Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting 338 lapua

Recently bought a 338 lapua in a savage 110 fcp.
Ordered some 300gr Sierra mk and ready to load a few. Also have access to 300berger.
Any pet loads anybody wants to share? I also thought about the 285gr hornady bthp?

Prolly just punch steel mostly but will have to try it on a deer this fall.

Start with Retumbo.

Lapua cases, fed 215m primers, 92 grains H-1000 behind a 300 SMK.

I've heard that is the sweet spot for the big gal. I've got 2lbs of h1000 so I'm gonna load some today and try it out

RL 33 is supposed to be the powder for the Lapua. Ck Alliant web site for load data.

H1000 with the 285 works incredible...

Great powder !

Retumbo for the win in the .338L, especially with 300gr. Temp stable (zero velocity fluctuation) from -40 to +165. Really incredible powder in the 338.

Got it down to about an inch group but not done yet. 91.5gr seems to be working the best rite now. Gotta try different seating depths and hope it improves alittle

1 1/4 at 300 in the .338 Ultra using both H1000 and Retumbo. 300 gnr MK and the 285 Horn.
The 338`s seem to want to shoot.

Mine likes both Retumbo, and H1000. I got a little better accuracy from H1000 with the 300gr bullets. My load is 91.0grs H1000 for 2840fps through a 28" Bartlein 1-9.75".

Which brass are you using?
The lapua brass takes more powder to get the same velocity than the s&b brass?

I shoot it at 400yrds yesterday for a 3shot group of 3". Two was touching and the 3rd was low.
I also got my 285 horn in yesterday, hopefully get to play with them this weekend

I've been shooting the 338 Lapua for a couple years now. Retumbo velocity still fluctuates with temperature. About 5-10 fps for every 10 degrees. In our 30" barrel 2850fps is fast as we dare. RL-33 tops it by 100 fps and is only slightly worse for temperature fluctuation. 2966fps with a 30" barrel. 5 groove 9.5 twist. With both powders we have to back down on a hot day or the bolt starts getting some drag.

In the 300RUM the Retumbo fluctuates the same.

Shoot a few group with the 285 horn bthp over the weekend. Best group was just a shade over 2" at 400yrds with 89.5 gr of h1000. Several different powder charges and the worse was alittle over 4"s.

I thought about trying some 250 bergers, anybody played with them? How much velocity gain should I be able to gain? I didn't see any load data in the Berger book.

Ridiculous statement, but funny. hope you are the only one that truly believes it.

been shooting the 338 Lapua since 2005 mostly with the 300gr SMK, I have had the best luck with RL25 and H1000 (Lapua cases with 215's).

Only problem with the 300gr SMK is if you shoot them to 1000 yards+ you must sort them for bearing surface length because they vary alot.

Soured quickly on the Berger 300 grainers when they first came out because of the nose collapse issue, they have fixed the issue now but the SMK shoots so well it is hard to give them another chance.

The 300smk shot pretty good out of mine but the 285 seem to be shooting alittle better. I want to try the bergers simply for the high bc at .818 compared to the .700 285gr hornady

anyone shooting 225s?

trying out H4831 and getting about 3300 fps from the CEB MTH bullets. Want to try some H1000 as well and see how they fly.

Using 225 Barnes for bear. Work great! 4 dead bear and none went more than ten yds. Way too much gun for white tail !

What velocity are you getting and with what powder?

A few hundred thousand dollars in ammo and weapons testing for a SOCOM program will make a believer out of you sooner than some guy playing with a $129 chronograph from Midway will. If the gentlemen from the high-end rifle ammo company that funded the testing were willing to share specifics you'd be as impressed with the results as I was. I've shot the combo to 2340 yards and conducted thousands of rounds of testing in the Lapua. Knock yourself out recreating the quantity and quality of professional ballistics testing I've been fortunate to participate in and you'll have data that's more than anecdotal.