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

The chart below shows updated results for Blaser R8. Last week, I had tested loads with 68 grain to 73 grain of powder. Two loads at 71 and 72 grain gave great accuracy so this week I tested a load with 71.4 grain of powder. You can see the velocity for this load potted as '+' marks on the graph below. The average velocity is about 50 f/s below what I'd expected. For the new load, I had FL-sized the brass from previous test. Otherwise the components were identical.

My question: If we make round using new brass, fire it and then FL-size its brass, load again and fire in same rifle, should there be a noticeable change in velocity? My expection was that velocity should remain the same since the "internal chamber" of the case upon firing and once it is expanded to fit the rifle chamber is the same. So why did I notice a small 30 - 50 f/s change in velocity in both Sauer 90 and Blaser R8 rifles? And why in one case velocity increased (Sauer 90) and the other case (R8) decreased?

As the year comes to its end, I restocked inventory of Lapua Naturalis bullets.. I also got new cans of N560 powder. I have not used slower (N570) and faster (N550, N540) powders yet but I plan to experiment with those powders too. I think N570 might be best for over-bore cartridges such 7mm Rem Mag and N540 might work well in larger caliber cases such as 8X68S.

I am going to start a new set of loads in 300 Win Mag using new brass shortly. Previously, when I had obtained a good group with two close charges of powder (say 71 grain and 72 grain), I thought choosing the middle value (71.5 grain) will give optimum results. But my experiences (some of them reported above) show that this is not the case. Why is that?

So far this year, I have developed highly accurate loads for multiple calibers including 7X64, 7mm Mag, 300 Win Mag (in 3 rifles) and 8.59 Titan using Lapua Naturalis bullets. Now I am trying to "validate" my loads by loading the optimal charge in each caliber and testing again. Here are the 300 WM validation loads. The charge is 72 grain of N560 for all rounds. I have loaded 15 rounds using a new N560 powder can and 15 rounds from a previous powder can with a different manufacture date to see if change in lot number makes any difference. I hope not..

How is your load development coming on the 8x68s? I recently bought one and load data is kinda difficult to find. I have Hornady's data and that is about it. Does your Vhituvuori manual have it as a standard cartridge?

Hi, I have not made any new loads for 8X86S for a while. I made some small improvement to my rifle's magazine and i also intend to free-float the barrel. Then I will test some loads in it again. The VihtaVuori Manual 3rd Edition has some loads for 8X68S. You can see them in the pictures below. Newer editions (e.g. 7th Edition currently published) do not have loads listed for 8X68S.

The 8X68S is an outstanding magnum-class cartridge.

New pet load for 7mm Rem Mag:

Case: RWS (new, bought from Huntington)
Primer: Federal 215M
Powder: 65 grains of N570
Bullet: Lapua Naturalis 155 grain
Cartridge Overall Length= 3.24"

Produces muzzle velocity of about 2850 f/s in my Heym SR30 rifle and shoots 0.5 MOA groups

Comments: RWS brass are outstanding and look/feel even better than the Nosler Custom brass that I have been using. The Nosler brass is also excellent. The RWS brass has a bit less capacity than the Nosler so my previous pet load (62 grain of N560) produced about 50 f/s more velocity in it. Despite this small change, my N560 load shoots well (=sub MOA) in both brands of brass.

And here are my validation shots for my previously developed load in 300 Win Mag:

Load Data:
Caliber 300 Win Mag,
Case:Nosler Custom
Primer: Federal 215M
Powder: 72 grain of N560
Bullet: Lapua Naturalis 170 grain
V0 ~ 2850 f/s

The above load produces sub-MOA accuracy both in Blaser R8 and Sauer 202 rifles. The picture below shows the Blaser R8 target. I fired 5 shots then removed the scope (Zeiss Varipoint 3-12X56) and replaced it with a low-power scope that I wanted to zero (Zeiss Varipoint 1.1-4X24) . After I zeroed in the 1.1-4X scope, I mounted the original scope back and fired another 5 shots. All 10 shots clustered in a 1.5 group validating both the load and the outstanding rail-mount system I am using on this rifle

The red-paper target shows the group obtained by the low-power scope after zeroing in.

