A few years back I bought a 112 single shot .338 Lapua to build a lighter and cheaper (than my .375 Snipetac at least) long range elk hammer. I originally just punched the factory barrel's chamber out as it shot .338 Lapua factory ammo exceptionally well. It shot just as well when rechambered to XC. That is until I sent the barrel off to get turned down and carbon wrapped, and it got screwed up. I am now on my 3rd barrel and have tamed the load down to around 3000 fps with a 300 grain projectile to save the brass a little longer. I also ran it with top end loads the first two barrels and had some lug setback. This gave me an excuse to true the action up. I also have a 37xc reamer and will eventually have a barrel spun up for that. What I'd really like is a .408 or .416 version. That'll all have to wait as I just put a .300 Norma barrel on this action and have been having fun with it.
Anyone "transitioned" from .338 LM to .33XC?
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If I could get those sorry sack o biscuits too lineup enough for a 300gr fmj as for a 1 shot 10 or 20 kill would be great.
yobuck
Well-Known Member
Well for sure you can do more than have a little fun with a 300 Norma.
When all the dust settles on all the super cartridges out there today, reality begins to take over a bit.
And reality is that at least for long range hunting, very few kills are made beyond 1000 yards.
And most are made at much shorter distances than 1000 yards.
A 300 Norma with bullets in the 190 to 215 weight range is a very deadly combination for long range hunting.
In fact if i were forced to make a choice of only having one gun, with all the good choices out there, it would no doubt be a 300 Norma.
But it wouldnt be built on any Savage or Remington action.
Before I knew that lapua had a 30cal version of the 338 and had found 308nm had a bigger brother in 30cal, I thought it would be nice to get 1 in338 and neck down? Comparing the lapua and the norma with the 416rigby case head the norma has a higher pressure by around 3k more. That extra 3k adds pfs and it has a lower powder capacity.
yobuck
Well-Known Member
Many of the younger people who make up most of those interested in long range today, are actually unaware of what took place in long range cartridges before they were born in many cases.
Its no secret for example that the very old 300 and 375 H&H cases are responsible for paving the way for many of the modern day marvels.
Those cases are what put Roy Wetherby in business.
His small niche in his early days after WW2 was rechambering rifles to his improved version of those cases.
Cases were made by fire forming the H&H cases to his chamber.
In the 50s and 60s there were a few gunsmiths who were using his cases for wildcatting some of their own designs.
That led to the original 6.5x300 Wetherby in the 50s.
Which came about as a result of a 139 gr match bullet made by Norma, which had a very high BC.
It was also illegal for hunting in PA, where many of those guns were being used, because it had a metal jacket.
The 30x378 Wetherby was created by a few people including Howard Wolfe, a farmer/gunsmith from PA, who in the 60s created a 3 lug custom action specifically for that cartridge.
Howard was also an early competitor at the then recently established 1000 yard club at Williamsport.
As was the 6.5 guru Alex Hoyer.
Howard came to realize that the 30x378 had limitations for 1000 yard competition due to the longer barrels required.
Very few barrel makers were offering them at the time.
So he decided to modify the 378 Wetherby case by shortening it so that he could use say a 30" Hart barrel.
He called that the Wolfe version, others called it the short Wolfe. Others including me simply called it the little Wolfey.
I had guns in both the full size, and the little Wolfey size case.
Both guns were built by Howard, one on his action, and little Wolfey on a Wetherby mark five.
About 10 years ago a guy who is a member of this site came to our camp for bear hunting. He had recently had a gunsmith rebarrel his 700 Rem and chamber it in 300 Norma.
He showed me one of his cartridges, and i said sorta joking that it looked alot like little Wolfey.
So we took one of his empty cases and one of mine and weighed them. After which we filled them with water and weighed them again. And guess what, there was only one grain difference in them.
So my mind went to work on the question of where the idea for the 300 Norma might have come?
None the less, im sending 190 gr bullets at 3400 fps with it,
and if you hit a deer in a not perfect location with it, he is still going to be your deer, period, end of story.
Its no secret for example that the very old 300 and 375 H&H cases are responsible for paving the way for many of the modern day marvels.
Those cases are what put Roy Wetherby in business.
His small niche in his early days after WW2 was rechambering rifles to his improved version of those cases.
Cases were made by fire forming the H&H cases to his chamber.
In the 50s and 60s there were a few gunsmiths who were using his cases for wildcatting some of their own designs.
That led to the original 6.5x300 Wetherby in the 50s.
Which came about as a result of a 139 gr match bullet made by Norma, which had a very high BC.
It was also illegal for hunting in PA, where many of those guns were being used, because it had a metal jacket.
The 30x378 Wetherby was created by a few people including Howard Wolfe, a farmer/gunsmith from PA, who in the 60s created a 3 lug custom action specifically for that cartridge.
Howard was also an early competitor at the then recently established 1000 yard club at Williamsport.
As was the 6.5 guru Alex Hoyer.
Howard came to realize that the 30x378 had limitations for 1000 yard competition due to the longer barrels required.
Very few barrel makers were offering them at the time.
So he decided to modify the 378 Wetherby case by shortening it so that he could use say a 30" Hart barrel.
He called that the Wolfe version, others called it the short Wolfe. Others including me simply called it the little Wolfey.
I had guns in both the full size, and the little Wolfey size case.
Both guns were built by Howard, one on his action, and little Wolfey on a Wetherby mark five.
About 10 years ago a guy who is a member of this site came to our camp for bear hunting. He had recently had a gunsmith rebarrel his 700 Rem and chamber it in 300 Norma.
He showed me one of his cartridges, and i said sorta joking that it looked alot like little Wolfey.
So we took one of his empty cases and one of mine and weighed them. After which we filled them with water and weighed them again. And guess what, there was only one grain difference in them.
So my mind went to work on the question of where the idea for the 300 Norma might have come?
None the less, im sending 190 gr bullets at 3400 fps with it,
and if you hit a deer in a not perfect location with it, he is still going to be your deer, period, end of story.
my first rifle was a 300 bee. Have a few now. Someone help me understand, unless it's a straight cartridge, you either have double angle or a double radius. Which one is more likely to send more unburned powder down the barrel, what is the problem with the double radius, I hear it a lot, but I don't think I know what the problem is.
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yobuck
Well-Known Member
Actually, there isnt any problem with it.
like many things its simply mind over mater.
A few years back we had the same type things being said about belted cases.
Guys i knew who didnt even own a magnum cartridge were saying that the belted cases were inferior to non belted ones.
Because they heard some guy who never won anything at the match he was visiting say that.
TRUE DAT!
Thank you. And thank you for bringing up the belted case. I understand that some people experienced pronblems with resizing, but I could never understand that either. I even bought the "Larry Willis" sizing die, but I hvae never used it.
I understand someone just saying I just don't like it, like I don't like the NY cut steak, I prefer the filet or the ribye. Thats taste. But a problem needs definition. Just like to hear it. Educate me please!
Just for fun fact, beer bottles out there are "double angle". I have never seen one. They are all "double radius".
They look more curved than sharp angled from what I can tell? I have no experience with bee cartridges nor have ever saw 1 other than on the web.
Yeah, that's old school , for sure !!
Jeff Heeg osoh
Well-Known Member
The 41XCs have been performing very well and a new comer the 416 Hellfire has been doing a great job as well these days
JH
