338 Lapua and 30-378 Wby Sako TRG-S M 995

[philny1]

these are my out west guns, as i've named them. they are identical rifles w/26 " barrels and KDF brakes. Both wear Zeiss Conquest 4.5-14x44mm scopes in Optolock mounts. the 30-378 is a veteran, with four elk and a mule deer to its credit. two of the elk and the deer were taken at + / - 500 yds. one bull taken last fall at 35 yds, what the hell, went good in the freezer. in 05, my personal best a heavy 5x5, that was ranged at 721 yds. i'm using a barnes 180gr tsx at 3400 fps. i live in western ny, a very rural area. i do my shooting from a coverd porch and have target butts out to 600 yds. would like to be able to crank in adjs for 700 & 800 yds i've been looking over these ballistic programs and wondering are they accurate enough without actually shooting at that range. never used one before. perhaps someone had to deal with a similiar problem.
have more to say on the subjet, but am recovering from rotator cuff surgery and tire rather quickly. any and all feedback will be appreciated.

 

[philny1]

[ QUOTE ]
these are my out west guns, as i've named them. they are identical rifles w/26 " barrels and KDF brakes. Both wear Zeiss Conquest 4.5-14x44mm scopes in Optolock mounts. the 30-378 is a veteran, with four elk and a mule deer to its credit. two of the elk and the deer were taken at + / - 500 yds. one bull taken last fall at 35 yds, what the hell, went good in the freezer. in 05, my personal best a heavy 5x5, that was ranged at 721 yds. i'm using a barnes 180gr tsx at 3400 fps. i live in western ny, a very rural area. i do my shooting from a coverd porch and have target butts out to 600 yds. would like to be able to crank in adjs for 700 & 800 yds i've been looking over these ballistic programs and wondering are they accurate enough without actually shooting at that range. never used one before. perhaps someone had to deal with a similiar problem.
have more to say on the subjet, but am recovering from rotator cuff surgery and tire rather quickly. any and all feedback will be appreciated.

[/ QUOTE ]
the 30-378 was a nib rifle after doing the 30 rd break in, it was easy to find a load for it. barnes 180 gr tsx over 104 gr of rl-22. with this load i experienced ½" and better groups. over a period of time i noticed stickey bolt with a small percenage of my shots. i cut back ½ gr, this seem to solve the problem so this was the load i took to colorado last fall. out there , this changed it was very difficult to open the bolt. upon returning, i reduced the load another ½ gr and raied my fl sizing die. hope this has solved my problem. temp was about the same could altitude be the cause?? would like to hear from anyone using a similiar sako or any 30-378

 

[philny1]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
these are my out west guns, as i've named them. they are identical rifles w/26 " barrels and KDF brakes. Both wear Zeiss Conquest 4.5-14x44mm scopes in Optolock mounts. the 30-378 is a veteran, with four elk and a mule deer to its credit. two of the elk and the deer were taken at + / - 500 yds. one bull taken last fall at 35 yds, what the hell, went good in the freezer. in 05, my personal best a heavy 5x5, that was ranged at 721 yds. i'm using a barnes 180gr tsx at 3400 fps. i live in western ny, a very rural area. i do my shooting from a coverd porch and have target butts out to 600 yds. would like to be able to crank in adjs for 700 & 800 yds i've been looking over these ballistic programs and wondering are they accurate enough without actually shooting at that range. never used one before. perhaps someone had to deal with a similiar problem.
have more to say on the subjet, but am recovering from rotator cuff surgery and tire rather quickly. any and all feedback will be appreciated.

[/ QUOTE ]
the 30-378 was a nib rifle after doing the 30 rd break in, it was easy to find a load for it. barnes 180 gr tsx over 104 gr of rl-22. with this load i experienced ½" and better groups. over a period of time i noticed stickey bolt with a small percenage of my shots. i cut back ½ gr, this seem to solve the problem so this was the load i took to colorado last fall. out there , this changed it was very difficult to open the bolt. upon returning, i reduced the load another ½ gr and raied my fl sizing die. hope this has solved my problem. temp was about the same could altitude be the cause?? would like to hear from anyone using a similiar sako or any 30-378

[/ QUOTE ]
i did take a shot opening day late in the afternoon. ranged a nice bull at 600 yds, he was messing with a couple cows so i had plenty of time to decide. i was on a steep slope facing west, using my pack as a rest. could not get on my rifle correctly, my behind higher than my shoulders and the setting sun raising hell with my sight picture. my at home ballistic table had me shooting about 6" high, but with the bright sun shining in my scope, i have no idea what that did to my poi. after several successful attempts and the one just described i can truely appreciate what it takes to make these shots after we get off the bench and go out in the field. with what i've learned off this site i'll be much better prepared for my trip this fall.

 

[philny1]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
these are my out west guns, as i've named them. they are identical rifles w/26 " barrels and KDF brakes. Both wear Zeiss Conquest 4.5-14x44mm scopes in Optolock mounts. the 30-378 is a veteran, with four elk and a mule deer to its credit. two of the elk and the deer were taken at + / - 500 yds. one bull taken last fall at 35 yds, what the hell, went good in the freezer. in 05, my personal best a heavy 5x5, that was ranged at 721 yds. i'm using a barnes 180gr tsx at 3400 fps. i live in western ny, a very rural area. i do my shooting from a coverd porch and have target butts out to 600 yds. would like to be able to crank in adjs for 700 & 800 yds i've been looking over these ballistic programs and wondering are they accurate enough without actually shooting at that range. never used one before. perhaps someone had to deal with a similiar problem.
have more to say on the subjet, but am recovering from rotator cuff surgery and tire rather quickly. any and all feedback will be appreciated.

