forgive my newbiness. .338 Lapua?

S

sAdam

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hi all.

just got my freshly minted PAL

was looking at i think a one of these:

http://www.snipercountrypx.com/pc-4514-833-remington-700p-338-lapua.aspx

at wholesale sports in langley
a .338 lapua remington 700P

i am interested in a long range precision rifle that could be used for hunting if the oportunity presented iself.

does resonably priced .338 lappua ammo exist? reasonable to me is circa $2.00/round.
I have no intention of reloading. i have neither the time nor the trust in my own workmanship :D

Am i just being retarded in even considering this caliber?
any alternatives you guys can suggest?
 
Reloading will keep the cost down. 338 Lapua rifles are to heavy for hunting, Just to much to carry
 
OP, have you ever fired a centerfire rifle yet? Familiar with recoil? While a .338LM may eventually be a good rifle for you, it is not the place to start. Begin with a .22LR for lots of cheap trigger time to perfect your technique without dealing with recoil or muzzle blast. Don't scoff at rimfire, it can be tremendously accurate and shooting .22LR at 200yds is a challenge for anyone.

Once you have some experience, then you can make a more educated choice for your next rifle. You don't say where you are located, if it is around Calgary you are welcome to come to my range as my guest and try a range of rifles, from rimfire up to .338 Win Mag and see what you think of all of them.

Mark
 
I agree with the above posters, unless your OK with mass amounts of recoil and very expensive bullets then I would go with a .223 or .22LR. Most people have to start out with rifles with less recoil and work their way up otherwise they develop flinches that are detrimental to accuracy.
 
If you absolutely must have something powerful for your first "sniper" rifle, go for a rifle in the 308-30'06 range.. Ammo is a buck a shot instead of 5 bucks a round, the rifle weighs nearly half as much and it's still got lots of bang and kick. They are great for hunting and a good rifle and scope will be effective farther than the human can usually hit the target.

There's a huge amount to learn about shooting and doing it with 5 cent to 1 dollar per shot ammo is amazing compared to being frustrated a $5 at a time.

One more thing.. it doesn't have to be a .338 lapua to be a great long distance rifle unless you are more about showing off the rifle than shooting it. Any of the 7mm to .338 Winchester, Remington/RUM, Weatherby, etc magnum rifles will throw a huge heavy bullet, very far and very fast. The terminal effects of these guns is unreal on reactive targets. A guy at our range loads 125 gr Nosler BT bullets to 4200 ft/sec with his 300 RUM and uses it on ground hogs and crows.
I've never seen it but I think it makes mist and looks like a black pillow exploded.
 
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thanks for the quick responses.
i should have said that i have shot some big guns before, but never repeatedly from the bench which i know is a different story.

the reason for the large caliber is that the hunters i know are usually after those moose type things. kinda wanted a 'do it all' precision rifle.

u know, powerful, cheap, accurate, light enough to carry for a bit in the bush.
what? am i asking too much :rolleyes:

deff gotta check out those RUMs and other calibers with advantageous ballistics
 
My grandpa used to use either a 30-30 or a .270 win for moose. You should kill it as ethically as possible, but they are not bullet proof.

Not that I am suggesting it as your first rifle, but look into the 300 win mag. It's very powerful, chambered in all kinds of different rifles and you can buy ammo at Walmart it's so common.

I have a few rifles, but two for hunting. I have an open sighted 45-70 lever gun for thick hunting and as a camp gun, etc and a Tikka t3 lite in 6.5x55 Swede. I wanted a light rifle, so I didn't want to go with a huge cartridge and the ballistics and history of the 6.5 round impressed me enough to buy one. Now that I have had it for a while, it's a very accurate rifle with enough killing power on big game and I am very happy with it. It's a very popular moose rifle in Norway/Finland/Sweden where the rifle and cartridge are from.

Biggest part of it is that I actually like shooting this rifle. It's pleasant and rewarding. I've known hunters that are a little scared of their rifles and shoot it as little as possible because of the recoil.
 
sAdam said:
thanks for the quick responses.
i should have said that i have shot some big guns before, but never repeatedly from the bench which i know is a different story.

the reason for the large caliber is that the hunters i know are usually after those moose type things. kinda wanted a 'do it all' precision rifle.

u know, powerful, cheap, accurate, light enough to carry for a bit in the bush.
what? am i asking too much :rolleyes:

deff gotta check out those RUMs and other calibers with advantageous ballistics
Click to expand...


My primary hunting rifle is a Savage 99C lever action in .308. I use factory 165 gain loads.

Last fall I dropped a moose with a spine shot at around 200 yards. The previous fall I harvested an antlerless elk with a double lung shot at 500 yards.

You don't need a cannon to make a kill, you need to be accurate and you need to know your rifle very well. Both accuracy and comfort with your firearm of choice come from spending time shooting. I spend a lot of time at the range and probably shoot a couple hundred rounds every summer/fall through my hunting rifle. This way when season opens, I get no surprises and I'm so comfy with, and used to, my hunting rifle that I can shoot accurately up to 500 yards without worry.
 
sAdam said:
hi all.

just got my freshly minted PAL

was looking at i think a one of these:

http://www.snipercountrypx.com/pc-4514-833-remington-700p-338-lapua.aspx


i am interested in a long range precision rifle that could be used for hunting if the oportunity presented iself.

does resonably priced .338 lappua ammo exist? reasonable to me is circa $2.00/round.
I have no intention of reloading. i have neither the time nor the trust in my own workmanship :D

Am i just being retarded in even considering this caliber?
any alternatives you guys can suggest?
Click to expand...


338 Lapua is NOT cheap to shoot, if you wnt cheap find yourself another caliber likw 308.
Long distance shooting and even more so long range hunting are NOT something you do with factory ammo! To get the most precision from any rifle handloading IS a prerequisite. Loading ammo for long range hunting has its own issues that no factory ammo will deal with.
 
if you want a 338 buy it but is expensive to shoot i plan on buying one or building one when i sell a few toys but it is like 120$ a box for shells or some wheres close to that
 
I want a .338 Lapua as well, but i do not plan on getting it as my first rifle. Much much too expensive for my income at the moment.... which is not a lot. I am thinking of starting off with a Savage Edge .308 before i think about upgrading to the R700P .338, by the time i get enough experience i will have great fundamentals to be able to start shooting the high caliber of .338 :) But i wish you luck in whatever your decision.
 
Don't even think about a magnum anything for your first rifle. The felt recoil will put you off shooting. You don't need a magnum for any game in North America anyway.
"...a 'do it all' precision rifle...cheap..." That'd be a .308. .338 Lapua ammo starts at $6.75 per shot. http://www.hirschprecision.com/
 
A target rifle is going to be to heavy to lug around hunting, I tried it one year with a .308 Win Stealth..it sucked. A hunting rifle is not the best if plan on mostly punching paper. I buy a cheaper .308 and .223 and you can do both with very accurate long range rounds.

Cheers!!
 
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