Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting Hornady 338/285 HPBT

Anyone given the Hornady 285 grain HPBT a go in any of their 33's?

BC of .700 is what I read, could be a fun one to give a work out.

Thx
Dober

I never got the point of that bullet, from the viewpoint of the marketplace. I totally understand it from Hornady's perspective. They didn't have a bullet for PSR and wanted on that could perform with consistency for PSR.

Why go with a 285/.700 when I can have a 300/.765 or a 300/.818, though? I can't get enough velocity advantage with a .285 to overcome the BC of the other pills.

I've had such good performance out of the 300 Scenar and 300 Berger that the 285 Hornady never did anything for me (I love Hornady, by the way).

Retumbo and a 300gr Scenar or Berger in Lapua brass is the answer for the .338 Lapua or similar cartridges at the moment. At least as far as what we can practically obtain. If you're looking at a smaller .33 case, I'd look at a 250gr to get a bit more velocity.

Thx-Greentimber

Did you get a chance to shoot the 285 Horn?

This would be out of a .340

Dober

I started with the 300 SMK in my 338 Lapua and never looked by. My rifle shooting in the .2 MOA range with 92 grains of H-1000 in Lapua cases lit by F-215m primers

Mark,
I have shot the Hornady 285gr in my .338 Lapua.
I dont have my notes in front of me , going by memory I was running 94gr of H1000 for a muzzle velocity of 2800fps in a 26" barrel. I have shot them to 1000yds on rocks, steel... havent poked any critters with it them yet tho.
They shoot great and match the JBM ballistic charts perfectly,no problem hitting basketball size rocks at 1000yds and the impacts are substantial!
At 100yds I would get 1/2 to 3/4 groups, the combo could probably do better, I dont have a muzzle break and have to hang onto the gun pretty tight and its a little above my recoil threshold.

Thx-what kind of weight is your gun? I'm on my 3rd .340 barrel and the rig generally weighs in the 8.5 lb range all scoped and ready to go. It's magnaported but no brake for this pup.

Dober

Mark,
My 338 lapua is built on a 1917 Enfield with a number 5A contour barrel with a laminate stock and weights a total of 12.75 pounds.

who did the metal work?

Dober

Mark,
Dave at I.T.&D fitted, chambered and contoured an Adams&Bennett barrel.
Dennis Olsen did the feed-rail work.
I did the rest.
The Enfield action was given to me and I wanted to build a large caliber gun, I already have a 458win and a 9.3x62 so the short range large bores were covered and I have gotten into long range the past few years so I decided what the heck A low budget Lapua would be fun.
I didnt want to spend a fortune because I am leaning towards smaller calibers these days and wasn't sure how much I would like it.
I seem to be more accurate with 243's, 6.5-06... and they are more fun to shoot, must be getting old! ha ha.
Anyhow the Lapua has been a total success and very fun to shoot.
I just moved back to Montana and my goal is to take an elk with it, when I do I will report the results.
I would also like to bring it to ice-breakers and do some long range shooting with Pat and the gang, do you attend?

I did not. As I mentioned, I never saw any need after such success with thousands of 300 Scenars and a smaller, but not small number of berger VLDs.

I'm all for experimentation and will look forward to your results if you try them.

If I do I'll keep you in the loop. I'm just curious. The 300 SMK's shot really well for me in my last .340 barrel.

Dober

my son just got his rifle back this fall after rebarreling to a
338x378. 30" 9 twist benchmark on a 3 lug 995 saco action.
the gun weighs just under 17# less scope and does have a break.
bruce baer did the work.
at 100 yds both the 300 smk and the hornady 285 print in almost exactly the same place over 106 gr retumbo and 215s.
at 1500 yds the elevation difference was slightly in favor of the hornady in that gun. as yet he has not tried any other bullets. accuracy appeard to be about equal on rocks at that distance.
that load is a tad hot for the 300smks in that gun also. occaisionally the bolt lift was a little stiff.
fact is though the 285 hornady did hang in there with the smk
at some very impressive distance.

Only advantages I can see for the Horny is IF it will stabilize in a 12 twist and they have to be cheaper!!

Honesty, I'm just seeing it as an option to give a go is all. I still kind of enjoy testing bullets to see how this and that works a bit.

Dober

Mark,
If I remember right I read over on longrangehunting.com that the 285's didn't perform that great on game. Apparently it is a revamped design as of around 4 or 5 years ago and those who had shot both were happier with the terminal performance of the older style.

I had eyeballed that bullet myself but have not tried it in my 338 RUM. It really likes 225 gr AB's and they fit my ballistic reticle right on out to 600 yds so it's hard to want to make a switch.

I shoot the 250 Hornady BTHP and H1000 in a Savage 110 FCPHS,,mild load at 2850 fps but tracks well and making hits at 1525 is possible,,milk jugs at 1000 is more fun than should be allowed with your clothes on,,