Rem. 700P 338 Lapua seating bullets into rifling

[Helder22]

I received my 700P the other day and proceded to try and load some cartridges I had made using Lapua brass and 250gr scenars seated to a COAL of 3.681" . IIRC this is the factory COAL for lapua cartridges with this bullet as well.
However I found the bolt extremely hard to close and when I removed the cartridge there were rifling marks of about .030 or .040 on the bullet. This worried me so I reseated my ammo shorter about 30 or 40 thou until the bullets were no longer seated in the rifling and shot a few without problems.

Then today I called Remington and they told me that seating the bullet right into the lands like that was perfectly OK. To me that sounds like a recipe for extremely high pressures.

Have any of you other PSS 338 Lapua Mag owners encountered the same situation as I have? Have you shot your ammo with the bullets 30 or 40 thou into the lands like that without incident?

Helder

 

[articman]

Re: Rem. 700P 338 Lapua seating bullets into rifling

I just got done loading some barns 285 grn tsx and i put the bullets out as far as

the mag will allow.If you take a fired case and a new bullet mark the new bullet with a black marker deform the case slightly so the bullet fits sung. start to seat the bullet in the case. chamber the round close the bolt remove slowly sometimes the bullet and case will come out together sometimes the bullet will stay in and you will need to tap the butt of the rifle to drop the bullet out reinstall the bullet in the case to where the marker was removed this is your chamber length for that bullet. If you switch bullets , brand or weight i recommend do the same over again. you are correct the pressure will increase so you do not want to start with a max load but work your load up your accuracy should improve as the bullet will not have to jump to the rifling.

 

[Helder22]

Re: Rem. 700P 338 Lapua seating bullets into rifli

Thanks Articman,
I've already done that and the result was that that length was shorter than factory ammo. Basically factory ammo will seat about 30 thou into the rifling and it's hard as hell to close the bolt. So I can't shoot factory ammo in this rifle? Or is it ok in spite of the fact that the bullets are being jammed 30 thou into the lands?

Helder

 

[71firebird400]

Re: Rem. 700P 338 Lapua seating bullets into rifli

Helder,

I just measured some Lapua 250gr Scenar factory ammo I have lying around and the OAL is 3.600" (+/- .005"). I also tried chambering a round in my unfired 700P and it has no difficulty and does not show any signs of rifling on the bullet. My Sierra reloading manual does show 3.680" as the max COAL for the 250gr SMK's. I would load shorter, from what I've read these 338 700P's have a shorter throat (which I prefer), unlike what you'd expect to find in a typical Remington rifle.

 

[Helder22]

Re: Rem. 700P 338 Lapua seating bullets into rifli

That is good news! Thank you very much. The info on the Lapua website stated 3.681 for scenars and I read that on one more place as well (wikipedia?)
In my Remington 700p in 308 I can't even load the bullet long enough to even come close to the rifling. This is much better.


BTW the magazine up to 3.710" which is awesome.