Does anybody have any experience with these? I've been loading 225 grain interlocks in my 338 RUM, and got a wild hair to try these. I read somewhere else where a guy was claiming 3600 fps with these. I've no experience with the x bullets either loading them, or shooting them, so this is definately an experiment.

Thanks

yeah i have a 338rum and would really like to hear how fast you could push them i use 225 interlocks to with 95gr h1000 what is your load billygoatgruff

I just took some to the range yesterday just too see if my RUM would shoot em. I didn't have time to clean my rifle but it only had about 30rds down the tube. Took it out with RL19 and 97gr and shot 3 shots. Group was MOA but I think it would do better with some tinkering. I don't know how fast but they were fast as I could see the hits before the recoil could bark enough to pull me off target. I am guessing in the 3800+ range. I am going to do some more testing as I would really like to use this for deer season. HAPPY HUNTING

hunter8mm,
My current load is 100 grains of Retumbo with Federal primers for 3150 fps. Speed seemed hard to believe, but the same day same chony clocked several other loads in what they "should" have been, so I believe it to be accurate.

ruger243223,
Thanks for the input. What's your rifle? How did the recoil compare to the heavier 225s and 250s?

Using the ballistic calculater on the Hornady website, if a guy can get 3600 out of that 160 grainer, with a 250 yard zero it's dead nuts hold out to 400. It'll be for mulies in a month or so, maybe a bear if I get time. I really wonder though if that bullet will hold together at speed. Only one way to find out I guess. The hodgdon manual shows H4350 giving good speed, and I got that on hand for the '06 and 243 so whenever they get here I'll be off to back yard.

I find 3800 hard to believe

3800 FPS is over the top except perhaps in the 30-378 Wby and thats a big maybe!!!!!

3400 FPS with a 160 gr. is more credible and thats a hot load in the .338 Win..

In other words, dream on dreamer! and wear a face mask~!

yeah atkinson 3800 fps is really hot but 3400 fps would be hell on deer

I believe he's talking about the .338 RUM, not the WM.

I've shot a few of the old "x" out of my .338WM. I seated them way out, and they proved very accurate. And they were hell on deer.

R.

Rman, what grain bullets were they? From what I understand the new tipped xbullets open up faster. I'm wondering if they'll hold together at the speeds I can get out of the UltraMag.

I have heard, and quick load peredicts 3250 or so from a 338 WIN MAG...So I think 3400 from a RUM is more realistic.

FWIW Hodgdon's manual lists 3473 fps with 94.5 grains of H4350. And that's only out of a 24" tube. It's been my experience that the loads I chrony are pretty darn close to right on with the velocities they list.

They were 160's. I leaned on them very, very hard, Around 3400 fps with an overdose of powder (in my rifle, YMMV). The ultra mag loading for the old X had a speed of around 3400 as well. I wouldn't want to shoot anything super close with them, and expect them to open, but get out a few hundred yards and they should be fine. If you want to try 'em, giv' 'er, but there are better choices, as I've learned. I would suspect, with some "overdosing" you could get close to 3300 fps with a 185 grainer from a RUM. I guess it would depend on what you are trying to do?

R.

Funny chronyed my 338RUM with 185s and was getting 3600 with no signs of visible pressure. I would hope that I could get 3700 with relative ease with the 160s. I am going to load some up and see just what the velocity is. I would think that a 338mag would get to 3500 easy enough but I don't have a win mag just a RUM so I will use that for my tests. HAPPY HUNTING

I'm just fiddling with the gun seeing how fast & flat I can get her. I'm happy as hell with the interlocks, I just got a wild hair to try these. Shots around here can be close, or looong, and if I can get the speed I want out of these and they hold together it'll make holdover a lot easier.

UPS man just brought them this afternoon, so tomorrow morning I'll be putting them on paper.

Here are a couple bullets I shot into milk jugs filled with water about about 30 yards. I shot them out of my 338 Tikka WM, loaded 70gr varget under them.

Velocity?

No chronograph but Im guessing around 3200-3300 fps on impact, anyone able to run quickload and give me a better guess?

I can do that When I get off shift

No ttsx in my version yet but a regalar barnes. Looks good!

Cartridge : .338 Win Mag.
Bullet : .338, 160, Barnes 'X' S 33878
Cartridge O.A.L. L6: 3.340 inch or 84.84 mm
Barrel Length : 24.0 inch or 609.6 mm
Powder : Hodgdon VARGET

Predicted data by increasing and decreasing the given charge,
incremented in steps of 3.0% of nominal charge.
CAUTION: Figures exceed maximum and minimum recommended loads !

Step Fill. Charge Vel. Energy Pmax Pmuz Prop.Burnt B_Time
% % Grains fps ft.lbs psi psi % ms

-30.0 68 49.00 2359 1977 29250 6624 87.9 1.345
-27.0 71 51.10 2445 2123 31549 6967 89.5 1.303
-24.0 74 53.20 2530 2274 34023 7304 91.0 1.263
-21.0 77 55.30 2615 2430 36679 7633 92.5 1.224
-18.0 80 57.40 2701 2591 39532 7953 93.8 1.187
-15.0 83 59.50 2786 2757 42597 8260 95.0 1.151
-12.0 86 61.60 2870 2927 45934 8553 96.1 1.117
-09.0 88 63.70 2955 3102 49581 8829 97.1 1.084
-06.0 91 65.80 3039 3281 53562 9086 97.9 1.052 ! Near Maximum !
-03.0 94 67.90 3123 3464 57911 9323 98.6 1.020 ! Near Maximum !
+00.0 97 70.00 3206 3652 62661 9536 99.2 0.990 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE!
+03.0 100 72.10 3289 3842 67856 9725 99.6 0.960 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE!
+06.0 103 74.20 3371 4036 73542 9887 99.9 0.931 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE!
+09.0 106 76.30 3452 4234 79775 10020 100.0 0.904 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE!
+12.0 109 78.40 3533 4434 86621 10129 100.0 0.876 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE!
+15.0 112 80.50 3612 4636 94156 10231 100.0 0.850 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE!

Results caused by � 10% powder lot-to-lot burning rate variation using nominal charge
Data for burning rate increased by 10% relative to nominal value:
+Ba 97 70.00 3323 3923 71604 9303 100.0 0.942 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE!
Data for burning rate decreased by 10% relative to nominal value:
-Ba 97 70.00 3048 3300 53960 9384 95.0 1.047 ! Near Maximum !

Weather didn't cooperate this weekend, so it'll be a week or so until I can get some results. Thanks for the info guys.

I wonder what I could do with those in my 338/378 Bee. HMMMMMM

Iraklion, thanks for the info. Results change much for a 26" tube? Also I have been thinking about trying Ramshot Hunter, can you run the numbers for that from 65 to 80 grains?

Cartridge : .338 Win Mag.
Bullet : .338, 160, Barnes 'X' S 33878
Cartridge O.A.L. L6: 3.340 inch or 84.84 mm
Barrel Length : 26.0 inch or 660.4 mm
Powder : Hodgdon VARGET

Predicted data by increasing and decreasing the given charge,
incremented in steps of 3.0% of nominal charge.
CAUTION: Figures exceed maximum and minimum recommended loads !

Step Fill. Charge Vel. Energy Pmax Pmuz Prop.Burnt B_Time
% % Grains fps ft.lbs psi psi % ms

-30.0 68 49.00 2411 2065 29249 6104 88.9 1.415
-27.0 71 51.10 2498 2217 31549 6413 90.4 1.371
-24.0 74 53.20 2584 2373 34023 6715 91.9 1.328
-21.0 77 55.30 2671 2534 36679 7008 93.3 1.287
-18.0 80 57.40 2757 2700 39531 7292 94.5 1.248
-15.0 83 59.50 2842 2870 42596 7562 95.7 1.210
-12.0 86 61.60 2928 3045 45934 7819 96.7 1.175
-09.0 88 63.70 3012 3224 49580 8059 97.6 1.140
-06.0 91 65.80 3097 3407 53562 8281 98.4 1.106 ! Near Maximum !
-03.0 94 67.90 3181 3594 57910 8483 99.0 1.073 ! Near Maximum !
+00.0 97 70.00 3264 3784 62660 8663 99.5 1.041 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE!
+03.0 100 72.10 3346 3978 67855 8820 99.8 1.010 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE!
+06.0 103 74.20 3428 4174 73541 8952 100.0 0.980 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE!
+09.0 106 76.30 3509 4374 79774 9058 100.0 0.952 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE!
+12.0 109 78.40 3589 4575 86620 9154 100.0 0.923 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE!
+15.0 112 80.50 3668 4779 94155 9244 100.0 0.896 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE!

