Accuracy of 338 Lapua Mag. in close range!?

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hotguns

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I just bought A new 338 LM and I just wondered what will be the accuracy of the gun in close range !? ( inside 200 yards )

A lot of people told me that it took times to the bullet to stabilised himself and this caliber won't give great accuracy at close range.

Does somebody know a bit about that !?

Of course it's a riggs for long range and I plan to shoot at far distance but I still whant to know what I can do with my gun regardless the distance.

Thanks everybody !
 
It all depends on the bullet that you are shooting and the spin in your barrel (twist). For instance a 7 STW shooting a 140 will sometimes explode,evaporate what ever you want to say, when shot to fast. That is because it is overstabalized (spun way to fast). Most VLD or boat tail bullets stabalize slower than flat base ones. In benchrest comp. most bullets are flat base bullets for 100,200 and 300 yard comp. And boat tail for long range. The flat base "go to sleep" sooner than the boat tails. That is one reason why BRs shoot them. At 100 yards you should not notice to much unless you are doing 3800fps but if you want to find out shoot at 200 yards. If your groups dont appear to be any different than 100 yards you know your bullet is going to sleep. Glen Newick explains some on this subject in his book "The Ultimate in Rifle Accuracy." Check it out it a good read. :D
 
At 100m

I get 1 big hole..... Last time i went to the range with a buddy, i shot then he shot and cut my hole in half...... .338LAI..

BUT to get accuracy back in the cold weather, I upped my charge by 4 grains to get .5inch groups at 300m my summer load opened up significantly with the temperature....
 
It depends on the gun and the load.
I get good short range groups out of mine.

Last year in a sniper match at 200 yards, we shot 2 shots every 5 minutes as it was going dark. After a total of 14 shots and getting very dark, my entire group was still under an inch!
 
Loads tuned to shoot at 1k yards may not group as well as those tuned at 100 yards, but my groups are still very much one small hole that is difficult for a non benchrester to measure....I'd say 1/4 inch or better (when I do my job right)....Not PPC accuracy but you wouldn't want to be a fly on my target!

I tend to be lazy and easily distracted at 100yds...This doesn't help matters.
Making a smaller hole doesn't do it for me.
 
Kevan

Kevan said:
338 Lapua AI...300 yds-- 3rds. cutting each other.
300 gr SMK over 110 gr US 869...:)
Click to expand...

And I thought my 300 Win Mag ate up a pound of powder fast! Zowie, the powder sellers must celebrate when they see you coming to the store.
 
TRG-42 at 100 yard is little bit under 1in. BUT i found it more accurate around 250yard, i was wondering if i was normal, now i know... The group at 250 was beter than 100 yard ones I was shooting factory Black-Hills 250gr.

Sendero
 
Standart groups are around 1" at 200y but stay easely within 2" up to 500y, best group so far is 1.85" at 850y

Before having my .338LM I talk to one of our military sniper who use the .338LM Timberwolf and he told me not to expect great accuracy at close range with the .338LM and that the magic would start pass 500y, so far I have to agree with him :)
 
I don't know much about physics, so can someone explain why a bullet that is "accurate" at 1000yds would not be accurate at 100yds? If it is 10 MOA at 1000yds, it had to be 1 MOA at 100 yds. I do understand the relationship that velocity has on "wind drift" and "drop" ...just having difficulty trying to rationalize why something that gives a good group at 1000yds would not give like results at 100yds?
 
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Personally, I have not seen this situation where close range groups were worse then LR groups - as measured by MOA.

I have seen alot of the other way around!

My suspicion is that it has more to do with the optics then the rifle...

Bullets don't steer.

I feel that optical defects like parallax come into play at short range where as the scope becomes in focus when looking far.

I always do my load testing at 200yds or 300m. Gets rid of any optical questions and far enough that any issues with the load will be abundantly clear. Stringing can sometimes be masked at close range but will show up further away.

I have had loads shooting consistent 1/2 min groups at 100yds not stay on a piece of paper at 500yds due to stringing.

From what I have seen with unstable bullets, things go wrong real fast - well within 70yds and as close as 20yds. They don't even hit a very large target at 100yds.

YMMV.

Jerry
 
mysticplayer said:
Personally, I have not seen this situation where close range groups were worse then LR groups - as measured by MOA.

I have seen alot of the other way around!

My suspicion is that it has more to do with the optics then the rifle...

Bullets don't steer.

I feel that optical defects like parallax come into play at short range where as the scope becomes in focus when looking far...................


YMMV.

Jerry
Click to expand...

Well said.

This might just be a personal observation, but I have found it difficult to attain the perfectly aligned aiming point required to shoot a 100 yard bug hole.
I have found that I shoot consistently smaller 100 yard groups at 30 power than I do at 20.

Oddly enough I shoot just fine at 15 power at 350yards (my test range)?

Could be my eyes or maybe the crosshairs relationship to the target shape and size?
 
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