.338 win mag reloads NEED HELP!

[tacsniper0888]

I also meant to ask that question long time long ranger, what range do you recommend I sight my gun in at with these. It is currently zeroed at 100 with 180 grain nosler ballistic tips at 2,995FPS. 200? 300? Thanks again guys!

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

I also meant to ask that question long time long ranger, what range do you recommend I sight my gun in at with these. It is currently zeroed at 100 with 180 grain nosler ballistic tips at 2,995FPS. 200? 300? Thanks again guys!

It depends, but I like to sight in rifles at 1.5-2.5" high at 100 to get at least a 300 yard point plank range on deer. For really fast rounds like a 7rum, I'll stay 1.5"(3300 fps +) high. But for average rounds it'll be 2"(3200-2800 fps). Slower rounds will be 2.5" high(2600 fps or lower). I may have to go 3" or more high at 100 for my 405, since it is only 2300 fps at the muzzle.

The biggest thing is to be able to hit with your sight in. I can't shoot my father's sight in as he likes a high sight in and shoot lower; I put the crosshair on and pull the trigger. Go too high and you'll be tossing bullets over your target mid-range.

 

[Long Time Long Ranger]

Where you zero depends on to many variables to answer without knowing a lot about what you are doing. Type of reticle, type of hunting and anticipated shots, turn clicks, etc.

I have never tried the D67 bullet. I tried the D62, had great success with it and have not changed. It is very easy to load for and get great accuracy since it is not finicky to seating depth or velocity. Chamfer the case mouth so the seal tight band is not disturbed if you seat it into the neck. I feed my 338-378's through a wby magazine so they are seated deep into the neck and they shoot great with numerous kills last year between 700-1200 yards. They are great bullets as are the Barnes for the wby freebore rifles.

I closely monitored a military test years back at white sands missile range studying the effects of bullet stabilization at extended ranges. When you shoot a group your rifle is not throwing one shot this way and another that unless you are a bad shot. Slow motion photography revealed the bullet is actually traveling in an eliptical path around the centerline of the bore as it travels downrange. As the range increases the elliptical orbit decreases in proportion to the range. Therefore a rifle may shoot a 1" group at 100 yards and a 2.5" group at 500 yards. In other words the bullet is printing on the target dependent on it's position within that eliptical orbit. Some call it going to sleep among other things. The bullet is not continuing it's travel outward from the centerline of the bore at that rate as it travels downrange. At the 200 yard target that same bullet that hit high at 100 could hit low in the group or the one right could hit left depending on where it is within that elliptical orbit. That is about as simple as I can explain a bullet going to sleep as it travels downrange. It is actually stabilizing around the centerline of the bore. With some rifles that can be dramatic in the first couple hundred yards then stable out to be a great shooter at long range. With better quality control barrels now days a good rifle is typically more stable at close range than in the past allowing for a better rifle to rifle average of super tight 100 yard groups. But an over the counter barrel that is not a tack driver at 100 yards can still shoot well at long range. I rarely shoot under 300-400 yards and go out from there so I take most of this effect out and just want to know at the distance I most encounter game how predictable the rifle is.

 

[RTK]

Excellent explanation, Thanks

 

[tacsniper0888]

Thanks long time long ranger. To give you an idea of my set up I have a Remington 700 Sendero in .338 Win mag. 26" barrel 1-10" twist. H-S Precision full length aluminum bedded stock and a one piece Millett aluminum base with 20moa taper built in with a Millett LRS 1 scope. 6-25X56 scope with standard mil dot reticle. 1/4 moa clicks, over 140 moa of elevation adjustment! So with that info would you recommend a 100, 200, or 300 yard zero to be able to shoot out to 1,200-1,300 yards. I may also go with the new badger ordnance one piece steel base with 45 moa slope built in. Would you recommend this for this setup or would that be to extreme and outdo the capabilities of the cartridge with the D62 bullet. Also I have Millett 35mm rings that came with the scope. They are high or extra high. Could really go down about a 1/4" or 5/16". Would this help to buy lower rings? Thanks and have a great day guys.

 

[Long Time Long Ranger]

I have several of those scopes and they are excellent scopes for the money. Your 20 moa rail is fine and you do not need to go more radical. If your cheekpiece can be adjusted high enough your rings will work but lower ones would be better for more accurate long range shooting. The ones that come with the scope are way high. I am shooting some of my rifles as is with the rings and do fine but it is difficult to hold form with the scope that high.

It is a mil dot bar scope with the hash bars at .5 mils between the mil dots. This is good because you do not need to turn clicks when hunting big game inside of 1000 yards unless you want to. At 1000 yards you only have an 18" gap between the hash and dot and you can easily gap big game between that. For precise shooting no problem to turn the clicks and be dead on. The clicks on my scopes are accurate. You can also use the scope easily as rangefinder in a pinch. With the 338 winchester and the 225 CE you can easily stay within the range of the scope to 1000 yards without touching the clicks.

I have mine set up different ways depending on the max range of that rifle. You have aiming points every 1.8" at 100 yards so just decide how many of those you want to go high. Some rifles I go 2 mils (7.2") high at 100 yards and set my drops off that. In other words my second mil dot above the crosshairs is dead on at 100 yards. Then you have aiming points every half mil from there. That gives you plenty of aiming points to over 1000 yards. This system can be important in some hunting situations where you have a shot right now or forget it. You can get an aiming point on him quickly if needed once you get accustomed to this method. I prefer this system for hunting situations and scopes in this price range which although good scopes and glass, do I depend on the clicks to be dead on for a shot on a trophy. Good scope but clicks may not be as dependable as a nightforce. Those are the differences so you must decide if you want to take your chances with clicks or shoot the mil dot hashes. I have shot mil dots for many years and prefer that system since I can range with it and know exactly the spacing between those dots and can depend on it for accurate shooting without considering turning clicks. Just be certain your scope is mounted level.

