Coercionist
Well-Known Member
When it comes to competition shooting at extended ranges (1-1.5 miles) in the past few years the 33xc has seemed to have taken this range by storm and has been winning a majority of these competitions. I am looking to build a rifle in this caliber for both amateur elr shooting and big game hunting so I have been compiling reloading data for it but I have seen a wide range of velocities for this caliber. I have seen people run it at 3075 and others at 3350 fps (both with 300gr bergers) all with similar barrel length. The higher velocities are generally achieved with N570 but I recently read of someone getting 3250 fps with h50bmg with a 32" barrel. I would rather not toast my barrel with the N570 so this is comforting. I have a theory explaining the wide range of velocities. The actions that the shooters have been using generally line up with the velocities that they get. I do not feel that somebody using a Remington 700 action with a widened bolt should expect the same velocity as somebody using a beefy bat single shot action. For example, one of the Winners of the King of 2 mile match use the 33 XC with a 275 grain cutting edge bullet to achieve almost 3600 ft./s using a bat action and I'm assuming a 36 inch barrel. With the smaller actions that a lot of people are using and converting to 33 XC this velocity is not even dreamable. Putting this theory into action, I'm thinking of building a rifle off of the Pierce 10 X repeater action and Cadex bottom metal with a Bartlein MOD400 34" barrel. With this lengthy barrel and heavy duty action, I'm hoping for 3200 fps with a 300gr cutting edge MTH. What do you guys think of this? Any and all help would be greatly appreciated!
And if any of you all shoot the xc, would you mind dropping some of your pet loads?
And if any of you all shoot the xc, would you mind dropping some of your pet loads?