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.338 calibers
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<blockquote data-quote="Fiftydriver" data-source="post: 616647" data-attributes="member: 10"><p>Autorotate,</p><p> </p><p>The 338 Raptor is a work in progress at this time, the original design IS based on the 338 Excalibur case made by Jamison International. A good case, decently strong, decent quality, very usible, unfortunatly, Jamsion is currently a dead stick as a company.</p><p> </p><p>I have only tested the 338 Raptor in one rifle and that was one of my 30" barreled Raptor LRSS rifles based on my APS Raptor receiver.</p><p> </p><p>The actual case design may suprise you. In my opinion, the Excalibur case is FAR to square for use with high pressure loads and still maintain good extraction properties. As such, I slightly increased the case body taper. To increase case capacity, I had to do something other then just sharpen the shoulder angle. As such, I shortened the neck significantly and increased the body length. Relocating the shoulder on the long necked 338 Excalibur case makes for a significant increase in case capacity over the parent case. The increased body taper allows for higher working pressures to be used with no issues with sticky extraction.</p><p> </p><p>In all honesty, I am AMAZED that you can Neck Size only with your Excalibur and get the velocity your getting and still being able to extract the cases. As you correctly mentioned, the Excalibur parent case has very little body taper, in fact, much less then what I have found to be functionally correct for this diameter and length of a case.</p><p> </p><p>Shooting the 300 gr Berger Hybrid I was able to get 6 firings per case with an average muzzle velocity of 3165 fps. With the 300 gr SMK, with the same minimum 6 firings per case the 338 Raptor averaged 3143 fps. Both of these loads had ES of less then 15 fps for 10 shots and accuracy at 1000 yards was easily in the 1/2 moa range for three shots fired off Harris bipod and rear bag from prone position.</p><p> </p><p>Please keep in mind that this test rifle was set up with a very short throat for an OAL of 3.900" with the SMK (The Berger is longer by around 0.100") simply to test the rounds performance when it would be used as a repeater using the Seekins DM system. At this length the SMK is seated VERY deep into the case.</p><p> </p><p>I have not yet tested the 338 Raptor with a longer throat design but I have tested my 300 Raptor with both throat lengths and it gained 80 to 100 fps potential with the longer throat and increased powder capacity depending on what bullet weight was used (heavier bullets had largest increase). Obviously the lower expansion ratio 30 cal bore will have more of an advantage then the better breathing larger bored 338 caliber but I am predicting that with a long throat design(single shot Only) it would not be unrealistic to see 3200 fps with the 300 gr bullet weights. </p><p> </p><p>I do not use pressure barrels. The cost of this set up or the added cost to pay someone to pressure test ammo would simply add to the cost of the rifles, perhaps thats why some rifles in this class cost 20 to 40% more then others and offer nothing extra in quality or performance, often times less but they can say its all been pressure tested.......</p><p> </p><p>Every rifle that leaves my shop is function tested on the range with ammo taylor made to each specific rifle. My accuracy loads are far from red line loads and I generally only post my accuracy load levels. MANY of my customers get far more performance out of my wildcats then I do simply because they push them a bit harder but give up some case life. FOr example, my 338 Allen Magnum will get you 3300-3325 fps with a 300 gr SMK with +8 firings per case...... Many of my customers push the 300 gr bullets to 3400 fps with 4-5 firings per case.</p><p> </p><p>Now to put that into perspective, you can load a 338 Edge to 2900 fps with conventional throat length with a 300 gr SMK in a 30" barrel length and you will get 5-6 firings with Rem brass on average.</p><p> </p><p>I do not red line my wildcats as some would have you believe. I do not care about bragging rights, my wildcats stand on their own and every rifle I have shipped WILL easily meet the velocity goals I have stated for each of my wildcats. This is something that CAN NOT be said for many other high performance semi-custom commerical rounds without using special barrel twists, specially undersized bullets, special bullet lubrication. I use standard powders, standard off the shelf bullets and offer the load data I use to test my customers rifles. I prove their rifles not only meet my 1/2 moa accuracy potential requirement (AT LONG RANGE, 800-1200 yards), but also that their rifles meet my velocity predictions for each wildcat.</p><p> </p><p>I designed my wildcats to produce the velocity potential I wanted with comfortable pressures, great accuracy, great consistancy and great functional performance. This is by using large case capacities, longer barrels and proper powder choices, nothing special, nothing HIGH-TECH, just old school high performance designs. </p><p> </p><p>Again, each of my rifles are proven more then safe with custom loads before they ship, that way I do not have customers calling me saying, I CAN NOT GET THE VELOCITY YOU STATED when we were talking about ordering a rifle.......