338 Lapua Magnum

Disagree. Berger's calculator gives SG 1.52 with the 285 bullet parameters, 12-twist, 2700 fps, altitude 4000 feet, temp 59 degrees.

If he's at sea level and it's cold, he may have marginal stability, but I've shot bullets with marginal stability and they performed fine. My 12 twist 375 barrel had basically this same SG for the 390 a-tip and it shot lights out.

So it may be worth a try.
 
Last edited:
Disagree. Berger's calculator gives SG 1.52 with the 285 bullet parameters, 12-twist, 2700 fps, altitude 4000 feet, temp 59 degrees.

If he's at sea level and it's cold, he may have marginal stability, but I've shot bullets with marginal stability and they performed fine. My 12 twist 375 barrel had basically this same SG for the 390 a-tip and it shot lights out.

So it may be worth a try.
Except he said that his rifle didn’t like the 285 bullet. Whether that’s from testing or some other opinion is what matters.
 
Disagree. Berger's calculator gives SG 1.52 with the 285 bullet parameters, 12-twist, 2700 fps, altitude 4000 feet, temp 59 degrees.

If he's at sea level and it's cold, he may have marginal stability, but I've shot bullets with marginal stability and they performed fine.

So it may be worth a try.
Take a couple zeros off that altitude and that's right where I'm at.

We shot some of the factory hornady 285 stuff and the rifle didn't care for it. How it would do with handloads, only one way to find out. My brother only bought 100 of the bergers to try so he'll be out of them pretty quick. I might get a box of the 285 eldm for him to try.

When he bought the rifle he bought a case of the prime 300gr ammo. We must be on the ragged edge for marginal stability for that one. We've shot it some days and it'll shoot ¾ moa. Other days it's 3 moa. Still made round holes at 300 yards though. Maybe we should give the 285 a try.

It loves a 250 smk. Cheap s&b loaded with them was one ragged hole at 100. At $2 a shot, he should have cleaned the lgs out on that stuff.
 
  1. Anneal
  2. Size
  3. Neck stuff
  4. Profit

Thank you. I have another question. Going to finally reveal my true novice status with this one, but isn’t it already sized after I deprime them? I’ve got both the Redding s type neck sizer and full length sizer - been using only the full length sizer lately. But it sizes them when I deprime right? I can run back through though.
 
Thank you. I have another question. Going to finally reveal my true novice status with this one, but isn’t it already sized after I deprime them? I’ve got both the Redding s type neck sizer and full length sizer - been using only the full length sizer lately. But it sizes them when I deprime right? I can run back through though.
To answer your question, yes. Anneal first, then size/deprime.
 
Not at all; it’s mostly a personal preference. If you deprime at the start, and then tumble, you get clean primer pockets depending on how you tumble. If you’re doing dry media vibratory tumbling, then you’re just going to get a bunch of media in the primer pockets. So in that case it makes more sense to:
  1. Tumble
  2. Anneal
  3. FL Size/Deprime
  4. Neck stuff (Mandrel/Trim/Chamfer/Debur)
 
Hello 338 LM reloading God's. I have another question for you.

I just trimmed up some brass. It was my first time doing so and was learning on the fly and could use some advice. First I'm wondering just how critical it is that every piece of brass is the exact same length for optimized accuracy. The application here would be in the scope of an ELR match. I can see how not having uniform brass length can give you non-uniform neck tension, but just how much does 1 thousandth of an inch make a difference.

I'm working with 30 pieces here, and have them trimmed to the folloowing lengths and quantities:

2.713 - 1x
2.715 - 1x
2.716 - 1x
2.7175 - 3x
2.718 - 3x
2.7185 - 1x
2.719 - 16x
2.7195 - 2x
2.72 - 1x
2.7205 - 1x

Question is what should I do here. Are these differences going to give me wild group sizes?


Also - thank you Dogtown for all of your help. I owe you at least a few edible arrangements at this point.
 
I’m no god like dogtown, just a minor acolyte, but I agree with him. If your trimmer is capable of holding tighter, make them all like the lower 2.717 size, but they really aren’t that far apart. The only two real outliers are on the low side, the 2.713 and 2.715.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CEO10KaDAY

 
Hello everyone, I was just sizing some brass and started noticing these marks along the neck of my brass. I am using die wax for the body and dipping neck in graphite before sizing. This is all annealed brass also. Just wondering what's up? I cleaned the bushing that I'm using inside the die but now I'm not certain if these are damaged or not. They're maybe on their 10th firing so maybe it's an older case problem and is ready for the trash can, but I've never seen this before and would greatly appreciate some advice here.

Is that safe to load?

338 brass.jpg
 
I have had good luck with Nosler brass.
So have I. I think they may even be made by Lapua. But unless cost or availability are an issue, I stick with Lapua.

I even select cartridges based on the availability of Lapua brass. My first new cartridge in years is 7 PRC, and I'm banking on Lapua coming around to it as they did other PRC cases. I started with Hornady 7 PRC brass, figuring I will use them for load development. Any load they tolerate near max should be an easy change to Lapua when (if) it comes out.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Didodadday
I was able to get 300 .338 BB something head stamp brass that was made by Lapua on a contract overrun for $100 per 100 a few years back. Great brass once in a lifetime deal. I had some Norma .338 that was ok but was better then Hornady brass.
 
The manufacturer “minimum twist” specs are conservative, worst case scenario #s. You can usually go a full whole # higher (or two) and be fine unless you’re shooting them at low velocity, low altitude, and low temps.
 
With all things being equal, can the average shooter tell the difference between different types of powder? I have Retumbo, H1000 and Supreme 780. I loaded 30 bullets (10 ea of the different powder). Not sure what to look for or what distances to test them.

Or will they all do the job equally?
 
I've been using H1000 with 285ELD-M in my Lapua. (2960 out of 30" barrel) I've got a bunch of H1000 since I use it in multiple cartridges.
RL33 and Retumbo have been difficult to find/locate.
I was at a gun show and bought 8 lbs of WMR 780. Supposed to be replacement for Winchester Supreme 780. We shall see how good it is. Price was $240.