Which powder .338 lapua improved

[snox801]

Ok, so I have a 24" lapua improved 40 shoulder.
Here is my question. I am gonna load the 249gr hammer deadblow bullet into this one. Since it's a 24" barrel I'm not looking for max distance 300gr as I have better rifles for that.
I did all my fireforming with a full case of rl33 because I have plenty of that. Used a generic Hornady 250gr bullet.
Now I clearly added more case to add more powder. But I'm also gonna use a longer bullet. Plus I want to keep this a repeater. So mag length keeps the bullet into the cases not. I know I'm gonna end with a full case and am gonna still try rl33 first. But what are my other options or where would you start if you were me?
My thought was I may need a more dense powder. But would love to run rl33.
Also with the short barrel I may want a bit faster.
I'm open for ideas.
I have more rl26 than I need but also feed a bunch with it. Have no other use for the rl33 hence wanting to use it.
I also have a pound of rl25 which may be perfect but again 1 lbs doesn't last long with burning over 100gr at a time. I have a fair amount of other options.
What would you try if it was yours. I'm gonna run a ladder today with rl33 and see where it pressures. See if my improved made enough room or not.
But as you all know always looking for the next best thing. Given my combo am I overlooking a better powder?
Thanks.

 

[Bret GRAVELINE Graveline]

This may not be of much help, when lapua brass became available over 25 years ago now I Ackley improved it, I finished my barrel at 25 in, didn't have some of the newer powder and bullets we have now, I tried bullets from 185 to 300gr, I settled on the 225 gr X bullet at 3360 FPS, the powder I went with was ram shot magnum, called bigboy when I started, but Reloader 25 H1000 Vit N170 and Win WMR. all gave velocities and accuracy I was happy with would have happily taken in the field, i just liked the way magnum powder filled the case from the powder measure,

 

[sierracharlie338]

I have seen alot of guys running retumbo in the Lapuas. I know that's about as hard to find as any other reloading component at the moment.

 

[marioq]

I have an Allan magnum and I use H1000. Had better pressures and velocity than retumbo

 

[snox801]

Lucky, I want another of his bad but I'm happy with my .375 and the wait kills me.

 

[snox801]

I will reach out to him and see. I think most people build them for big heavies and if mono that is single shot. I can load them long and I know rl33 works great for that but wanting to use the mag on this one I may eat up to much case.

 

[North Idaho Hunter]

Retumbo has been outstanding for my 338 lapua ai's!

 

[GLTaylor]

Look at the Hammer Hunter load data spreadsheets. 26, 33, 7828 and 1000 all seem to do well with 260s.

 

[waveslayer]

Powder in this order Retumbo, RL 33 or N570. I personally prefer Retumbo.

I am using Ramshot LRT at the moment just because Retumbo has been hard to get. So I'm testing the Ramshot now, not sure how temp stable it would be compared to Retumbo. But the results for velocity were a bit better than I expected. My go to for my .338 Norma AI is Retumbo. RL is dirty and so is N570

 

[Marine sniper]

I have an exact same set up; 338 LAI with a 40 degree shoulder and 24 in barrel.

I settled on 98 grains of H1000 with 252 Gr. Cutting Edge bullets at a pedestrian 2920 fps. The rifle is an honest .3 xx MOA at 100 yards and .45 MOA in field conditions at distance. ES is single digit and H1000 is extremely temp sensitive. I have not chased any additional velocity because this load is so accurate and easy on brass there is no reason to. My OAL allows for mag fed.

The elk was killed with 270 ELDX bullets at 2950- 350 yards. 3 feet of penetration. The big 338's are hammers.

Rifle weighs 10.6 pounds with my new March 2.5 x 25 and Neopod.

 

[BAKPAKR]

I don't have an AI, but in my 338 LM, Retumbo gave better velocity and equal* ES and accuracy.

*Edit - equal to H1000.

 

[Flintlock shooter]

Not AI, but both my 338LM's like RL-25.

 

[Veteran]

For 300 gr, the RL 33 and N570 and LRT

For 250 Gr N565, IMR 8133, N568,
Retumbo, Acc Magpro, RL 26

 

[Will Gray]

Try IMR 4831 on second thought, try some US 869, low cost and available. Tried 104g of it on my 338 EDGE. 2750fps on 300g SMK. Room in the case for more powder.