Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Lapua Naturalis Bullets - Loads and Performance on Game

Irregular neck tension is the typical culprit.

I would first like to thank the originator of this thread and all who have contributed so much useful information here.

My practical (non-range) experience with the Naturalis bullet is limited to one shot with the former 180 grain bullet, in a .30-06 cartridge from Remington called Premier Green that is no longer available. The target was a whitetail deer, 125 pounds dressed, which I shot in the neck at thirty-five yards. The deer dropped dead to the ground without moving six inches from where it stood. The bullet took out the spinal column in the neck and I recovered it inside the animal. This is what it looked like:





This week I acquired a reloading kit, which prompted my hunt for information on loads. I look forward to benefitting from the knowledge others have acquired and are willing to share here.

Welcome to the 'fire, eidsvolling.

Welcome to the topic "eidsvolling" and thank you "Reloader28" for sharing your thoughts.

Regarding my latest 300 WM load: This load is producing very high velocities ~ 3150 f/s which is 100 f/s more than what I was expecting. (If you extrapolate the previous data points on the plot, velocity at long COAL with 76grain of powder should be around 3050 f/s) I am seating the bullets way out (COAL = 3.44) which is 0.1 inch longer than standard maximum length for 300 Win Mag so probably the charge of 76 grain of N560 and the velocity of 3150 f/s are OK but I still prefer going back on the charge may be maxing at 74 grain to produce velocity of around 3000 f/s. Another thing to consider is that new velocities were measure on a hot day (80 degrees F) while the previous ones were measured on a cool/rainy day (55 to 60 degrees F). This may have increased the chamber pressure (?)

I had the opportunity to go hunting in the weekend and shot my first California pig with Lapua Naturalis bullets! The pig was about 100 to 150 yards away on a hill and was walking down mostly facing us. I shot her with my 7mm Magnum rifle and the bullet hit her near the front shoulder with a very clear impact sound. The bullet had penetrated nearly the entire length of the pigs body and we found it under the skin near the hind leg. This is excellent bullet performance.

Looks great, nice to hear of some actual on game performance of these bullets. I like your buddy in the picture too, he seems very interested in that hog

Hey! Good for you!

I have found that this bullet engages the rifling at much shorter COAL than a more conventional designed bullet. I had to drop back to 2.85" OAL in my 308 vs my normal 2.9 in my SAKO that I normally load to. This could explain your higher than expected velocities. (Higher starting pressures)

I got best accuracy at 2.85" OAL anyways which is about .050 off the lands in my rifle. While LAPUA doesn't say as far as I know, Barnes does recommend .050" minimum for best performance.

I don't have a 300 Win Mag, but I do have a 300 WSM. I have worked up loads in that around 3100 fps FWIW. I'm getting about 2800 fps in my 308 with good accuracy.

Keep it coming guys, I like these bullets. It's nice to see people having good experiences with them.

How about a close up of that pig bullet?

Very nice and I second wanting to see a few close ups of the bullet.

Here is a close up of the recovered bullet. This bullet stayed on its course and penetrated nearly the entire length of the animal.

They seem to mushroom out similar to a lead cored bullet unlike the Barnes in particular that has distinct petals.

Looks pretty darned good to me as well.

Wow, that looks great.

Load development for the 7mm Rem Mag caliber is completed:

62 grain of N560, Lapua Naturalis 155 grain bullets (NPL 7027) seated at 3.24" C.O.A.L.; Nosler Custom Brass (new) and Federal 215 Match Primer. This load produces average velocity of 2820 ft/s from the Heym SR 30 rifle.


My 7mm Magnum rifle is very accurate. It is a straight-pull Heym SR30 which I have owned for 18 years. Very well-made and relatively light (9.5 lb with scope). Now I have a very accurate and effective hunting load for it too

Accuracy looks nice, but for a 155 grain bullet in the 7mm RM aren't you leaving 200+ fps on the table? Obviously, if you are happy with it it doesn't really matter.

Thanks for the update.

Great to see the performance on live game. Thanks for sharing.

Hi Azar,

You have a valid point. I could try and go higher (actually I did at some point using Norma 217, reached velocities in excess of 3000 f/s) but at the end of the day the current load is perfectly adequate for hunting and I am very happy with it. This load is probably in the same power level as the load I have developed for my Sauer 80 7X64 rifle (pictured below). In this rifle, 55 or 56 grains of N560 behind same Lapua Naturalis bullets produce touching groups at 100 yards. I have not choreographed the velocity but it is probably about 2800 f/s.

Load development for both my 7mm Rem Mag and 7X64 rifles are complete. I am not fully satisfied with my loads in 300 Win Mag and 8X68S calibers yet so I'll continue my experiments in those calibers..

Would you use a chronograph to do that?

I didn't chronograph those loads because rain got into my instrument's sensor and it didn't work correctly after that.. This incident inspired me to buy a Labradar. I will use it to test the velocity of my optimal 7X64 load next time

Update: After some research, I have concluded that the most probable reason for my last 300 Win Mag loads with 76 grain N560 and COAL = 3.44" showing too much velocity (~3150 f/s) is that the bullets have been touching the lands. So, in my next loads that I am currently developing, I am planning to reduce COAL to 3.40" and further to 3.30".

By the way, now I also have a Blaser R8 rifle in 300 Win Mag. So, I can test these loads in this rifle too. Are there any members here who have developed loads for two rifles in the same caliber? What are things to note or expect?

Thanks,
-Omid