338 edge 34" barrel 300 smk or berger

[timeless61]

I have a question, regarding velocities. my rifle has a 34" barrel 338 edge, last year shooting 300 smk's I was around 2950 fps, no pressure signs, but probably getting close. What should my velocity be with a 34" barrel? I am doing load development with the 300 bergers this weekend. and was curious what the 34" barrel should gain over the 26-28" lengths

 

[jmden]

I have a question, regarding velocities. my rifle has a 34" barrel 338 edge, last year shooting 300 smk's I was around 2950 fps, no pressure signs, but probably getting close. What should my velocity be with a 34" barrel? I am doing load development with the 300 bergers this weekend. and was curious what the 34" barrel should gain over the 26-28" lengths

Just a word of caution if you don't know, but there's been issues with folks shooting the hybrid that fast. It seems that much over typical 30" EDGE MV's and it's believed to be developing 'nose slump' due to the long ogive. There's a few posts about it here. Folks that are staying under a certain MV (about 2825 or so?...guys?) are typically seeing great accuracy. Good luck.

 

[timeless61]

I talked to Brian, and he said if I am under 3000, I should not have a problem, but they will also take them back if I do have a problem. Thanks for the heads up

as for the original question, whats a 338 edge with 300 grain and 28 or 30" barrel shooting at max? i know most people don't run theirs to max, so what is the average velocity then? thanks

 

[Broz]

What twist is your barrel? If you are going that fast and you are tighter than a 1 in 10 twist you are getting in the area that accuracy with the Bergers may not work out well.

If you are seeing pressure and want to optimise the 34" tube I would look into a slower burn rate powder. Maybe 50 BMG?? or Retumbo ?? But everytime I get to max with retumbo the primer pockets are toast.

As for the primer fit question. You should feel the resistance of the primer going in. If you feel the primer is loose enough that it could slip back out any or might leak I would discard that case.

Blowing primers is not anything you want to do, you could be injured, and for sure hot gases on the bolt face of your rifle will not do it any good either.

Jeff

 

[timeless61]

I have h50bmg and retumbo from a 300 rum, any load data for the 338 edge? it is a 1-10" twist

 

[Broz]

I have h50bmg and retumbo from a 300 rum, any load data for the 338 edge? it is a 1-10" twist

I would just test with those two powders keeping in mind that if accuracy goes to heck you may have just crossed the line.

Jeff

 

[jmden]

I talked to Brian, and he said if I am under 3000, I should not have a problem, but they will also take them back if I do have a problem. Thanks for the heads up

as for the original question, whats a 338 edge with 300 grain and 28 or 30" barrel shooting at max? i know most people don't run theirs to max, so what is the average velocity then? thanks

Under 3K? Well, he should know. I thought guys had been having issues at much lower than that. Maybe with faster twists...?

On the H50BMG I doubt you'll be able to pack enough in there to get anywhere near the velocities you may want--maybe 2800. I messed around with up to 107.5g H50BMG not too long ago in my 338 AX (Lap Imp--'bout 123g water capacity) and I wasn't even hitting 2800 with that and crunching pretty bad when seating. Every gun is different. Let us know what happens. I'd guess you'd have much better success with US869 as you can pack alot of that stuff in a case, but in my 300RUM with 240's, I found it too temp sensitive for my taste. However, in the EDGE it may be a different story. Hodgdon still ads it as pretty temp insensitive, but that may be only for the 50BMG case...I don't know.

 

[Lost creek]

I have 2 338 edge's,one has a 28 inch pac-nor and the other is a 34inch brux. With the same load the 34 inch barrel shoots about 75 fps faster. 2925 fps with the 34 inch.

 

[davewilson]

Dan Lilja did an experiment for this very thing and the results along with an article are posted on his web site. at least they used to be, it's been quite a while since i looked. as the last poster stated, i remember the gains to be in the 12-15 fps/inch range for this length of 338 barrels.

 

[timeless61]

I tried hybrids. I think I have the nose slump issue. I was just shooting various charges to find velocity and max, and I did not think much of it, because I was not shooting for groups at all, but once I got above around 2825 they started to go all over the place relatively speaking, where up to that point they just kept making the same cluster bigger. then I loaded up a few, and shot at 2890, and they were nowhere near each other, at 200 yards even. with the smk's at 100 they just made the same hole bigger, and at 500 were touching, not sure why I tried to fix something that wasn't broken, but I guess i wanted the higher BC, more uniform bullets, and probably better performance on game further out. but anyway, I have to speak with berger and see what they want to do, Brian and a lady, said they would take them back if I have the problem. that was after I told Brian how fast they would be going too. hopefully they stand behind them.

 

[timeless61]

the 338 300 grain hybrid bergers definitely have the nose slump issue, anyone try anything besides smk's anyone want to buy the bergers?