Was wondering if anyone has experience with accuracy changes when using the factory trg brake versus using no brake at all? I've ran 200 rounds thru the gun so far while using the brake during load development. Not impressed at all yet with the gun. I'm going to do the same loads without the brake installed and see if that helps as I've heard from a couple gun shops telling me it will be more accurate. It's a 10" gun, using 300 smk slugs, fed 215m match primers, lapua brass, seated .015" off. Tried retumbo and rl-33 so far. Didn't have crony set up, but seems the rl-33 is quite a bit slower as the first shots were 6" low on the targets. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks guys.
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TRG-42 338LM Brake??
- Thread starter Polaris Doc
- Start date
It's not the gun, bud. If so, you've got the first non-.5moa-shooting TRG I've ever seen. We had six at the range this last weekend, so I know…
Nothing wrong with the TRG brake and as long as it is indexed correctly and tight, it will not harm accuracy at all. You will not like this rifle without it, unless you replace the brake with a quality suppressor.
You don't need to load SMKs .015 off. They are tangent ogive and could care less how close they are to the lands. They are not secant ogive Bergers, which DO want to be seated close.
97.4 or .5 should produce very accurate results with the RL-33, loaded 2.980 base-to-ogive.
Question: What is your neck tension? I like .367. If you are not setting neck tension, then you have a built-in variable working against accuracy.
PM me and let's discuss this. You should be happy with that rifle and I can help you get that way.
Nothing wrong with the TRG brake and as long as it is indexed correctly and tight, it will not harm accuracy at all. You will not like this rifle without it, unless you replace the brake with a quality suppressor.
You don't need to load SMKs .015 off. They are tangent ogive and could care less how close they are to the lands. They are not secant ogive Bergers, which DO want to be seated close.
97.4 or .5 should produce very accurate results with the RL-33, loaded 2.980 base-to-ogive.
Question: What is your neck tension? I like .367. If you are not setting neck tension, then you have a built-in variable working against accuracy.
PM me and let's discuss this. You should be happy with that rifle and I can help you get that way.
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When you say 10" gun, do you mean 10" at 1000 yds? I cannot picture anything other than that with a TRG. This is a 1000 yd group with 250 SMKs out of my TRG with a Near brake. Possibly my best group at 1k. That's about 2 " of vertical at 1k.
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Enough Said: I will be in contact with you.
mijp5: Sorry, I should have stated that differently. It is a 10" twist gun. And that is some nice shooting for 1k! Hope mine will do that some day!
Probably should have stated too that I'm new to the Hide. Also want to get into longer distance shooting, but hard to do in my area unless you know a farmer with a lot of land.
I'm open to all suggestions and any advice. I have a few other guns I'll have to post questions about on here also. Seems to be the best place to go for knowledge!
mijp5: Sorry, I should have stated that differently. It is a 10" twist gun. And that is some nice shooting for 1k! Hope mine will do that some day!
Probably should have stated too that I'm new to the Hide. Also want to get into longer distance shooting, but hard to do in my area unless you know a farmer with a lot of land.
I'm open to all suggestions and any advice. I have a few other guns I'll have to post questions about on here also. Seems to be the best place to go for knowledge!
Polaris Doc, would you share your target distance and group sizes that you are getting?
I highly advise using a muzzle device of some sort - a brake or suppressor when shooting 338LM. The recoil on a bare muzzle with a 338 makes the rifle highly unpleasant to shoot. Jered Joplin showed a video of the recoil on a 338 with and without a muzzle brake. Without the brake, the rifle shot backwards off the bench about 10 - 15 feet. With the brake, it only moved backwards a few inches. I can attest to the effectiveness of the Near brake on my TRG. I also shoot with a Shark 338 suppressor, but the brake provides less recoil. The can makes for less blast, so it is an even tradeoff.
If your groups are genuinely crappy with the components you are using, I would suggest loading to mag length, and changing the charge. If it is still underperforming, try the 250 SMK. The 250s actually shot better for me with literally hardly any load workup. Only reason I switched to the 300s is because I bought into the hype that it isn't worth shooting 338 with anything less than the heaviest bullets available. I have not yet found an optimal load with the 300s, with both Retumbo and H1000. Mind you, I haven't enough of them to say whether or not they work for my rifle. I am in the process of re-barreling to a 9.5 twist Bartlein, so we'll see how it does after that.
I highly advise using a muzzle device of some sort - a brake or suppressor when shooting 338LM. The recoil on a bare muzzle with a 338 makes the rifle highly unpleasant to shoot. Jered Joplin showed a video of the recoil on a 338 with and without a muzzle brake. Without the brake, the rifle shot backwards off the bench about 10 - 15 feet. With the brake, it only moved backwards a few inches. I can attest to the effectiveness of the Near brake on my TRG. I also shoot with a Shark 338 suppressor, but the brake provides less recoil. The can makes for less blast, so it is an even tradeoff.
If your groups are genuinely crappy with the components you are using, I would suggest loading to mag length, and changing the charge. If it is still underperforming, try the 250 SMK. The 250s actually shot better for me with literally hardly any load workup. Only reason I switched to the 300s is because I bought into the hype that it isn't worth shooting 338 with anything less than the heaviest bullets available. I have not yet found an optimal load with the 300s, with both Retumbo and H1000. Mind you, I haven't enough of them to say whether or not they work for my rifle. I am in the process of re-barreling to a 9.5 twist Bartlein, so we'll see how it does after that.
The Near brake is an awesome brake! My buddy has one on his TRG-42 also and it truly does perform well. They don't look bad either!
Hey guys, sorry for the late reply.
Well, zeroed at 300, I'm getting groups from 2-6". Seems best with 94 gr. of Retumbo. When I went verify the load, it was all over the place again. Tried rl-33 and again no consistency.
I put on a 25 min Near base with alpha rings, and now believe I'll try the Near brake as well with all the recommendations and great reviews.
I'm also going to eventually get the redding competition dies. If after all that it still doesn't consistently group .5 moa groups, then I'll try some 250's.
I won't have an update for a few months now, sad to say. I just had my right bicep tendon reattached and cannot do anything with my right arm for quite a while. Really sucks!!!
Thanks for the advice guys.
Well, zeroed at 300, I'm getting groups from 2-6". Seems best with 94 gr. of Retumbo. When I went verify the load, it was all over the place again. Tried rl-33 and again no consistency.
I put on a 25 min Near base with alpha rings, and now believe I'll try the Near brake as well with all the recommendations and great reviews.
I'm also going to eventually get the redding competition dies. If after all that it still doesn't consistently group .5 moa groups, then I'll try some 250's.
I won't have an update for a few months now, sad to say. I just had my right bicep tendon reattached and cannot do anything with my right arm for quite a while. Really sucks!!!
Thanks for the advice guys.
there is a company in Canada which manufactures and sells custom made brakes and also sell items for the tactical and precision market. I have one of their brakes on my TRG 42 and it looks like it was born on the rifle, very well machined and the fit is excellent. the TRG brake can be imported into the US, and probably some of the other items as well. here is the address HOME - TACTICAL GEAR PRODUCTS - SNIPER EQUIPMENT - SNIPER GEAR
I run a Surefire MB338 on mine, and like the compact size, no blowback, and mild sound signature that is not obnoxious. It may not be the most efficient for recoil reduction, but does very well for its size.