Sincerely,
-Omid

I was attending Shot Show and then SCI Convention in the previous weeks. I will resume reloading soon and this topic will become active again. In the meantime, here are some pictures.

-Omid

Mauser M03 Alpine rifle:




Mauser M98 rifles (new manufacture)


New Blaser riflescopes (made by Minox/GSO for Blaser)



Mr Mathias Strasser and his rifle (Strasser RS14)

After a long time, here are some updates on load development for caliber 8X68S:

I followed the new (2018) data posted on Vihtavouri website and developed 5 loads for 8X68S using N550 powder. The starting load was 60 grain and my max load was 64 grain (1 grain less than max listed on the website). I also used Federal 210M primer instead of 215M (which is a magnum primer) as per suggestion on the website. The velocity results are given in the chart below. They are about 150 f/s less than the published loading data but the accuracy was very good. In fact, the starting load (60 grain) produced a touching three-shot group at 100 yards. You can see a picture of this group and my rifle below.

NOTHING looks as good as a dressed up 98!!

Exactly!

Does anyone have first-hand experience comparing standard and magnum primers in the same load? I am preparing a second set of loads for the 8X68S caliber and I was wondering if it is worth trying Fed215M magnum primers. The velocities (shown on the left plot above) are just about 150 f/s less than I thought. I could increase the N550 charge but I don't want to do that yet..

Thanks

I confirmed the optimal load in 8X68S with a new round of shooting. It is a mild load with a muzzle velocity of only 2600 f/s but it shoots very accurately and has negligible recoil in my 10 lb Sabbi Mauser rifle. Here are the full load data for the record a picture of a new target I shot yesterday.

Brass: RWS (new)
Powder: 60 grain of Vihtavouri N550
Primer: Fed210M
Bullet: Lapua Naturalis 180 grain (N559)
COAL: 86mm

100Y target (left group: RWS factory load 200 grain EVO; central group: the above load; right group: RWS factory load 180 grain H-mantel)

Update on 300 Win Mag Load Development:

The same optimal load that shoots well in my Blaser R8 and Sauer 202 rifles, shoots accurately in my Sauer 90 rifle as well!! I confirmed this last week after I had changed the scope on the Sauer 90 and was testing it to zero-in the new scope. You can see a picture of the 100 Yard target below.

I had read on some websites before that a "universal accurate load" that shoots well in many rifles exists. The 300 Win Mag Lapua Naturalis load that I have developed seem to be an example of that. Here are the details again:

Case:Nosler Custom (new, unfired)
Primer: Federal 215M
Powder: 72 grain of N560
Bullet: Lapua Naturalis 170 grain
COAL: 3.4 Inch
V0 ~ 2850 f/s


Does anyone know why a single load shoots accurately in all three rifles? This is very interesting observation and there should be some technical explanation behind it.

-Omid

Chris Long has a whitepaper where he talks about his theory of "Optimum Barrel Time".

http://www.the-long-family.com/OBT_paper.htm

Thank you for the link! This is the website I had read before but it was a long time ago and i'd forgotten. I'll read it carefully again.

-Omid

50 rounds of my "pet load" for 300 Win Mag, packaged and ready for hunting

I would love to try the naturalis bullets but I just can't with the BC numbers they have. Ttsx, gmx, etip do the same thing and have vastly better BC's. Maybe the gen 3 version will address the BC numbers.

I too sometimes feel tempted to try some of the new fancy schmancy bullets with ballistic coefficients of 0.7 or more but as I limit myself to normal hunting ranges (less than 400 yards) I am perfectly content with these bullets. They shoot very accurately and they expand reliably too (no fragmentation, just a nice and round mushroom). That's all I care for. To me, the ideal hunting bullet is a "long cylindrical object with a relatively blunt tip", like the 7mm Nautralis bullet with the BC of 0.270

I use Barnes (100 grain TSX) in my 270, very nice little bullet. I have not used GMX oe eTip bullets.