338 Excalibur brass group buy-Interest Thread

[Autorotate]

Sirs

Please post up with how many pieces of brass you'd be interested in.

I'll let this thread run it's course for a month, and after which if there's enough interest, I'll start up another Group Buy Purchase thread...and publish up the pricing, and payment/shipment plan.

I spoke with Neil the owner of Custom Brass and Bullets about putting together a group buy of brass for the 338 Excalibur.

Jamison is now owned by Captech. Marc Jamison is still on board with the new Captech operation. Quality will be the same as previous Jamison brass, if not better now.

You can see the standard retail pricing in the link above. I was given reassurances by Neil, that there would be price breaks based on the volume of interest that a group buy could generate.

Folks are gonna wanna know how much per piece before they commit....but Neil will need to know how much interest is out there, as the price point between a group buy of 1000 total pieces, would be much different than one with 10000 pieces.

So for now, assume we can knock 20% off the retail price listed above....

Why use a wholesaler instead of going direct to Captech some might ask? Save more money....cut out the "middle man"... Good questions. The reason is Jamison/Captech are in the brass mfg business, and Neil is in the brass selling business. Better to let Marc make the brass, and let Neil earn what will likely be a razor thin margin sourcing and distributing the brass. Plus if this proves out to be what I think it'll be the first of many group buys (maybe it ends up being an annual buy), Neil will be in place for years to come as a stocking dealer. He's got 300 pieces on hand now...in the future, depending on the interest generated, that could be much more.

If you don't know what the 338 Excalibur is...it's the biggest non belted no fireforming needed SAAMI case that can fit on a .580 bolt face. My fired cases held 140 grains of water with a spent primer seated in reverse.

Depending on the reamer you run, you could run this cartridge slinging 250 grain bullets in a repeater at laser like speeds (3300+) out of sporter length barrels, or long throat a reamer for the 300s for dedicated single shot setup, that will out run the 338 Kahns, LMAIs, etc.

I don't know if it'll run with Shawn's LRKM hybrid throat....and certainly not as efficient if comparing fps per grain of powder....but it'll be close.

Please point others to this thread. In my signature block, you'll see a "338 Excalibur Group Buy Link". Right click on it, click on copy shortcut, and then paste that link in a email to your buds who might be interested. This is the only forum I'm putting this on.

Thanks for looking, and good shooting gun)

PLEASE USE the email link in my signature block to contact me via email. PMs are much more difficult to manage than email for me. Thank you.

 

[Chase Curtis]

Email sent

 

[Autorotate]

Chase, replied to your email. Thank you for the interest.

Update-We're up 1000 pieces so far. Am surprised by the interest thusfar.

Keep this thread alive, and share it with your buds that are contemplating a boomer 338 build.

 

[sambarman]

PM sent

 

[Autorotate]

PM sent

PM impact not observed. Revalidate ballistic solution and shoot again

Didn't get your PM!

 

[cowboywhorses]

Sent Pm on brass . Used the link Also set email with the link

Thanks

Jeff

 

[Autorotate]

Update- We're up to 1200 pieces.

FYI-If enough interest is generated, I'll research a group buy for a FL sizing die that uses Redding Nk bushings and Competition Sliding Sleeve type Seater Die set.

Tell your friends about this thread. Use the link below to copy/paste in an email...spread the word.

 

[Autorotate]

Sent Pm on brass . Used the link Also set email with the link

Thanks

Jeff

Jeff

Email sent.

Update-We're up to 1300 pieces now.

 

[Sling]

If A-Square would have designed this cartridge with more case taper, it would have been the best 338 going. After owning one for over 4yrs and talking to other Excaliber shooters, they all had the same problem. Once pressure gets around 60,000, sticky bolt occurs. I shot mine out to over 2400yds and it was super accurate but to get sticky bolt problems gone I had to reduce velocity to the same as the 338 Lapua Imp. Good luck with this cartridge.

 

[Autorotate]

How did you determine you were at 60000? 60000 what? Psi? Cup? How many rounds did you shoot over 4 years of ownership? Do you own a 338 LMAI?