[/ QUOTE ]
the 30-378 was a nib rifle after doing the 30 rd break in, it was easy to find a load for it. barnes 180 gr tsx over 104 gr of rl-22. with this load i experienced ½" and better groups. over a period of time i noticed stickey bolt with a small percenage of my shots. i cut back ½ gr, this seem to solve the problem so this was the load i took to colorado last fall. out there , this changed it was very difficult to open the bolt. upon returning, i reduced the load another ½ gr and raied my fl sizing die. hope this has solved my problem. temp was about the same could altitude be the cause?? would like to hear from anyone using a similiar sako or any 30-378

[/ QUOTE ]
i did take a shot opening day late in the afternoon. ranged a nice bull at 600 yds, he was messing with a couple cows so i had plenty of time to decide. i was on a steep slope facing west, using my pack as a rest. could not get on my rifle correctly, my behind higher than my shoulders and the setting sun raising hell with my sight picture. my at home ballistic table had me shooting about 6" high, but with the bright sun shining in my scope, i have no idea what that did to my poi. after several successful attempts and the one just described i can truely appreciate what it takes to make these shots after we get off the bench and go out in the field. with what i've learned off this site i'll be much better prepared for my trip this fall.

[/ QUOTE ]
i have been looking for a lapua for a couple of years. came close a few times but no cigar. picked this one up around the begining of dec. its a pre used rifle in excellent could pass for new condition. sent it out for a KDF brake, already have KDF on a couple of my rifles and decided to stick with them. break in had already been done, i was told. i started load developement by cleaning up some odds n end 338 bullets i had. didn't take to long to get nosler 200gr BST shooting inside an inch w/ rl-25. same with 200 NAs, but i was finding rl-25 to be rather hot before i was getting the velocity i was after. switched over to IMR-4831 and things fell in place. barnes 185 gr and 210 gr are shooting a bit over ¾", there are definetely possibilities here. decided to put the barnes aside and get some rds down the barrel, the gun needs to be shot. 180 gr NA and 96 gr IMR 4831 are grouping .631. i have no experience with the lapua and very little with lrs, any comments or feedback will be appreciated.

 

[kraky]

I have the same gun you have in the sako 30-378. I did alot of workup with mine this spring and found that my quickload program was very good at predicting results. I ran the load of 104 of re22 past it with the 180 tsx. It guesses that you are doing 3350fps at 69,000 psi. The brass used in the 30-378 is very strong. I believe you won't see sticky bolts till you hit this type of pressure and speed. I would recomend that you drop your loads till you are doing 3275-3300. If I had to make a guess what caused your high pressure out west on your hunt it could have been moisture, dust, or some combination of all including some barrel fouling. Anytime you make up ammo that is on the verge of sticking bolts at the shooting range when your gun is spotlessly clean you will probably be running more pressure when on the hunt.
These are my opinions....and my gun may differ from yours.
BTW....mine has been somewhat fussy but is really liking the 200 accubond.
But I also have a 300 wby ultralight that has been EXTREMELY FUSSY and it is liking the 180 tsx over the 200 ab so there certainly is no set rule.
Hope this helps....good shooting.

 

[philny1]

i thank you for your help. a good cmmom sense approach to my problem. actually i had similiar thoughts, but before the trip i was firing 20-25 shot between cleanings. the rifle does not seem to be overly sensitive to fouling. i would have cleaned the barrel before the trip and probably fired 4 rds, a fouler and a 3 shot group to chech zero one last time.
for load developement, i started with 102 gr rl-22 and worked up to 105 gr without problems. i settled on 104 gr and was getting 3422 fps.
now i'm relying on memory. i was working with 60 cases, stickey bolt was very gradual at first meaning 2-3% of my shots. i believe i should have seperated those cases, i kinda think that is where the problem lies, the brass. anyhow i reduced my load ½ gr to 103.5 and since coming home another ½gr to 103 gr 103 (3385 fps), and you know the rest of the story.
also this original load developement was done 2/05, with new brass. i suppose power lot # should become part of my loading data.
i would be interested in hearing about your sako. i never tried the na in mine.

 

[firstcoueswas80]

any trimming done on the brass? i know if i shoot brass (winchester) more than 2 times out of my 270wsm the brass becomes a bit too long and hard to close the bolt. usually, when i clean my rifle i like to foul with 2 shots, then a3 shot group. that is some good shooting! my longest kill with my 270wsm is only 280 yards, felt like i was cheating, the buck didnt know what hit him and he didnt move a muscle after the shot. had a client shoot at a buck at 385 yards with my rifle and he missed!

 

[philny1]

My lapua was trimmed after the third firing, the Wby I measure before each loading. During load developement I'm constantly cleaning the barrel, the clean barrel is left dry. I then load either 4 or 7. A fouler and a 3 shot group or two 3 shot groups etc. A clean oiled barrel may take any number of shots to shoot it back to zero. Good shooting on that buck.

 

[philny1]

I'm very interested in trying some Wildcat ULD-RBBT bullets in the above rifles. My goal is a 800 yd elk thumper. Presently using 180gr Barnes TSX @ approx 3400 fps in the 30-378. Have yet to settle on a load for the Lapua. Thinking 180-190- in the 308 and 225-250 in the 338. Recoil is a factoer, bad shoulder. Also how would the wildcats compare to the TSX and Accubond, accoracy wise, expansion , penetration. How available are they ? Anyone who would share their experience with these bullets in any chambering would be appreciated.