338 Lapua Brass

Bearing surface length is an important factor too, which is one of the reasons loads vary from maker to maker. German Salazar had an interesting article on brass for the .30-06 and it was surprising how much of a variance there is in case capacity from one manufacturer to another.
 
I just pressure tested for .338 Lapua the other day using Lapua Brass and 285 Hornady Match with H1000. Using SAAMI COAL I was able to get to the max, at 89.6 gr H1000 without any pressure signs. I was putting down 2750 fps consistently. I did not load past this because I expected I would have seen pressure signs well before. I did have a slightly tougher bolt lift after the very last round, but no signs on the brass.
 
I fly home in the morning and plan to head up to the range on Thursday with the chronograph this time. Just to clarify, not only were there no signs of pressure evident on the brass, bolt lift remains light and smooth.

Let's see what the velocities look like and go from there...

JR
 
longarm21 said:
I just pressure tested for .338 Lapua the other day using Lapua Brass and 285 Hornady Match with H1000. Using SAAMI COAL I was able to get to the max, at 89.6 gr H1000 without any pressure signs. I was putting down 2750 fps consistently. I did not load past this because I expected I would have seen pressure signs well before. I did have a slightly tougher bolt lift after the very last round, but no signs on the brass.
Click to expand...

In my Savage 110 FCP HS (26" barrel), I didn't reach 2750 fps with the 285 gr Hornady until 93.0 grs of H1000 at an OAL of 3.700".

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/foru...gnum-Loads-with-the-285-gr-Hornady-BTHP-Match
 
Alright, I went to the range with chrony yesterday. I did see some mild pressure starting at 94.4gr increasing slightly all the way up to 95gr. Note that pressure at 95gr consisted of a light plunger impression but bolt lift remained light. Results are below...

NOTE: This ladder test was shot with a single shot at each charge weight.

94.0 - 2812
94.2 - 2815
94.4 - 2822
94.6 - 2829
94.8 - 2835
95.0 - 2839

I don't think that I will continue to run this "hot". I'll probably move back to 92gr and work my way back up shooting for groups now. I do appreciate all of your comments and input! I'm very impressed with quick load and I think it's an excellent way to roughly predict a good place to safely start loading. Especially when loading a new cartridge for the first time.

JR
 
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