Who is loading for the 338 Ultra Mag or Edge?

Why not? said:
Thanks for all your responses, guys.

I am considering one for hunting woods bison at long range. They have become very, very, spooky, and often stand there 5-600 yd away. They are very tough animals, weighing well over a ton, and that is a lot farther than I am comfortable using a 375 H&H or 358 Norma Mag.

Sounds to me like it would take a lot of work and punishment to get good enough with one of those rifles to take advantage of the 3000 fps and better trajectory.

I'll just continue to be patient and stalk closer. :)

Ted
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Hi Ted. With any luck on draws, hopefully I'll one day get the opportunity to hunt the same. My intent is for a stalk to keep the range at a more manageable distance that I can confidently handle.

Bit of a side issue and not intending to hijack your thread, my choice of firearm and caliber will be that very fine Husqvarna in 358 Norma Magnum you sold me:D. If I go with some of the more conventional 250gr bullets available, the Norma Gunbugs Guide and Hornady manuals indicate I should be able to obtain 2800 f/sec. Recently on the Barnes bullet buy through Omineca Sports, I picked up some Barnes TSX 225gr and anticipate or hope to work up a load, close to 3000 f/sec. Thanks again for the deal:).
 
X-fan said:
Pressure might not seem like its there, but it is....In spades!:eek:
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Max book load for this weight bullet is 101grs. of Retumbo. I mike my cases to check for head expansion which is at .0007. Primers pockets are still tight after 3 reloads. There is no visible brass flow into the ejector plunger hole. The bolt lifts without difficulty. Most of the reading i have done says its not uncommon to get 25-50 fps extra velocity per inch of extra barrel length. Its possible my Crony is not accurate or its a combination of both. I have thought about reducing the powder charge but the gun shoots sub moa with this load.
 
More important than the amount of powder is the velocity.
Hodgdon says 2964fps at 64,000PSI.
Pressure and velocity are directly related so I wounder what pressure 3150fps creates?

Case measuring has long been acknowledged to be an extremely unreliable method of determining pressure. I have seen this before where the case refuses to show pressure, but it is still there.

My buddy once called Hornady with a situation similar to this. The technician got my buddies attention by telling him he was a dead man walking. The question he said was not if, but when something would blow from the extreme pressure...And when it did my buddy was a dead man....

The highest velocity with the same bullet and powder in the 338/378 is 3072fps...We can and do stretch this a bit, but this should tell you something is up.
If you don't believe me call Nosler or Hodgdon.
 
Buth Hodgdon was using a 24" barrell, and the above noted fella had a 28" barrel right? That would make a huge difference in velocity. Some guns can just take more pressure than others too.
 
I'm with saskcop, you're talking 4 extra inches of barrel and a load that is under max from Hodgdon. I think that he's still safe.

I worked with a guy that asked me to look at his 300 RUM cases to see if, maybe, his load was too hot. 3 distinct sets of plunger marks on the headstamp. Straining with an over max load to try to get a 200gr TSX to 300 FPS. Oddly enough, he didn't want to hear that he was in danger country. Only a matter of time until something goes wrong.
 
Dude can do what he wants, but the 338/378 data came from a 26inch barrel.

I would not run my 338Edge that hot.
I have two 338 Edge rifles one with a 26 inch barrel and the other with a 28....What velocity difference?
40 feet per second is as what I see.

Like I said don't take my word for it phone Hodgodon or Nosler.
 
X-fan said:
More important than the amount of powder is the velocity.
Hodgdon says 2964fps at 64,000PSI.
Pressure and velocity are directly related so I wounder what pressure 3150fps creates?

Case measuring has long been acknowledged to be an extremely unreliable method of determining pressure. I have seen this before where the case refuses to show pressure, but it is still there.

My buddy once called Hornady with a situation similar to this. The technician got my buddies attention by telling him he was a dead man walking. The question he said was not if, but when something would blow from the extreme pressure...And when it did my buddy was a dead man....

The highest velocity with the same bullet and powder in the 338/378 is 3072fps...We can and do stretch this a bit, but this should tell you something is up.
If you don't believe me call Nosler or Hodgdon.
Click to expand...

Dont you ever get tired of yourself? lol
 
Bottom line here is that no two rifles will get the same results in velocity and/or pressure - even if the rifles are identical. I have seen this with a number of calibers including .223, .308 and .338. That is why we always say to work up the load for the particular rifle.
 
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