AM will both have composite stocks for weight issues.

The Lazzeroni stock is a good one. All the McMillan stocks are top notch in my book. The shape of the stock is a personal preference thing. I am not a huge fan of the looks of the Lazzeroni stock but they are pretty comfortable to shoot.

Good shooting!!

Kirby Allen(50)

 

[Fiftydriver]

Well, if you have been reading this post you know the 338 AM has been performing well so far. Only issue has been the primer cratering around the firing pin.

Well, in discussing this with fellow monster 338 magnum shooter BlackDiamond408, he suggested I do a simple modification to my BAT bolt and see what happened.

The process was to machine a short spacer that would fit over the BAT firing pin and allow the much shorter Rem 700 striker springs to be used instead of the very long BAT spring.

The theory here is that a shorter stouter spring would help prevent this firing pin divit cratering.

I machined the spacer out of some stainless steel barrel scrap. This spacer measured 0.625" long and 0.430" in diameter. The center hole was reamed JUST large enough to slip over the BAT firing pin.

I ordered two Wolf springs from Brownells for the Rem 700 LA. A 28 and a 32 lb spring. They showed up this afternoon so I grabbed the 32 lb spring and assembled the bolt and then loaded up a couple loads of the heaviest 146.0 gr load I had tested with US869 and the 350 gr ULD RBBT.

This load was on the verge of piercing the primer with some dramatic firing pin divit set back.

Well, with the new heavier spring, there is still some slight cratering but hardly any compared to before. Bolt lift and extraction are simply effortless so on the next range test I will see if I can get some more out of this big girl before she tops out.

Would like to thank BD408 for his help on this and ideas to get this issue pretty much eliminated.

Will report when I get more range testing done. I am going out of town tomorrow to try to pick up some Vhita Vouri 20N29 and see what it does in the 338 AM. H-50BMG and US869 both are topping out in pressure before I get a full case so the ultra slow VV powder may prove useful here.

Will need it for my 510 AM anyway!!

More to come soon.

Kirby Allen(50)

 

[wildcat]

Remy, thanks for the info. This helps out a ton. I will call them tomorrow.

Thanks
Wildcat

 

[hjl]

Kirby,
Thanks for the reply.Why did you use a h-s precision dm set up? How many rounds do they hold? Are they hard to fit to a rem 700 ? Using the laminate stock in the cold makes sense.
Regards
hjl

 

[Fiftydriver]

Its a certer feed magazine system and it holds three on the mag. They are pretty easy to get most of the time but currnetly HS is trying to find another casting company to make their floorplates. Seems the one they were using went out of business.

There needs to be some slight modifications on the stock to accept this system but I have yet to find one that would not allow it.

The center feed design is dramatically better for a min taper, sharp shouldered case design. Plus the same system works great for my even fatter 277 and 7mm AMs as well.

They are not cheap though, about $230 currently for the floorplate and one magazine.

Kirby Allen(50)

 

[Northman]

Badger ordenance is making DBM for remington SA and LA using AI magazines.

From what I have heard, its much better then HS presicions magazines.

 

[robbor]

Hey Kirby, just thinking out loud here; but have you thought about mounting the barreled action in a barrel bedding block in a sacraficial stock just to compare accuracy potential. That is one thing I have never seen or heard an actual range test comparison of. Identical barrel, identical load, accuracy differance by thearetically shortening the length the barrel has to whip. I was reading an artical the other day on heavy guns and how no matter what, if you make the gun so heavy to eliminate recoil it will still jump and produce worse groups. But that was about guns over like 80-100 pounds. Anyways I would be interested in blocked gun info if you ever run across any. One day Id like to build a heavy gun and it will probably end up like yours, I love the lines without the barrel block.

 

[lerch]

I snuck up to Montana over the weekend and took some pics of Kirby shooting his new 338 Allen Mag, seems to be powerful enough!!!

ha ha ha

just kiddin ya!!! that actually the 510 Allen Mag


take it easy
steve

 

[alremkin]

Lerch good pic. With all these AM's it does seem like that picture some times, lol. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif