Re: Remington 700 Police 338 Lapua rifles
Well, I took my 700P .338 out and shot it for the first time yesterday. Wednesday is 600yard practice, and I usually shoot my 308. I had 20 rounds loaded for the .338, and none for the 308, so I took the .338 instead. I had wanted to save the ammo for the weekend and run it by the chrony. I had 4 different groups of 5 loaded, all with a 300SMK loaded .025" off the lands.
78gr H4350
90gr H1000
92gr Retumbo
90gr RL25
I don't get to see my groups, but there is a guy in the pits spotting each shot, so I do get feedback.
First off, I guess I am recoil sensitive. My 308 with no rubber buttpad was uncomfortable. With the buttpad, its a pussycat. Aside from my nervousness of shooting a new rifle for the first time with ammo I loaded for the first time, the first 10 shots, with H4350 and H1000 were fine. Took me 2 shots to get on paper, and the 3rd was in the X ring. I REALLY had to concentrate on the followthrough to not flinch. I have an NF 8-32x56 on the rifle, which has good eye relief, but I was still nervous of getting bitten. I didn't.
When I dropped the first round with Retumbo in, I knew it was going to have more recoil - it did. It hits like a freight train. I wasn't dialing my scope around for each load. I was trying to get a feel for shifts in point of impact from one load to the next. Retumbo is a good 2 MOA higher at 600 than either H1000 or H4350. By the time I got to the RL25 rounds, I was experiencing some fatigue, so I'm not POSITIVE it was the ammo and not me, but the RL25 seemed to be very inconsistent. If I wasn't flinching, that load is good for 2 MOA. Seemed like the Retumbo oughtta be in the hunt for sub MOA.
My shoulder hurts today. Not terrible, but it hurts. I was firing prone, and had the rifle tucked into my shoulder pocket tightly. Besides the dirt/debris getting kicked all over the place by the OEM brake, I'm hoping a new/different brake will reduce recoil more.
I'm going to need a good bit of practice to master this rifle, and I'll never get enough practice in firing 10-15 rounds a day.