338 rum & rl-26 ?

[Pdvdh]

Phorwath,

Do you know how much powder capacity you gained with the lapua improved over a standard lapua? Standard lapua and 338 rum are very close in case capacity.

I can't put a number to that. I researched it enough to conclude the performance gain was worth it over the standard Lapua - for me.

My 338 Rogue (LI) isn't blown out to the maximum possible. I could have gained 3-4 additional grains of powder capacity, based on research I completed. Mine's a 37* shoulder, and has more body taper than some of the more extreme wildcats. Other's report loading 108-109grains of RL33 with the same bullet in their 338 Lapua Improveds. And gaining additional MV over my cartridge.

 

[Timber338]

I read the late Elmer Keith articles where he'd say he didn't give a **** about efficiency. The only number that mattered to him was the MV. I don't go that far, but he made his point. I don't shoot my rifle enough for concern over barrel life or the increased cost of burning the additional powder. However I have no plan to (or interest in) move into the 150gr powder capacity Cheytac case.

I think we're on the same page that efficiency isn't very important when we are considering a cartridge. Especially a long range cartridge. But I do think it is interesting for comparison sake just to see what different cartridges can do especially with cool cartridges like your 338 Rogue. And since we're discussing efficiency I don't think it's fair to compare MV. I think energy is the true comparison for efficiency.
My rifle gets 5037ft.lbs/93gr=54.16
Your Rogue gets 5777/105.3=54.86
Basically equal but your rifle gets the edge and likely for how you described that your rifle is just more capable at higher pressures. Fun to look at the numbers in different ways.

 

[D.Camilleri]

It gets so easy to get hung up on numbers. An animal will never know if it gets hit with an additional 100 fps, but if the bullet doesn't do what it is supposed to do, bad things will happen. When we are comparing big 338's, at some point they all kill extremely well and the extra ft lbs of energy basically extend the max ethical kill range. I was really wanting to get to 2900 fps with a 300 gr bullet, and I did it. Now, it doesn't really matter because I need the one hole accuracy that I get at 2800. Now if I could close the deal every time I would have it made. Last year while deer hunting I had a nice buck at 750 yards. I was cold and I couldn't get comfortable to get steady, then a monster 30+ muley stepped out and I knew I had no shot. I got closer and made a good shot from a prone position at 580 yards. I was the weak link in the equation.

I might play around a little with the 250 Berger just to see how it shoots. But it is real hard to go away from the 300 otm, they just plain kill.

 

[Pdvdh]

Our efficiency calculations didn't include barrel length. If we divide my 338 Rogue numbers by 28, and your RUM numbers by 27, your numbers will increase per inch of barrel - relative to mine.

 

[D.Camilleri]

Timber,

How much more powder were you able to run when you were jumping your bullet? I am kind of curious as to what will happen when I start trying some different brass. So far I have only used Remington and Federal. The Federal is nickel but is very soft and does't hold primer pockets very well. I have new Nosler and Bertram and I am leaning towards using the Bertram. The nosler is about .008 short when measuring comparing to new Remington and Bertram. I haven't had a chance to measure case capacity yet.

 

[Timber338]

My 300 grain is .010 jump and I have tried to increase jump to fit in the magazine and accuracy goes to hell. The 250 Grain bullets hit a different barrel harmonic and need about a .045" jump, but I really have not tested much for max load at jump vs close.

 

[Farmerbrown32]

Shot 89, 90 and 91 grains today, 3 shots each charge weight. All shot good and none had pressure signs. Only chrono'd 1 shot at 91 grains and it registered 3090 fps.

Yesterday 91 grains chrono'd at 3097 fps.

I compared energy and trajectory of the 250EH at 3090 fps to my accurate load with the 300 EH at 2740 fps, and the numbers are very compelling to hunt with the 250. I have about 100 inches less drop at 1200 yards and about 55 ft.lbs more energy.

