Fiftydriver
Official LRH Sponsor
Was able to get out and test a customer rifle yesterday morning. This is one of my Stalker Hunter rifles. 28" Bartlein fluted barrel in my custom Stalker contour. Chambered in my 338 Allen Xpress.
the goal for these rifles is to offer a truly portable rifle capable of 1000 yard big game hunting with plenty of precision and a load of terminal power. This rifle uses the HS Precision detachable mag system to keep the lines of the rifle as clean as possible. As such the allowable OAL of the ammo is somewhat limited. Using the 300 gr. Berger EH this would generally create a problem.
most feel that a very short OAL will dramatically reduce performance, especially with something like the 300 gr. Berger. However, early on, i decided to have reamers made up for all my wildcats with min throat lengths. That way, i can then use custom piloted throating reamers to cut the throat to any length we may way.
what is critical with a rifle like this for precision and consistency is being able to seat the bullets to within 10 thou of the lands and still fit in the mag.
many years ago i would see guys throating rifles like the 338 edge so they would have an overall length of nearly or even longer then 4"!! However even with that extremely long OAL, they were still limited to around 2900 fps in a 30" barrel length if they wanted any brass life at all. I will admit i fell into that mind set as well but around a decade ago, i had a customer order one of these rifles, back then it was my older Raptor Stalker rifle. He wanted to use the HS Precision dm system which i had been using for my 7mm Allen Mag with great results but never with the 338 Allen Xpress using the big 300 gr bullet weights. For those i had always used the Seekins 3.990" dm system as it was simply common knowledge you needed to seat those big 338 pills out as far as possible to not sacrifice performance.
so i told the customer to expect dramatic performance drops but he insisted on the short OAL. Built the rifle and using my then standard Retumbo powder, ran out of capacity quickly and only got around 2850 fps..... i asked him if i could use his rifle as a test platform to do some load development with other powders To see if i could get some loads to up the performance a bit.
tested faster burning stick powders such as h1000 and RL 25 and was able to increase velocities a bit but at the expense of load density and the potential to really get into over pressure issues. I then decided to test Ramshot magnum powder. This is a fine ball powder with burn rate that will range from around Retumbo to RL33 depending on application used in.
quickly found that in the 338 Allen Xpress, using deep seated 300 gr bullets that Ramshot Magnum would allow me to get much more powder behind the bullet and result in a 97-98% load density which is perfect in my opinion for top loads... it also produced great velocities and very consistent.
Here is the 338 Allen Xpress loaded with the 300 gr. Bergers to an OAL of only 3.670".
this rifle has a 28" barrel length and it averages 3015 fps with a very comfortable load that will easily offer 8-10 firings per case, which is my standard for recommended loads to my customers. I did push things a bit harder and with TOP working loads, the rifle produced 3075 fps. Still i would rather double the case life then gain 60 fps.....
bare rifle weight is just under 8 lbs. this one was finished in optional cerakote finish.
yesterday morning was able to accuracy test the rifle/load and at 800 yards, it took a few shots to get point of aim to match up to point of impact. Made a final scope adjustment and let barrel cool. Then shot a three shot group for accuracy eval. First shot landed 1/3 moa low of the last two. Seeing this and thinking it may have been from the scope adjustment, i threw two more down range and these two flat out stacked on top of the last two. Add to that, it was EASY to spot my own impacts through the scope. Very comfortable rifle to shoot with my PK brake taking care of any recoil issues, which with a 300 gr pill at +3000 fps in a sub 8 lb rifle would be significant!! Really do love these Stalker Hunter rifles. Very portable, very accurate and very powerful!!
rifle ready to head out to a very patient and happy new owner.....
the goal for these rifles is to offer a truly portable rifle capable of 1000 yard big game hunting with plenty of precision and a load of terminal power. This rifle uses the HS Precision detachable mag system to keep the lines of the rifle as clean as possible. As such the allowable OAL of the ammo is somewhat limited. Using the 300 gr. Berger EH this would generally create a problem.
most feel that a very short OAL will dramatically reduce performance, especially with something like the 300 gr. Berger. However, early on, i decided to have reamers made up for all my wildcats with min throat lengths. That way, i can then use custom piloted throating reamers to cut the throat to any length we may way.
what is critical with a rifle like this for precision and consistency is being able to seat the bullets to within 10 thou of the lands and still fit in the mag.
many years ago i would see guys throating rifles like the 338 edge so they would have an overall length of nearly or even longer then 4"!! However even with that extremely long OAL, they were still limited to around 2900 fps in a 30" barrel length if they wanted any brass life at all. I will admit i fell into that mind set as well but around a decade ago, i had a customer order one of these rifles, back then it was my older Raptor Stalker rifle. He wanted to use the HS Precision dm system which i had been using for my 7mm Allen Mag with great results but never with the 338 Allen Xpress using the big 300 gr bullet weights. For those i had always used the Seekins 3.990" dm system as it was simply common knowledge you needed to seat those big 338 pills out as far as possible to not sacrifice performance.
so i told the customer to expect dramatic performance drops but he insisted on the short OAL. Built the rifle and using my then standard Retumbo powder, ran out of capacity quickly and only got around 2850 fps..... i asked him if i could use his rifle as a test platform to do some load development with other powders To see if i could get some loads to up the performance a bit.
tested faster burning stick powders such as h1000 and RL 25 and was able to increase velocities a bit but at the expense of load density and the potential to really get into over pressure issues. I then decided to test Ramshot magnum powder. This is a fine ball powder with burn rate that will range from around Retumbo to RL33 depending on application used in.
quickly found that in the 338 Allen Xpress, using deep seated 300 gr bullets that Ramshot Magnum would allow me to get much more powder behind the bullet and result in a 97-98% load density which is perfect in my opinion for top loads... it also produced great velocities and very consistent.
Here is the 338 Allen Xpress loaded with the 300 gr. Bergers to an OAL of only 3.670".
this rifle has a 28" barrel length and it averages 3015 fps with a very comfortable load that will easily offer 8-10 firings per case, which is my standard for recommended loads to my customers. I did push things a bit harder and with TOP working loads, the rifle produced 3075 fps. Still i would rather double the case life then gain 60 fps.....
bare rifle weight is just under 8 lbs. this one was finished in optional cerakote finish.
yesterday morning was able to accuracy test the rifle/load and at 800 yards, it took a few shots to get point of aim to match up to point of impact. Made a final scope adjustment and let barrel cool. Then shot a three shot group for accuracy eval. First shot landed 1/3 moa low of the last two. Seeing this and thinking it may have been from the scope adjustment, i threw two more down range and these two flat out stacked on top of the last two. Add to that, it was EASY to spot my own impacts through the scope. Very comfortable rifle to shoot with my PK brake taking care of any recoil issues, which with a 300 gr pill at +3000 fps in a sub 8 lb rifle would be significant!! Really do love these Stalker Hunter rifles. Very portable, very accurate and very powerful!!
rifle ready to head out to a very patient and happy new owner.....
