Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Good 338 Federal loads

I just got back from my hunt.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth...ee_Range_Axis_Hunt_with_pics#Post9976438

What did you think of the 180 BT?

Worked great. Pass through and both animals died instantly. Neck shots so almost anything would have worked. I didn't plan it that way but I can't complain. The main thing was I knew the rifle was dialed in so I only had to worry about me making the shots. Never used shooting sticks but it was easy enough to figure out. That black buck shot was one in a million. That little sucker was moving.

Thanks. Thinking about trying them on elk this fall. Also have the 180 ABs and 200 ABs.

Probably would work fine but I'd probably play it safe and go with the 180 or 200 Accubond.

I've looked through these pages, signed up because of this thread, and see that a lot of people are not shooting any more than 210's... I'm trying to work up some data on the 225gr Accubond for a Ruger m77. I have seen alot of people using rl17 for the 208gr Amax on the 308, so I am working on that. I haven't chrono'd anything yet, and have only fired six shots with rl17, being 44.0, 45.0, 45.5, 46.0, 46.5 and 47.0.

45.5, 46.0 and 47.0 shot into one hole, and I'm not entirely sure if I threw 46.5 or it just wasn't a happy little fella. I simply wanted to start with pressure, and although there wasn't a sticky bolt, I saw a bit of extractor mark, no flattened primers.

Anyone try this powder yet? I am loading up six at 45.5 on through 47.0, just to give it a try over the chrono and see how they group. MR2000 didn't give me desired results in the 225's, but I am loving the results with HotCor's at 2.875".

I'd try TAC, seems there has at least some trying with the Deep Curl, but I didn't see if there was in depth testing done, and I am having a hard time finding TAC right now. I do have a few hundred Deep Curl's, so if any information on those are out there, wouldn't complain turn it down.

My go to for my DPMS LR338 is the HotCor with 46gr RL15, cycles the bolt fully, and its great accuracy, but I am playing around much more with my m77 now for hunting applications. Much lighter than the AR.

Thanks for all the great information, appreciate everything I've read here.

SHM

I have some 225 Deepcurls and I tried 52 of MR2000 which got me 2500-2540 fps. I also have a Ruger Hawkeye. That is the only load I've tried with 225s. Like you have said, I generally stay in the 180-210 range for the 338 Federal which I think is the sweet spot. I think the 225 Accubonds would max out 2400 fps at safe pressures. Not sure how fast you want to drive them. They do have a very high BC so pushing them to that 2400 fps range would probably work pretty good.

I'll look when I get home, but I think JB got close to 2500 with TAC and the 225 AB. It's such a long bullet that takes up a lot of volume. Leverevolution might be a good powder to try and it seems to be available. If I go to a 225, I think I'll try a shorter bullet such as a Partition or an A-Frame to make room for powder. If I'm shooting a 225 its for close in work anyway. Although that 225 AB is a pretty slick bullet!

New here and soon to be a newby 338 Fedder too. I already have Varget, RL-15,& 4064 on hand. I'll probably start with 200gr Speers and AB's. Any real need to go try and find some TAC, or 8208 ?

I have not used those, but of those I've read where some were happy with RL15.

I looked at the JB articles where he loaded the 225 AB and he listed 2450-2460.

Speer has data for Varget and RL-15.

http://www.speer-bullets.com/pdf/reloadingsupplementaldata/338_federal.pdf

Thanks Scott, good info.

NOW, to let it be known why I picked a 338Fed as my finishing touch to my 3 gun arsenal.

http://huntforever.org/…/flashback-friday-big-bruins-in-ar…/

That hunt was w/a 338 Win Mag, but what it doesn't mention is that the load was a 200 gr flat nose Hornady, at a blistering 2550fps. That rifle had a slow barrel, period. (and I had it down-loaded pretty hard). Sold it.

So, when contemplating my last build, for a general bear/pig/elk rifle I drew back on my field experience. If a 338 @ 2550fps can flip a 7'3" bear 270 degrees,completely off it's feet & put it airborne, why pound myself with a Mag when the 338Fed duplicates the exact load???????????

I've got a Ruger American Wolf coming in the next couple weeks, 308Win. JES has been recommended a couple of times as a Go-To for the re-bore job.

+/- inputs on JES, or any other smiths that do a good job ?

Jes and Dan Pederson BOTH DO A GOOD JOB. powdr

Has anyone tried Varmint powder with the 338 Fed? I've been working on some loads and they are showing extreme promise with the 180 gr Accubond.

All brass was neck sized, seated to 2.890", all shot out of my Ruger M77 Hawkeye with a 22" barrel.

I started with 44g and worked up. It was a bad day for the chrono, got several errors, but will post what I have been getting.

44- none registered
45.5 - one 2518
46 - one error, 2599,2569
46.5 - 2669,2685,2629

At this point the barrel was starting to heat up, but I kept firing, accuracy was good, but readings started to get a bit warm

47 - 2723,2715,2700
47.5 - 2860,2832,2852
48 - error, 2905,2848

This was where I stopped, barrel was very warm, not sure what to expect from this. I packed it up, went and cleaned and loaded more for later on. Sun started to go down a bit, it was hard with the chrono to get it set up properly.

48- 2755,2743,2766,2770
48.5 2791,2789,2731,2859
Not sure what happened here, I shot the first four, then switched to my 338-06, so it was not steady fire, but that last one really threw off the ES.

Then I did another group with the 338-06 and shot my last four, only two registered
49- 2850,2895

At no time did I see any pressure signs, no flattened primer, still had room in the case. I am going to scrub the gun down real well and go up even more. As far as I can tell with research, Varmint powder is very similar to the old Reloader 12, which would put it on par with Tac in the burn rate chart. Next time I go out, only cold bore groups will be shot. I will bring some ice with me to cool the barrel, keep the rounds out of the heat.

Environmentals - Down East Maine, 75* weather, 90% humidity, hazey day, moderate 7-9mph 12 oclock wind. Best groups were with 45.5 and 49. Will post back with more data.

SHM

SPS has 180 and 200 Accubonds available.

I picked up a few bags of 200 ABs.

I was playing with ballistics using JBM and realized they now had revised BCs for the 180 Accubond. According to Litz's tests it was a .209 G7. If you play with the numbers that generally equates to a .415 G1 BC. Notably different from the published .372. There is no revised BC for the 200 AB, but his tests indicated the 225 AB was slightly lower than published. Using Litz's numbers for the 180 AB/Ballistic Tip, I will be ~2065 FPS at 500 yds when elk hunting (10k' elevation) with a load of 8208 starting it at 2780. That's not bad. Not sure whether I'll use the AB or BT. Not much difference when shooting into particle board and damp magazines.

Hi All,

New to the forum. Has anyone tried the 185gmax in the 338fed? I have had my best luck with 8208XBR and 160TTSX/185TSX the repeatability has not been great. I am going to try H4895 with my Sako 85 next. I am debating using the Barnes data for the GMAX barnes data always seems lower.

Good luck and shoot straight

Bob

https://www.hodgdon.com/PDF/SuperLever.pdf

Looking at this I'm thinking 45gr of Hornady Leverevolution would be a decent starting point with 200gr Accubonds. Thoughts or experience???

Should be a good safe starting point. There are some loads using that powder somewhere on this thread. I know PRM has tried it. You could either dig through it or PM him.

I don't have access to my notes, but I think I was shooting 49gn with a 210 Partition. I'll be curious to see how LVR does with the 200 AB.