Favorite 338 Lapua loads

[weaverism]

I am getting a 338 Lapua w/27" barrel. Looking for a place to start reloading. Any of you care to make some suggestions as to bullet, powder, primer combos. My main concern is killing stuff far, far away.

 

[chris matthews]

For far away stuff stick with the 300gr MK if your rifle is twisted for it (10)
My favorite is 94gr of Retumbo. Max load per Hodgdon.
Rel-22 or 25 works good also.
Used N560 with mixed results- got wierd pressure spikes.
Who'd you get the Lapoopy from?

 

[weaverism]

It's an HS Precision HTR. I'm glad you reccommend the 300SMK. I just ordered 500 of them. What kind of velocities do you think from that big 300SMK? Thanks for the tip. I was hoping Retumbo would work.

 

[chris matthews]

Depends on your barrel length and what load you end up shooting but you'll probably get 2600 to 2800 in it with the 300.

 

[jro45]

I get 2750 fps with the 300 SMK with a 26" barrel using H1000 for powder.

 

[Nighthawk]

I have a 34" polygonal barrel (equavilent of a 37"). Right now I'm going to use either 88.6 gr of VV N170 with 300 gr MK or a 250 grain Scenar with 82.3 gr of N560. Depending on your target or how far your shooting I'd stick with what Chris said.

 

[chris matthews]

For what it's worth- I ran my load through my Oehler 35 yesterday and the 94 gror Retumbo in my 30" Rock 5R barrel gave me 2900 fps. The funny thing is BH 300gr gave me 3000 fps.
And both groups were well under the 1/2 MOA mark!

 

[Guest]

CM, you suck....3000fps and under .5" you sure the wife didn't shoot that group

I know you gonna gimme that thing for Christmas ;-)

 

[Richard338]

In my PGW Timberwolf 26" barrel the best results are with H1000. I did a full load development with H1000 and Retumbo, but could not get the Retumbo to group quite as well. It was still good (1/2 MOA at 200 yds), but the H1000 was definitely better.
These were 300SMK at 2780-2800.
Powder was 92.0 for H1000, and 92.3 for Retumbo. I know a lot of people on this site say 94g of Retumbo, but I get pressure signs after 92. BTW I seat touching the rifling. Backing away even a few thou takes away a lot of accuracy.

 

[Richard338]

Sr90,
Do you use Moly?
Do you seat to the rifling?
Thanks

 

[Nicholas]

Richard,
I do not seat to the rifling, I also do not use moly coated bullets. I seat the bullets to function in the magazine. I am not sure how far I am from the lands. In fact, I was going to ask you if your loads are touching the lands or how close they are to the lands. Also how do you measure the distance to the lands. I have a stoney point tool, but I haven't been getting very accurate readings using it because the sliding rod is plastic and flexes.

[ 06-15-2004: Message edited by: sr90 ]

 

[Richard338]

Sr90,
I lived in Winnipeg last year, so I used to drive down to PGW and get Steve to measure it with a gauge that he made. (possibly he would make you one). After about 500 rounds it was back about 4 thou. I haven't shot enough since to move it much further. I use Moly, and seat right into the lands. Steve was there when I did some load development. We tried backing away from the rifling but the accuracy went away.

 

[Nicholas]

I use 88-88.6 grains of REL 25 in my Timberwolf with 26" tube shooting 300 SMK's, I get 2760 fps - 2800 fps. I have gotten the best accuracy from REL 25 I have developed loads with Retumbo H1000 and REL 25.

Just a side note if I loaded things really hot then I got significantly higher velocities out of the rel 25, 2930 fps to be exact!