Thank you in advance for your answers. There's a lot of B.S. on the internet. Looking to ensure there is none in this thread.

 

[Sling]

How did you determine you were at 60000? 60000 what? Psi? Cup? How many rounds did you shoot over 4 years of ownership? Do you own a 338 LMAI?

Thank you in advance for your answers. There's a lot of B.S. on the internet. Looking to ensure there is none in this thread.

When I first had my Excaliber built, A-Square was the only source of brass. If memory serves me correctly, I got 400pcs from them. They had no loading data for the 300gr so I used 338-378 Weatherby data. While accuracy was great, I noticed sticky bolt even on virgin brass and this was still using Weatherby data, the EX holds more powder which means something wasnt right. I called A-Square and they said either I`m loading too hot or headspace was bad. I checked HS and it was good. I called A-Square again and talked to Art who mentioned their brass can`t handle pressure well once it get over 62,000PSI. So I decided to call Marc Jamison about this problem. We discussed this cartridge for some time before he agreed to make the brass for me. I sent him 2 fired cases along with the cartridge print. As soon as he received this, he said your sticky bolt problem is because there isn`t enough case taper. The Ex and the 338 Lapua has roughly the same head size, and that cartridges of this size need around .010-.012 per inch of body for ease of extraction once pressure gets above 60,000PSI. Marc called me back and said he was having trouble making the brass because of the lack of case taper. He kept trying even after losing 8 out of 10 cases. He went about it a different way and it finally worked. He sent me around 500 pcs of Ex brass and he warned me again that sticky bolt would still become an issue if loaded hotter than 60,000psi. I forgot to mention that Marc said his brass could handle up to 70,000PSI. I loaded that brass using QuickLoad and he was right, once pressure got around 60,000psi, sticky bolt again. I called Marc back and told him the situation. He said if I was interested he would add more case taper to the EX and call it the 338 Whatever, I say that (Whatever) because its between me & Marc as of now. By using 338-378 Weatherby loading data, that equates around 59,000-62,000PSI in the EX case according to Quickload. I know Quickload is "not" exact but close enough for me and other knowledgeable reloaders. Kirby Allen discusses this same problem with the EX in another thread. Thats why he added taper in his Raptor series of wildcats. I have never had a 338 Lapua Ackley IM. It has same problem, not enough case taper. I said a 338 Lapua Imp which is a 338 Lapua with .022 case taper with 35 degree shoulder, very similar to the 338 Yogi. Works great! 30-32" barrel, Retumbo or RL 33 will push 300gr Berger 3000fps or faster with easy extraction. So I was the first guinea pig to try the Jamison 338 Ex brass. The Jamison brass is great as I`ve shot it for years in the 408 & 375 Cheytac with no trouble. Hope this helps,

Sling

 

[HuntFarther]

I am really interested in the Excalibur. But I don't want the high price brass and poor performance. If I can't break 3100 with a 30" barrel and do it fairly easy there is no point in me doing one.

So my question is can a new reamer be made with more case taper and just run the brass through a correct die made off reamer specs? Should not be full fire form so would still be a easy case to work with and shoot close fire forming brass. If brass is easy and cheaper to come by way more people will play with this round. And in the end open up getting brass cheaper.

 

[Sling]

Like I said before, my goal was the same as everyone in this thread, I wanted more than the 338 Lapua so thats why I went with the Excalibur. I`m only stating the facts. If you want 3000-3100fps with 300gr bullet, go with an improved version on the Lapua case BUT make sure you have the right taper or your back in the same boat. RL33 will give you the velocity your wanting with a 30-32" barrel depending how wild you make the case. Everyone thinks sticky bolt is a pressure problem and that can be true but not always. Not enough case taper can & will cause sticky bolt for sure. I have burned alot of money discovering this so take my word on this. Yes, you can take the EX brass and change taper and have Whidden make the dies. PT&G can make the reamer.

 

[HuntFarther]

So what is the exact taper that I need. And where is it at now. Does the shoulder need moved forward to accommodate any case moving with out causing donuts? Just thinking making it smaller with the same brass something would need to change or am I wrong? Kirby has stated this problem and it just has to change for me to have a Excalibur.