thatguyshm
Well-Known Member
I am picking up a Ruger M77 All Weather 338 Federal in a few weeks. I have a 338 Federal DPMS, and my load for it has been 46grs of Re15 behind a 200gr Speer Hot-Cor projectile, CCI large rifle primer. I have been very pleased with the results in the semi, but moving to a much lighter bolt rifle, I am wondering if anyone may have any advice for loading.
I've done some internet searches, and back when I bought the semi in 2008, I remember some people saying factory ammo was loaded with a powder not available to the masses, and that it was drop tubed in for compression loads. The rifle comes with a few factory rounds, and I plan on pulling one to atleast weigh the charge and see if this is true.
I am going to start out with my loads, as I have several hundred already loaded for the DPMS. Just for giggles and crap, I am going to try loading up some 160gr TTSX from Barnes under some H335, just to see what they will do since my father gave me a fresh box of them. I also have Varget, I am looking at picking up a few pounds of H380 as well.
Any information will be greatly appreciated. I will be using the rifle as a light hunting rifle, topped with a Redfield Revolution 3x9 with Accu-Range reticles. I haven't played around with M77's before, so this will be new for me. I am going to start by using the factory rings.
So if anyone has any kind of data they can toss my way, it'd be great. I mainly worked my load up in the DPMS to reliably cycle the heavy 308cal bolt carrier and to make sure that the bolt would lock open. I have not loaded with a drop tube before, so any information on that as well would be great. Any other powder substitutes would be helpful as well. Powder is finally starting to come back in stock, hit or miss, at a few local shops. Also, I will mainly be firing in the woods, with max range needed under 200 yards. I will take it out to 450 after finding a good woods load, but I want to start simple and go from there.
Thanks in advance.
-shm
I've done some internet searches, and back when I bought the semi in 2008, I remember some people saying factory ammo was loaded with a powder not available to the masses, and that it was drop tubed in for compression loads. The rifle comes with a few factory rounds, and I plan on pulling one to atleast weigh the charge and see if this is true.
I am going to start out with my loads, as I have several hundred already loaded for the DPMS. Just for giggles and crap, I am going to try loading up some 160gr TTSX from Barnes under some H335, just to see what they will do since my father gave me a fresh box of them. I also have Varget, I am looking at picking up a few pounds of H380 as well.
Any information will be greatly appreciated. I will be using the rifle as a light hunting rifle, topped with a Redfield Revolution 3x9 with Accu-Range reticles. I haven't played around with M77's before, so this will be new for me. I am going to start by using the factory rings.
So if anyone has any kind of data they can toss my way, it'd be great. I mainly worked my load up in the DPMS to reliably cycle the heavy 308cal bolt carrier and to make sure that the bolt would lock open. I have not loaded with a drop tube before, so any information on that as well would be great. Any other powder substitutes would be helpful as well. Powder is finally starting to come back in stock, hit or miss, at a few local shops. Also, I will mainly be firing in the woods, with max range needed under 200 yards. I will take it out to 450 after finding a good woods load, but I want to start simple and go from there.
Thanks in advance.
-shm