 

[tacsniper0888]

Thanks man. You guys are really a help to a newbie!!! Yes I'm fairly certain it is mounted level. I used the wheeler two piece magnetic bubble level scope leveling system where one goes on the elevation turret and the other in the opened action of the gun to mount the scope. So how do I know what each hash and mil dot represents at any given range? Is there a set value that I née to memorize that correlates directly proportional to range? Also if I use the system you describe and my second mil-dot up from my crosshairs is my one hundred yard zero if I wanted to use clicks to adjust instead of holds I would do my click value according to my ballistic program as I normally would only I would use the second mil-dot as point of aim instead of the axis of the stadia lines tat form the actual crosshair, correct? Hope I'm not being bothersome, gotta learn somewhere and don't want it to be on a buck of a lifetime! Also for practice I have an old 3D deer archery target that has seen better days and I have a twelve by twelve square steel plate, I was going to duct tape or zip tie or bungee strap the plate over the deer's vitals and use that to practice to mimic an actual hunting situation as best as possible. Thanks again guys!

 

[Long Time Long Ranger]

At 25 power the distance between the dots will increases 3.6" for every 100 yards. For example at 750 yards multiply 3.6 times 7.5 to get the distance between the mil dots at that range, 27". Multiply by 1.8 to get the distance between the hash and dot. 3.6" at 100 yards and 36" at 1000 yards between dots or 1.8" and 18" between hash and dot. At 12.5 power it will be double that amount. At 1000 yards there is only an 18" gap between hash and dot. Trivial for an old bowhunter like me accustomed to gapping pins. But if you wanted to hit a prarie dawg size target you could turn clicks from your last known zero and only turn a few clicks. Say your cheat sheet shows a dot zeroed at 950 yards and the animal is 982 yards. Your clicks are moving 2.5" per click and there is only 18" till your next zero. So you can take your zero off the 950 yard dot and turn less than 5 clicks and be dead on with that dot at 982 yards. Lots of things you can do with that type scope. When you learn the system it becomes very easy.

 

[tacsniper0888]

I thinking starting to understand now. I talked to a tech guy at cutting edge yesterday. If you could long time long ranger, send me a personal message with all the specs on your exact load recipe for your win mag to give me somewhere to start. Also what about Reloader 22, would that be a good powder for a fast velocity? Have you tried it?

 

[Clark]

I shot a number of deer years ago with the 7mmRM and Re22, but I have switched to H4350 for temp stability.

I use 9 more grains than Hodgdon's max load.

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

I shot a number of deer years ago with the 7mmRM and Re22, but I have switched to H4350 for temp stability.

I use 9 more grains than Hodgdon's max load.

9 grains over and you still have a face-- what action is that?? I'll buy a bunch of them. I know the 7mag has been kicked down on some loads since the books started running psi on it, but they are at a max of 61,000 psi.. That's still not low by any means.
I'll run rl22 and be at book load getting 3200 fps and not risk my face.

 

[Long Time Long Ranger]

RE 22 is to slow for the 338 win mag. H-414 to RE 19 is the range for this cartridge. With the 225 grain bullet 4350 and RE19 are very good. You should be able to work up to near 2950 fps with the 225 CE in your 26" barrel. I love the 338 winchester because it will kill anything inside 1000 yards in a light rifle with no muzzle brake. The cartridge is extremely accurate in a good rifle. My longest kill with the 338 winchester and a 225 grain bullet was a huge alaskan moose at 1104 yards. Have made many shots with the cartridge in the 600-800 yard range. It hits animals hard with authority unlike the smaller caliber cartridges off this case. The 7mm remington, 264 winchester, 308 Norma, and a few others are all off this case just necked down. Not that the others will not do the job, just the 338 hits noticably harder on game.

I was going to mention the scope zero was just an example of what you can do. Zero according to what best fits you. I was just throwing an example that you have a scope that can be used in many different situations. Also why I prefer to use the multiple reticle aiming points on a less expensive scope instead of turning clicks.

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

RE 22 is to slow for the 338 win mag. H-414 to RE 19 is the range for this cartridge. With the 225 grain bullet 4350 and RE19 are very good. You should be able to work up to near 2950 fps with the 225 CE in your 26" barrel. I love the 338 winchester because it will kill anything inside 1000 yards in a light rifle with no muzzle brake. The cartridge is extremely accurate in a good rifle. My longest kill with the 338 winchester and a 225 grain bullet was a huge Alaskan moose at 1104 yards. Have made many shots with the cartridge in the 600-800 yard range. It hits animals hard with authority unlike the smaller caliber cartridges off this case. The 7mm remington, 264 winchester, 308 Norma, and a few others are all off this case just necked down. Not that the others will not do the job, just the 338 hits noticeably harder on game.

I was referring to Clark and his running 4350 in his 7rem wound way to tight.
I agree rl22 is a bit slow for the 338. I use 75 rl19 with a 225 Hornady or nos-abond and a 215 in mine. In a #1 it nets 2900 fps and sub moa accuracy.

 

[tacsniper0888]

Thanks again guys. Long time long ranger what would be a good starting load for RE19 and 4350 in grains and with what primer? I'm using Winchester western brass. Still having trouble finding hard printed load data for this load because they are a "specialty" bullet. I called cutting edge the other day they said to use the Sierra manual load data for their 215gr. SBT (soft point boat tail). Seems like it may be a little too hot to begin with starting at the max like they said due to the increase in pressure caused by the additional 10 grains of bullet weight. What do you think? And as always thanks guys.