Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting Savage Lapua is ridiculous

Weatherby is advertising Fibermark in .338 Lapua. IIRC, 26" barrel, probably wh/muzzle brake, about $2400. I guess the case is about the same size as .378 Wby, so a natural fit to the Mark V.
Guess it would recoil more than a .340 due to more powder.

There are critics in every crowd. I say, if you like it and it's getting the job done for you, bully! Sounds like a great rifle.

I am glad to see that the big gun is performing. I saw one at the local gun shop a month or so ago, and as ugly as it is, I still wanted one. Lol.

I have been looking at the savage with the thought of wildcating it to a 6.5x338 Lapua mag with the dream of 120 to 140gr bullets reaching 4000+fps. Both sierra and nosler think these bullets will hold together at these speeds with a extremely explosive impact.

North61, you're a trouble maker. After a lot of research, I made up my mind to buy the LRH in 7 Mag. After your post, I'm leaning toward the .338 LM again. I figured I could shoot better with the lower recoil of the 7 Mag, but the .338 would be more reassuring since I'd be hunting caribou in bear country. By the way, I enjoyed your video, and would appreciate any updates you may have.

North 61 thank you for taking the time to put the video together and share it with the forum . I appreciated it .

7mm Mag is a superior hunting round, IMO. A friend killed a whitetail with a 338 Lapua this year, he got the hind quarters to eat and nothing from both front shoulders...Zero edible meat. That was using 300gr Sierras.

I still WANT a Lapua though, but if you ain't got a fast seven, that's where you want to start.

I've had my Sav 111 Lapua about two weeks now, still breaking in the barrel using a top load of RL17 and 200gr Hornady SP's, just shooting out the door at pine cones in the woods because the snow/rain/mud keeps me off my 100M range. I bought it for the receiver, 5 round clip, swithch barrel aspect and stock as much as for the caliber and the fact I can't build one for the price I paid. I already have plans for a fully AI'ed 416 Rigby, 32-26" bbl, to shoot the 450 gr Hi BC VLD's.

I was thinking about a 375 "Rigby" but I decided to just rechamber my 21" 375 H&H to 375 RUM to get back the velocity I lost from the barrel chop job...not all than much difference in case capacity between the RUM and Lapua either.

Don't blame the rifle OR the cartridge for blowing up that deer...Downloading the Lapua to a more realistic velocity would have prevented all that lost meat. ANY large cal, heavy bullet rifle at full loads would have done the same thing...even a 7RM or 12 slug if you hit the scapula or it was close enough...you gotta get real when you hunt deer. I quit using anything but small cal medium velo or large cal low velo/shotgun shooters for deer a long time ago. You didn't mention the distance either.

I have a Leupold 6.5-20 scope installed on it but will step up in power when I get a load sorted out for over 500 yd sage ratz, a box each of Berger and Sierra 300 gr and I might try some Rocky Mountain Bullets 300 or 325 gr in time.

I have plenty of other short to medium long rang shooters in most calibers, but this is the first "specialized for long range only" shooter I've had in about 30 years...I'm gonna have some fun for sure. Hahahahahahah

Glad to hear these rifles are shooters!

Does anyone know if the muzzlebreak on the Savage Lapua rifles is easily removed? I'm looking at the LRH or the HS stocked versions. Thanks!

Hey NFG,
Check out my thread on the big bore forum if you're interested. I've been pushing close to 2600 fps with the 450 Amax in a Ruger No 1 in 416 Rigby with the factory 24" barrel. That seems to be stretching the safe pressure limits, but 2400 fps is easily attainable in that rig. I'd love to hear what results you get with an improoved cartridge and longer barrel!!!

I have followed your thread since the beginning...with interest, just haven't added anything to the pot until today...I did forget to add that Win 780 and VV 560 both will get you similar velo's as slightly over 61KPSI at about the same fill levels which might be something to look at. Better case life and less strain on the rifle.

Using the same QL data but increasing the barrel length to 34" increased the velo to ~2700fs/7260ftlbs...26"/2565fs/6570ftlbs...28/2600fs/6765ftlbs...30/2635fs/6945ftlbs. Questionable as to the actual added benefits...those long barrels have their own set of problems to deal with. Basically you are increasing the energy by the added velo...always trade-offs and decisions.

That Ugly OL' Diminishing Returns gobblin rears it's mole covered, worm infested, crooked tooth head when you get up into the large case/large bore/heavy bullet/faster speed realm.

Not with 6.5mm or 7mm Bergers, you wouldn't loose jack on the offside, cause it won't exit, unless maybe the deer had spots.

OK..done a bit of loading with this Lapua. Getting into the 0.6's with 250 Sierra MK's and RL 22. Sometimes 5 shots in the same hole. 250 Sierra Supitzer's do just about as well. Funny thing is RL 22 and 250 Accumarks shoot 10" higher into 1.5" groups? Never have seen this extreme a spread between bullet styles but it's repeatable.

Sounds like you're having some good results. I ended up buying a .338 LRH a few weeks ago. Only got to shoot it once so far. I've been waiting for for nearly three weeks for my new scope to get here, so I haven't really done any load work yet. It burns me up when a business takes your order, then tells you things aren't in stock.
I'll be happy if I get 0.6 groups like you're getting.

More work with the Lapua

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5KW4UcWuYQ

Thank you for the great video!!

Recoil looks almost non-existant (atleast considering the round)

Honest to goodness it does very little violence to the shooter. Very easy to shoot. The Brake really works.

what velo's are you getting with the 250 sierra's ?

Cool, glad you are enjoying it. The barrel looks long enough, I couldn't imagine carrying a 34" barreled rifle in the field. Throw all the expansion ratios you want out there 34" of gun barrel=staying at home and another rifle going hunting. Keep us updated, I've enjoyed reading the thread. By the way the Finns pronounce it Loop-Ah. At least the ones I've been around but who cares, either way it means dead meat.