Which powder .338 lapua improved

[meatyrem]

I just saw you are in Spring Lake, I'm south of Grand Rapids. I know where there is quite a bit of powder in stock not far from me. Do either of you guys shoot at MTC?

I want to.

 

[snox801]

I want to.

We should all figure a day to go up and play. It's only about two hours from me.
Give me a great place to bring out the big boom sticks.
I've had a good experience shooting with guys on this forum.

 

[meatyrem]

We should all figure a day to go up and play. It's only about two hours from me.
Give me a great place to bring out the big boom sticks.
I've had a good experience shooting with guys on this forum.

Sounds great. Any idea on entry fee and such?

 

[snox801]

I've never looked into it

 

[Dragoon300]

We should all figure a day to go up and play. It's only about two hours from me.
Give me a great place to bring out the big boom sticks.
I've had a good experience shooting with guys on this forum.

It's 2 hours from me too.
I've been a member for 8 years now, great guys, great place to shoot! Great instructors! I NEED to go more this year!

 

[meatyrem]

It's 2 hours from me too.
I've been a member for 8 years now, great guys, great place to shoot! Great instructors! I NEED to go more this year!

Aren't you near that 500m in Dorr?

 

[Dragoon300]

Aren't you near that 500m in Dorr?

I am, I was one of their 500m RO's and CPL instructor until I got tired of the rules imposed on the 500m range. RO's couldn't use it unless there was another RO to watch them!
So last summer I built my own 400 yard range at home, and a 100 yard that I can shoot out of one of my buildings. I set up a shooting bench and man cave in there. Dropped my membership at Dorr and put that money toward MTC.
SKSC by Dorr is a great place to shoot, one of the best around and I highly recommend it, I always have. MTC is geared toward long distance precision rifle shooting, and tactical pistol / carbine, more to my interest. Not shotgun like Dorr. Hope we can get together and shoot or talk sometime.

 

[meatyrem]

I am, I was one of their 500m RO's and CPL instructor until I got tired of the rules imposed on the 500m range. RO's couldn't use it unless there was another RO to watch them!
So last summer I built my own 400 yard range at home, and a 100 yard that I can shoot out of one of my buildings. I set up a shooting bench and man cave in there. Dropped my membership at Dorr and put that money toward MTC.
SKSC by Dorr is a great place to shoot, one of the best around and I highly recommend it, I always have. MTC is geared toward long distance precision rifle shooting, and tactical pistol / carbine, more to my interest. Not shotgun like Dorr. Hope we can get together and shoot or talk sometime.

Was thinking of trying out Dorr but backed out as I wouldn't meet their requirements
I'd rather pay, show up and shoot whenever I want and leave. Not all the other stuff they want.

 

[budlight]

Ok, so I have a 24" lapua improved 40 shoulder.
Here is my question. I am gonna load the 249gr hammer deadblow bullet into this one. Since it's a 24" barrel I'm not looking for max distance 300gr as I have better rifles for that.
I did all my fireforming with a full case of rl33 because I have plenty of that. Used a generic Hornady 250gr bullet.
Now I clearly added more case to add more powder. But I'm also gonna use a longer bullet. Plus I want to keep this a repeater. So mag length keeps the bullet into the cases not. I know I'm gonna end with a full case and am gonna still try rl33 first. But what are my other options or where would you start if you were me?
My thought was I may need a more dense powder. But would love to run rl33.
Also with the short barrel I may want a bit faster.
I'm open for ideas.
I have more rl26 than I need but also feed a bunch with it. Have no other use for the rl33 hence wanting to use it.
I also have a pound of rl25 which may be perfect but again 1 lbs doesn't last long with burning over 100gr at a time. I have a fair amount of other options.
What would you try if it was yours. I'm gonna run a ladder today with rl33 and see where it pressures. See if my improved made enough room or not.
But as you all know always looking for the next best thing. Given my combo am I overlooking a better powder?
Thanks.

RL33 was made for the LM. I use it exclusively. Go to the Alliant reloading data and look at the 250 gr Sierra Match King velocity with each of the RL powders. Remember that these are rough numbers and not the gospel. Only a chrono testing with your setup are the actual truth.

I got away from retumbo when RL25 and latter RL26 came out. RL33 has the ability to create higher velocities. That being said, higher FPS does not equate to the smallest groups. I have found that downloading often gets the best groups.

I like accuracy and case life first! Bragging about the the highest velocity is for children. 30 years ago I owned a 30-378 with a 30 inch barrel. Cases lasted about 2-3 loadings and it went through barrels. Did the animal know that it got hit with the highest velocity 30 cal?

You also did something wrong in my opinion. You went to AI for what reason? More velocity? The correct answer is longer barrels are free HP. Not a bigger case and a short barrel! I own some AI's the beauty of them is the ability to get the velocity without increasing pressure

 

[Pdvdh]

You also did something wrong in my opinion. You went to AI for what reason? More velocity? The correct answer is longer barrels are free HP.

Nothing wrong with AI'ing the 338 Lapua. No matter the barrel length.

Makes factory 338 Lapua a powder puff, in comparison.

If going 338 Lapua, most are likely desiring maximum horse power.

N570 should be a great powder!

 

[meatyrem]

"If going 338 Lapua, most are likely desiring maximum horse power"

I agree with this why go lapua and restrict it. Might as well take the cheaper route and go 338 rum or even edge. And get same performance

 

[snox801]

Well this rifle is an after thought. I bought a savage.338 lapua years ago and put it in an xlr chassis. But gifted that to my brother for his birthday. He then put a 34" barrel on it and went AI.
So I purchased a second ba stealth .338 and had the chamber cut to the same as his. He was then able to fireform his loads and not burn up his new barrel. So this rig is something different to play with.
I figured why not go 250gr speed it up a bit and keep it feeding out of the magazine.
I mainly let people shoot it that want to try a lapua. I will someday rebarrel to 28" plus.

 

[snox801]

So loaded first ladder today. Formed some brass using hornady 250gr rl33 at 104.5gr.
So today I loaded rl33 in the formed brass under a 246gr hammer at mag length. Started at 105.5 and went up to 110 that was where I heard a bit of crunch and could no longer hear powder shaking around inside after loaded.
Side not nosler has the 265gr pill at 104.5 max in the standard lapua and I did add a good amount of case capacity. So hoping I can get to the top of that ladder. Don't like to crunch powder much. I have a good jump to lands so that may help. If this doesn't I'll get into the rl26.
Alliants site stated for both the 250 game king and the Barnes 225gr rl33 was still the best so I decided to try that first. Gut says rl26 would be better but we shall see.

 

[budlight]

I've got a couple of barrel burner AI's. When you are thinking about barrel life I came to the conclusion and it works for me is that I don't fire form cases and then reload them. I load the standard case to AI powder levels and go use them. I used a chrono with cases to be fire formed and already AI cases with everything the same and data showed very little difference in FPS outside of normal deviation.

Years ago I bought a AI and 400 new standard brass. I was thinking about what a waste trying to fire form all this brass. Just get to it! Just went to the bench rest local range with 3 shots of every powder increment that I chose . Fired them through the chrono with some AI rounds as comparison.