Holy crap really?! 2740 is what im shooting the 300 EH at, makes me want to try the 250 and rldr26. Is reloader 26 very temp sensitive? I get crazy velocity out of my 6.5x47 lapua 140 berger with reloader 17 also. Those reloader powders are pretty impressive.

 

[Timber338]

Holy crap really?! 2740 is what im shooting the 300 EH at, makes me want to try the 250 and rldr26. Is reloader 26 very temp sensitive? I get crazy velocity out of my 6.5x47 lapua 140 berger with reloader 17 also. Those reloader powders are pretty impressive.

I think I had input incorrectly when I ran those numbers, using my max load I chrono'd at 3200 fps... I think for 3090 fps it's more like 75 inches less drop. Drift is the same. The flatter trajectory is still very impressive.

I ran out of RL26 before I could fully characterize the temp sensitivity but from what I've read it seems like it's going to be similar to RL33 which is around .5 - .75 fps/degF, which is very easy to manage.

 

[jmad_81]

I have had really good luck with Rl-26 and the 250 VLD hunter. 88.5 or 89 depending on the lot gets me about 3015 fps and great groups. The left pic was today @ 800 yards. Would have shot 3 but those were my last two shots. Right pic is @ 600.

 

[CUTTER1]

I have used H1000 with Berger 250 &300's with great success
Retumbo Is dirty and tends to be a little inconsistent
Both have fairly good temperature stability
Have used both in my 2 lapua son and 338 RUM's. All 4 guns do well with H1000
The RUM's do well with Bertram and Norms brass when u can get it. Remington brass must be sorted by case volume
I am just starting to see what RL 33 will do
Also waiting on A 338 Lapua Ackley Improved to be built. Should have it by early fall and will likely
3-4 mo to have sorted loads. Advantage will be Lapua brass

 

[Timber338]

I have had really good luck with Rl-26 and the 250 VLD hunter. 88.5 or 89 depending on the lot gets me about 3015 fps and great groups. The left pic was today @ 800 yards. Would have shot 3 but those were my last two shots. Right pic is @ 600.

Looks like a shooter. Your load is about exactly what I ended up with using RL-26 and the 250 EH.

What are the specs on that rifle?

 

[D.Camilleri]

Timber,

Are your results using Nosler brass from new brass or once fired? Have you compared your new case shoulder length to your fired brass? I am trying to chase down a issue I had last week when shooting when I accidentally used the wrong sizing die and bumped the shoulders of my once fired brass further than I wanted. It now measures the same as the new nosler brass I have but is .08 shorter than new remington or bertram brass. I thought it was messing up my accuracy, but now I am not sure. I just had my rifle ceracoated and last week was the first time I have shot it since getting it back. My groups were patterns! After some frustration, I pulled the action from the stock, cleaned the oil residue from the bedding and re-torqued the action screws. It started grouping well again, but I am still concerned about the short cases. I just got 200 more pieces of bertram brass in the mail yesterday.

 

[Timber338]

D.Camilleri,
Sounds like our chambers are very similar. Brand new Nosler brass is a good .010 too short in my chamber, and I resize with a +.008 Redding competition shellholder. Brand new brass does not shoot very good in my rifle. Brand new brass also shoots 40-50 fps slower than fired brass.

The other thing that happens with brand new brass, or with brass that I accidentally resize with with a standard shellholder and bump the shoulder too far, is the primers flatten... the firing pin pushes the entire cartridge forward before ignition, then at initial pressure the primer shoots back out of the primer pocket before the brass stretches to fill the chamber and the back of the primer flattens as the primer re-seats into the pocket.

And considering my rifle likes bullets seated .010 from the lands, there is too much variation with brass that is new or shoulders resized too much.

 

[D.Camilleri]

Thanks Timber, I hate to waste the money on components to get my undersized cases back to chamber dimension. My gun shot great with new Remington brass, because it was the proper size. I now have 300 cases of Bertram that is the same size as the Remington and I think I will just neck size it before shooting and see how it goes. I did try loading some unsized Bertram and found that the neck tension wasn't tight enough and my 300 gr OTM was pulling out with the sizing stem.