</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Fiftydriver, post: 616647, member: 10"] Autorotate, The 338 Raptor is a work in progress at this time, the original design IS based on the 338 Excalibur case made by Jamison International. A good case, decently strong, decent quality, very usible, unfortunatly, Jamsion is currently a dead stick as a company. I have only tested the 338 Raptor in one rifle and that was one of my 30" barreled Raptor LRSS rifles based on my APS Raptor receiver. The actual case design may suprise you. In my opinion, the Excalibur case is FAR to square for use with high pressure loads and still maintain good extraction properties. As such, I slightly increased the case body taper. To increase case capacity, I had to do something other then just sharpen the shoulder angle. As such, I shortened the neck significantly and increased the body length. Relocating the shoulder on the long necked 338 Excalibur case makes for a significant increase in case capacity over the parent case. The increased body taper allows for higher working pressures to be used with no issues with sticky extraction. In all honesty, I am AMAZED that you can Neck Size only with your Excalibur and get the velocity your getting and still being able to extract the cases. As you correctly mentioned, the Excalibur parent case has very little body taper, in fact, much less then what I have found to be functionally correct for this diameter and length of a case. Shooting the 300 gr Berger Hybrid I was able to get 6 firings per case with an average muzzle velocity of 3165 fps. With the 300 gr SMK, with the same minimum 6 firings per case the 338 Raptor averaged 3143 fps. Both of these loads had ES of less then 15 fps for 10 shots and accuracy at 1000 yards was easily in the 1/2 moa range for three shots fired off Harris bipod and rear bag from prone position. Please keep in mind that this test rifle was set up with a very short throat for an OAL of 3.900" with the SMK (The Berger is longer by around 0.100") simply to test the rounds performance when it would be used as a repeater using the Seekins DM system. At this length the SMK is seated VERY deep into the case. I have not yet tested the 338 Raptor with a longer throat design but I have tested my 300 Raptor with both throat lengths and it gained 80 to 100 fps potential with the longer throat and increased powder capacity depending on what bullet weight was used (heavier bullets had largest increase). Obviously the lower expansion ratio 30 cal bore will have more of an advantage then the better breathing larger bored 338 caliber but I am predicting that with a long throat design(single shot Only) it would not be unrealistic to see 3200 fps with the 300 gr bullet weights. I do not use pressure barrels. The cost of this set up or the added cost to pay someone to pressure test ammo would simply add to the cost of the rifles, perhaps thats why some rifles in this class cost 20 to 40% more then others and offer nothing extra in quality or performance, often times less but they can say its all been pressure tested....... Every rifle that leaves my shop is function tested on the range with ammo taylor made to each specific rifle. My accuracy loads are far from red line loads and I generally only post my accuracy load levels. MANY of my customers get far more performance out of my wildcats then I do simply because they push them a bit harder but give up some case life. FOr example, my 338 Allen Magnum will get you 3300-3325 fps with a 300 gr SMK with +8 firings per case...... Many of my customers push the 300 gr bullets to 3400 fps with 4-5 firings per case. Now to put that into perspective, you can load a 338 Edge to 2900 fps with conventional throat length with a 300 gr SMK in a 30" barrel length and you will get 5-6 firings with Rem brass on average. I do not red line my wildcats as some would have you believe. I do not care about bragging rights, my wildcats stand on their own and every rifle I have shipped WILL easily meet the velocity goals I have stated for each of my wildcats. This is something that CAN NOT be said for many other high performance semi-custom commerical rounds without using special barrel twists, specially undersized bullets, special bullet lubrication. I use standard powders, standard off the shelf bullets and offer the load data I use to test my customers rifles. I prove their rifles not only meet my 1/2 moa accuracy potential requirement (AT LONG RANGE, 800-1200 yards), but also that their rifles meet my velocity predictions for each wildcat. I designed my wildcats to produce the velocity potential I wanted with comfortable pressures, great accuracy, great consistancy and great functional performance. This is by using large case capacities, longer barrels and proper powder choices, nothing special, nothing HIGH-TECH, just old school high performance designs. Again, each of my rifles are proven more then safe with custom loads before they ship, that way I do not have customers calling me saying, I CAN NOT GET THE VELOCITY YOU STATED when we were talking about ordering a rifle....... [/QUOTE]
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