338 Cal 250 gr AB Range Report

225 bc check

Has the b.c of the 225 AB @ .550 been verified? It is hard to believe that 25 grains of bullet weight only gains 25 points of b.c. in a similarly shaped projectile. Maybe the 225 b.c is a little optimistic.
 
These are very good points, Nosler could have gotten more aggressive with the ogive and really boosted the BC of even the 250 gr Accubond with no fear of needing more twist.

Or, they could have increased the length of the polymer tip to increase the overall length of the bullet while keeping weight down.

We also have to remember that in the 338 bore, 25 grains of bullet is not all that much, just look at the pictures of the two bullets, they are not noticably different in appearance.

Hell, they make a 200 gr 30 cal accubond with nearly a .6 BC, why they did not design a bullet to at least match this is a bit of a shame in my opinion. A .6 BC bullet with the terminal performance of the Accubond would have been even better and they would have had no issues with stability and accuracy. Course, they sell many millons more bullets then I shoot every year so I guess I should not question them but it does seem they are not willing to take any chances with long range bullets.
 
I went out to the range this morning, wind conditions were 22 mph gusting to 31 mph. Not the best of conditions for 300 yd load development!
I did shoot twice into water jugs at 300 yds and recovered both 250 gr AB's.
#1 has an expanded diameter of .639" and weighs 148.2 grs. #2 expanded to .708" and weighed in at 148.4 grs. Both bullets were recovered in the 6th water jug.
338RUM250grAB300yds.jpg

JD338
 
Getting back to this because it's important.
You cann't just add weight in the middle of the bullet.
But you can. The added length in the middle does very little aerodynamically. It can add a little skin drag, but it's a small percentage of the overall drag and not very significant relative to the increase in SD. There are computer programs that model and predict this, even online calculators but more importantly we can see it in actual bullets. Take a line of bullets, like the 30 Cal AccuBonds for example from back when their ratings weren't so screwy, or SMK's of any caliber being careful to pick out the similarly shaped ones since their testing has historically been pretty good. Plot the points, draw a best fit line and you'll see the general trend is clear. Of course each bullet won't land exactly on the line, but the trend is followed. Ones that are far from the line can often be shown to have subtle differences in shape or simply a rating that's a bit off.

Now this is a good thing. This is what allows us to have high BC bullets. Otherwise anything but the lightest bullets would need to be rediculously long and would have trouble competing with the lighter bullets with the small improvement in form factor not making up for the slower muzzle velocities.

Of course lengthening the nose and tail increases BC even more, but in addition to cost, you run into some practical difficulties pretty quickly with twist, OAL, etc. Remember the 338 RUM's case was shortened specifically because the 300's was too long to fit in the OAL target with the long ogive 338 bullets. Naturally, that means it's a no-no for Nosler in this case.

And also, you mentioned the aluminum tipped bullets. Their noses are longer and pointer than normal bullets which naturally helps their BC compared to those. But when compared to each other, as far as I know the Hensons, for example, do have the same noses and tails in each caliber—just weight added in the middle. So there's another example why it's good thing that's all it takes to significanly increase their BC's, otherwise the heavier ones would never make up for their lower velocities. :)
 
Jon:

I don't think we disagree on anything. I guess it's just a matter of what you call a significant increase in bc. I don't call the increase in bc between the 225 and 250 accubond significant. But it is an increase, so it will carry greater energy to long range. But because the 250 starts out slower, it is questionable (I haven't run the numbers) if the 250 will show less winddrift at any range over which these bullets are effective, say 1000 yds. By changing the form of the tip and tail to something more aggresive, the 250 could have been made with enough bc (say 0.7) that there wouldn't have been any question about which is a better long range bullet. This longer 250 would likely still function in most 338s, if not do one that will, say 0.65. I'm sure there is a higher than 0.575 that would function.

Why doesn't this happen? Probably because Nosler has larger unserved market segments than long range. Maybe they aren't atuned to long range yet. But I'd strongly suspect, if they make a change that puts off any segment of the 338 WM crowd, they'd lose more sales than they'd gain in long range.

At any rate i enjoy the discussion;););)
 
Last edited:
I agree the 250's rating is a bit disappointing, but I don't have that much faith in their ratings lately. It would not surprise me a bit if a drag race over the chronographs showed the difference between the two is larger than their ratings imply, making the 250 the easy winner in downrange wind drift.
 
JD338,

Whars the 300 yd results, huh?;)

This thread relates closely with my bullet tests on the porker.

The quality of performance of the NABs is beginning to become apparent to this old fella.

What gains do you think you gain over the 225 for increased velocity and only slightly less worthy BC?

I'm starting to think that shot placement and terminal performance out weigh excess velocity. That's wierd thinking for me.

However, BC may well determine the ability to accurately place the shot as much as anything, namely the affects of wind.
 
Roy,

I'm in standby mode.
I swapped out scopes, putting my Mark 4 4.5x14 on my 338 RUM, I'm shooting 5.8" high at 100 yds and no adjustment left in the scope to bring it down! After a discussion with Leupold and optically centering the reticle with a mirror, I only had 11 clicks. I sent the scope back to Leupold and am waiting to get it back.
Once back, I will resume testing at 300 yds+.

JD338
 
I know your target showed the info, but it was not very clear. What load where you shooting and were there any presure signs if any.
 
I know your target showed the info, but it was not very clear. What load where you shooting and were there any presure signs if any.

338 RUM
250 gr AB
98.6 grs Retumbo
R-P Case
Federal GM215M primer

Avg velocity 2937 fps, ES 14, SD 7 and no pressure signs.

JD338
 
Warning! This thread is more than 16 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.
Top