Results caused by � 10% powder lot-to-lot burning rate variation using nominal charge
Data for burning rate increased by 10% relative to nominal value:
+Ba 97 70.00 3378 4053 71603 8415 100.0 0.991 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE!
Data for burning rate decreased by 10% relative to nominal value:
-Ba 97 70.00 3107 3430 53959 8580 95.6 1.101 ! Near Maximum !





















Cartridge : .338 Win Mag.
Bullet : .338, 160, Barnes 'X' S 33878
Cartridge O.A.L. L6: 3.340 inch or 84.84 mm
Barrel Length : 26.0 inch or 660.4 mm
Powder : Ramshot Hunter

Predicted data by increasing and decreasing the given charge,
incremented in steps of 3.0% of nominal charge.
CAUTION: Figures exceed maximum and minimum recommended loads !

Step Fill. Charge Vel. Energy Pmax Pmuz Prop.Burnt B_Time
% % Grains fps ft.lbs psi psi % ms

-30.0 69 53.20 2305 1888 24668 5962 80.0 1.471
-27.0 72 55.48 2388 2027 26490 6311 81.8 1.429
-24.0 75 57.76 2473 2173 28486 6662 83.7 1.388
-21.0 78 60.04 2558 2326 30675 7011 85.5 1.347
-18.0 81 62.32 2645 2486 33077 7356 87.3 1.308
-15.0 84 64.60 2733 2654 35714 7695 89.0 1.270
-12.0 87 66.88 2822 2829 38613 8026 90.6 1.232
-09.0 90 69.16 2911 3011 41803 8345 92.1 1.195
-06.0 93 71.44 3002 3201 45318 8649 93.6 1.159
-03.0 96 73.72 3093 3398 49194 8936 94.9 1.124
+00.0 99 76.00 3184 3602 53489 9203 96.1 1.090 ! Near Maximum !
+03.0 102 78.28 3276 3813 58244 9447 97.1 1.056 ! Near Maximum !
+06.0 105 80.56 3368 4030 63528 9665 98.0 1.023 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE!
+09.0 108 82.84 3460 4254 69415 9854 98.8 0.991 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE!
+12.0 111 85.12 3553 4484 75994 10011 99.3 0.959 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE!
+15.0 114 87.40 3645 4720 83373 10134 99.7 0.931 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE!

Results caused by � 10% powder lot-to-lot burning rate variation using nominal charge
Data for burning rate increased by 10% relative to nominal value:
+Ba 99 76.00 3348 3981 63440 9237 99.6 1.030 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE!
Data for burning rate decreased by 10% relative to nominal value:
-Ba 99 76.00 2979 3152 44767 8713 88.7 1.180

Thanks for the info. Looks like there is little gain by going to Hunter over varget. I noticed that I am close to DANGEROUS according to quickload. I suppose considering the 10% adjustment it isnt quite so dangerous. I have noticed flattened primers but nothing else to indicate dangerous pressures. I will have to reload brass a few times to see how long it takes for primers to get loose.

The blasted wind finally died down enough I could get out and shoot. I just shot 5 rounds I loaded up a few days ago, and I'm encouraged. 92 grains of H4350, Federal 215 primers, once fired brass, and an OAL of 3.6 gave me a 3/4" group at 100 yards. (discounting 2 called flyers). No signs of excessive pressure.

I'm going to load up some more at 93, 93.5, and 94 grains and se how they do this weekend. I've know idea of velocity, but once I settle on a load I'll borrow my buddies chrony and see how fast they're moving along.

Well the light bullet experiment is on hold for me. I got what I thought was a sweet load, 93 grains H4350 at 3485 fps. At 100 yds it shot fine, but at 200 I was all over the paper. Doubtless fault lies with me, but it's getting too close to deer season to keep fiddlin, I'll fall back on my previous load with 225 grain Interlocks. Those Barnes ain't cheap bullets to keep flinging downrange either. I don't know if I'll give up them, but I've got a few left to try on coyotes this winter.

I tried the light for caliber 180 gr, Monolithic bullets in my 300 H&H and in my .338 and I didn't get as much penetration as everyone told me I would..I had two of them stop in the grass filled stomach of a buck deer and another went into the shoulder of an elk and out the top of his shoulder blade..A second shot behind the shoulder killed him but he made some tracks before expiring..I had a coyote run 2 miles when a 160 gr. failed to open, found him the next day by accident..

I went back to the 210 Nosler at 3005 FPS and 300 gr. Woodleighs at 2509 FPS..they just work under all conditions..

Care to share your loads?

How would that bullet work in a 338 Federal ?