338 Edge Bertram brass

[danj]

I'm getting small ejector marks on the new bertram brass's first loads .(Three out of Four) I ran the new brass through the resizing dye, trimmed to square. Using the same load, 90 gr. H1000 300gr SMK's cci250( .010 off the lands) as used in Remington brass. Primers show no signs of excess presure. Load crono's at 2817 - 2826 fps. ( 30" broughton barrel) great ES and tight groups. My question is slight ejector marks always a sign of excess pressure? Should I reduce the load or try a second loading on the brass with the same load? Thanks Dan

 

[Broz]

Dan, I just went through the same thing. I had a firm bolt close on the new brass first time, so zero head space. I feel this was part of it. After the first sizing I bumped the shoulder back .001 to .0015" and they then chambered with an easy bolt close. I have now fired this brass 3 times and no more ejector pin marks. In fact I am seeing the marks from the first firing fade away. I got these pin marks while seeing no flattened primers. I have since raised the charge up 1 1/2 gr and now am just getting a slightly flattened primer. So I feel I am at max with 92.5 gr of H-1000 and a 300 gr Berger OTM.

Did you have a firm bolt close the first firing?

Jeff

 

[danj]

Yes I did have a firm bolt close. I'll bump the shoulder back a little. Thanks for the info Jeff!

 

[Broz]

Yes I did have a firm bolt close. I'll bump the shoulder back a little. Thanks for the info Jeff!

Also , Shawn and I discussed this. Many 338 EDGE reamers done by PTG are set for a max case length of 2.840". So if you had a PT&G reamer I would trim back to 2.830" The Bertram brass comes new about 2.844" I believe.

Jeff

 

[danj]

I don't know what reamer was used.Rifle was built by R-Bros (Travis R ). I will check the brass l. Thanks for the info. Bought a box (250 count) of berger 300 Hybrid OTM's a while ago. Never did get around to trying them out as I've been pleased with the SMK's. Good time to see how the Bergers shoot with the new brass. Thanks again !!

Dan

 

[Broz]

FWIW, I did a full load development. My groups at 100 yards were .6 to 1 moa with many loads. I took them to 200 and 300 yards and the same loads were .3 moa average. So don't count out a 1" group at 100, it could very well be 1" at 300 too. This is not the first time I have seen this with a 338 sending 300gr bullets.

Jeff