.338 Lapua Mag loading questions

22Charlie

22Charlie

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Black Diamond, Alberta
I have recently picked up a savage 110 BA in .338 LM. It has been absolute hell trying to get components so I can get shooting! The rifle came with four boxes of Hornady 285 grn HPBT. Ideally I'd like to use H1000 or Retumbo but I can't track down the powder. I do have 3lbs of IMR 4831 but I can't find any reloading data for how many grains to use with the 285s I'd like to be in the 2,700 fps range does anybody have any loads with this powder and bullet combo they'd like to share?

Cheers,

Andrew
 
4831 is a little too fast for a 285. Hornady #9 lists min 75.7gr and max charge of 90.9gr of 4831 for a 250gr and nothing for the 285gr.
Hodgdon site lists IMR4831 73-77.3gr for 275gr and 68-76gr for 300gr pills.

Dan Newberry site lists 94gr of Retumbo as OCW for the Hornady 285gr and also claims it is a factory duplicate.

The only loads I've done with the Hornady 285's are with Reloader-22 and found that 84gr gave me 1.5" group at 200yds.
I've decided to load only 300gr Berger's till I find my load with them. I have a couple loads with 300SMK's that do 1/2moa in my rifle but the Berger's are easier to find these days.

data.hodgdon.com/main_menu.asp

Good luck
 
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Welcome to the club! From my understanding after hours of online reasearch, Savage rifles dislike Hornady ammo with a passion. The 110ba seems to like heavier 300gn bullets and they are as scarce as rocking horse poo right now. H1000 is usually available at Wholesale Sports and the Lethbridge store I find is usually well stocked. Try Alberta Tactical Rifles, Rick is the .338 guru Im told.
 
Hey thanks. I live in Lethbridge and they have squat for pretty much any kind of powder. I called higginsons in Ontario, the only powder that may work is US 869. They are completely cleaned out also! I will call ATR and see what I can dig up.

Cheers
 
I use h4831sc with my barnes 265 LRX bullets and it shoots great with it, but is have to check the burn chart on where that lies in comparison with IMR 4831. I do know that they are not interchangeable though. So with the lighter bullets you can see if you can get your hands on some of the H4831sc.

I just loaded up some Berger 300gn OTM's with reloaded 25 to see if I can find a load with that powder combo. Never used Reloader25 before so we will see if it works. If not its back to H1000 I go.

*edit*
I just checked the burn rate chart in my Sierra reloading book and IMR 4831 is listed two faster than H4831. I should also note that I'm shooting the 110BA as well.

IMGP0898.jpg
 
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Thanks 22Charlie. Try and get your hands on some 300gn pills and h1000, you will be pleased with the results. I will post some group info when I test the 300gn Berger OTM's that I have loaded up.
 
personal_aviator said:
Thanks 22Charlie. Try and get your hands on some 300gn pills and h1000, you will be pleased with the results. I will post some group info when I test the 300gn Berger OTM's that I have loaded up.
Click to expand...

Wow, seriously nice work! Hopefully you can achieve better results than I did with the Bergers and H1000. I couldnt get a decent group to save my life.

What loads are you planning to start with? Im going to pick up 300gn Scenars and give those a whirl.

Cheers.
 
stralia said:
Wow, seriously nice work! Hopefully you can achieve better results than I did with the Bergers and H1000. I couldnt get a decent group to save my life.

What loads are you planning to start with? Im going to pick up 300gn Scenars and give those a whirl.

Cheers.
Click to expand...

Thanks stralia. I'm starting at 78.5 with the Reloader 25 and going in .5gn increments up to 81.0 for now. I only have 20 cases that are primed and ready to shoot. I have lots more brass but they have all been fired and I like to keep track of how many firings they all have on them. If I prep some to take me up to 82.7 as per the max from berger's data then it will probably screw up my tracking of my brass. So i'll fire these 20 then prep the whole 50 and load the rest up to 82.7. I am thinking I may take it past 82.7 depending on what I see for pressure signs. I started another thread here about the bergers and one person said they went up to 92gn of H1000 before they saw pressure signs. See here: http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?888481-300gn-Berger-OTM-338-Lapua Actually I see now that you posted in that thread so you know what I know :)

I still have some 250gn GMK's that I gave up on a while back. I'm thinking I'm going to give those another whril with the H4831sc as well. I couldn't get them to work with Retumbo, H1000, or US869 but that was back when I first got the rifle and I was still learning. I think the powders were just too slow for that light (reletive) a bullet.
 
I will confirm on the Hornady brass, Virgin brass worked great, first reload with neck tension only... Stuck cases in chamber
3rd reload with fl body sizing, very stiff bolt. At least I got the bolt released. I'm going to switch to Lapua brass.
I can't concentrate on shooting when my mind is on the extraction of the brass, very annoying.
 
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