Which powder for 338 lapua improved?

odoylerules

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I'm having one built. LR hunting rig. Defiance hunter action, 30" Proof barrel. Im planning to shoot the 300 gr Berger elites. Trying to slowly acquire the components. Powder can be hard to come by, so I want to start grabbing what I can. What powder have you had the best luck with? Temp stability is of high concern obviously being a hunting rig
 
I use Re33 in my 338 Edge. I shot to 2000 yards at 80F and 700 yards at 15F and was happy with what I saw. Great velocity, I highly recommend it.
 
I haven't tried the new imr 8133 yet but from testing RL-33 and n-570 in my 338edge imp and my shooting buddy's 28 nosler. N-570 will give the best velocity and temp stability. Rl-33 is right there with it in velocity and seems to be ok as long your not shooting above 80 degrees. But once you go above that point with 33 I've seen up to 50fps or more increased velocity shooting in 100 degree temps. Retumbo would be a good option also.
 
I hate the thought of temp instability. I'm hoping retumbo works best. The N-570 is friggin impossible to find right now!
 
I don't have much experience with retumbo but my shooting partner switched to retumbo in his 28 nosler and took a 50-70 fps loss but never had issues again that summer.
 
In these big 338's it seems that Retumbo pressures out just a bit before max capacity is reached. It is, on the other hand, very well behaved. I would say that it is kind of like shooting H4895 powder in a 308.
 
I'm Pushing 300grn otms' 3010fps out of a 28" Bartlien barrel with Rl33, low es/sds', best I could do with H1000 was just over 2800fps. I really like this powder!

Tom
****! 200fps faster is significant. Have you tested that r33 in different temperature extremes?
 
That's pretty fast for a stock lapua! Nice work


I need to do some powder temp testing . I haven't had any problems using my G7BR2 rangefinder and RL33 , they seem to match up at different temps .

do you have an idea of the case capacity on the improved ? or if you would let me know after you figure it out , I'd appreciate it . thanks Jim
 
I've mostly used H1000 and 285 ELD-m's in my 338 Edge. Very accurate powder/combo
But with RE33, I'm getting pretty high ES's sometimes.
I think I might be under pressured or maybe the 285s are too light for RE33.
 
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