Finally finished my 338 RUM

[Timber338]

Finally finished building up my long range elk rifle.

Borden Timberline action, Hart Barrel chambered in 338 RUM w/ 4 port Muscle Brake. McMillan Game Scout w/ Edge fill.

The bare rifle weighs in at 7lbs 14oz and the goal was to try and keep the total weight below 10 lbs fully outfitted. After a lot of consideration I topped it off with the VX6 3-18x50mm. Fully set up the rifle weighs in at 9lbs 7oz. Pretty happy with how the rifle turned out. It's definitely a shooter.

Winter and other commitments have kept me from getting into the mountains to stretch her legs. Will get out soon.

Now need to decide on which bullet to shoot. Accurate loads worked out as follows:

225 Accubond w/ H1000 at 3145 fps.
or
300 Accubond w/ RL33 at 2800 fps.

 

[dmj]

Very nice rifle. Looks like a shooter.

 

[NYSHUNTER]

Looks great , what distances are you hoping to reach out too ?

 

[Rick Richard]

Very nice. How do you like that Leupold V6?

 

[NYSHUNTER]

Timber ,


Ever thought about using retumbo with the Ab ?

 

[Timber338]

Overall I am really happy with the VX6. The quality of the optics are exactly what I was hoping for. I did forget to mention that I went with the TMOA reticle. Overall the setup fits perfectly with how I hunt elk, and why I decided to put this thread in the elk hunting subforum.

I am really happy with how sharp the image is with the VX6 as well as the light gathering and color transmission. The eyebox on 18x is also very easy to hold and is not finicky at all.

The capped turrets that come from the factory (not the CDS dials) actually have a built in zero stop which works well. At this point I think I will hunt with the scope in this configuration so I never have to worry that I accidentally rotated the dials. The other factor is that with the CDS dials, you have to choose between a zero stop that limits you to one rotation, or no zero stop at all.

Part of the reason I am leaning towards the 225 Accubond is the laser flat trajectory let's me use the 10moa TMOA reticle to shoot out to 700 yards without touching the dials, while the slower 300 accubond limits that to 600 yards. Not sure if that's a good enough reason to choose the 225 though.

In terms of total range, the 225 and 300 both drop below 1800 fps around 1200 yards at the altitude I hunt... so that limits how far I'll shoot at an animal. But for practice I'll shoot out as far as I can turn the dials. I checked last night and with my current zero I get 38 moa of vertical adjustment that will let me reach out to about 1500 yards.

The one big drawback of the VX6 is how short the mounting tube length is. I had to use the extended talley mounts that are designed for just this application (short tube length on a long action), but scope is still not mounted far enough back. I could use an additional 1/4 - 1/2" of travel rearward, but I'm out of rearward travel. The only thing that makes it work for me is that I am so tall I am able to accommodate the current position. If weight savings were not such a goal I would just have used a picatinny rail/rings but that adds a considerable amount of weight over the talley lightweight rings. 20 moa pic rail would also extend the amount of verticle adjustment, but I'm happy with reaching out to 1500 yards with the way I have it set up now.

 

[Timber338]

Timber ,


Ever thought about using retumbo with the Ab ?

Yes, I would love to use it... I just have not been able to find any for a very long time. So for the 300 grain bullets I went with RL33.

Retumbo would be very close in velocity to RL33 with the 300 accubond, and I'm sure I would pick up some velocity shooting Retumbo with the 225...

I guess at this point I'm pretty happy with how the gun is shooting with both bullets/powders that I have. I had all but given up on the 300 Accubond because I could not find any... and just got some in stock last week and the load development was just as easy as it was with the 225... work up to pressure signs and then back off a couple of grains.

If I find some Retumbo I'm sure I'll have to try it out though as it seems to be just about the perfect powder for the 338 RUM.

 

[NYSHUNTER]

How much will you need ?

 

[Timber338]

Anymore I pretty much only buy 8 lb jugs of powder so I have plenty to work up a load and then hunt with without worrying about when the powder will come in stock again and avoid any issues from lot to lot variability. A 1 lb jug would work to tune in the load, but not enough to test out at long range and then hunt with. The RUM case is hungry!

And this 338 RUM seems to shoot anything very well so I wouldn't hesitate to just buy an 8lb jug of Retumbo if I found it in stock somewhere.

 

[NYSHUNTER]

I sent you a PM

 

[Korhil78]

I didn't catch the length and contour of the barrel. Sweet looking gun.

 

[Timber338]

27" Hart barrel, #4 contour. I think it's about as light as I was willing to go to still shoot accurately at long range ... And as heavy as I was willing to go to carry all day long.

 

[Timber338]

I was able to fine tune my 300 Accubond load over the weekend and it settled in at 2778 fps with 93.0 grains of RL33.

Now that it's shooting so well I'm pretty set on hunting with the 300 Accubond.... but the 225 is no slouch at 3140 fps and every bit as accurate...

 

[NYSHUNTER]

What's the 225 again ? I been a big fan of AB for while now .. This year will be the first year going to the VLD