338 Lapua range time

[shoots_5]

Well, even though it was a wetter than typical pacific NW day I couldn't stand it any longer and just had to go burn some powder in my new Savage! I packed up the truck and built myself a little semi sheltered shooting hut.

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Goals for the day were to get the rifle zeroed at 200 yards and to do some load testing ladders. The first goal I was able to get done but the second will have to wait as it was a bit too windy and crappy outside to shoot the ladder at the range I wanted to....

My in-laws have a grass seed farm that doubles as a very nice personal shooting range!

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You can see my 200 yard target set up in the fire trail on the right. The back left corner of that field I ranged from my shooting position at 515 yards. If you go back behind where I was shooting from there is another hill that extends the range to well over 1000 yards. Should be a fun little playground once I get a load settled for this baby!

I burned more ammo than I would have liked getting things zeroed in and didn't have much left to play with shooting groups. But I did happen to throw one random load together that showed some promise....this is 89 grains of H1000 topped with the 285gr Hornady BTHP Match, CCI250, Lapua Brass:

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Top shot was a called pull....not too bad for a 200 yard group with less than 40 rounds down the tube of the new gun! So far I have been really impressed with this rifle. Love the HS precision stock, recoil is minimal and it is showing signs of being a tack driver! The only bad part is I'm no longer going to be able to blame any misses on the equipment....

I did also have a first today. The first round I attempted to fire with the above mentioned load was a very loud click....thought huh, must have short stroked it and not chambered a round. So I started to rack it again and found a cartridge coming out that had a nice centered strike in the primer! Caught me a bit off guard as I'd never had that happen before and wasn't really sure what to do. I could hear the powder inside if I shook it so I knew I hadn't failed to charge it. So I ended up putting it back in the rifle and on the second strike it fired. All other rounds went boom just fine, so I'm chalking it up to just a random semi bad primer I suppose.

Anyway, it wasn't a pretty day and I didn't do my part shooting for most of the day but did manage the one good group so all was not lost....and any day out shooting is a good day!

Oh, and the best part of the day was finding a cow elk carcass maybe 3-5 days old that I set up a trail cam on and plan on going back in a few days early in the morning to see if I can rustle up a coyote to draw some first blood on with the Lapua! :twisted:

 

[Guy Miner]

Nice little shooting shack you rigged up! :grin:

Here in central Washington, all it did was snow. And snow some more... Then it snowed a little more...

Enjoy - looks like you're getting that big rifle pretty well dialed in.

 

[SJB358]

Very cool! That rifle looks like a ton of fun buddy! It looks like it is going to be a great shooter as well. Can't wait to hear what they do once you start stretching them out a little. Thank you for the report. Keep em coming!

 

[DrMike]

That certainly looks promising. You done good in setting up your shooting shack. The misfire was likely due to an incomplete seating of the primer. The first strike actually completed seating the primer so that when you refired, it ignited as it was supposed to do.

 

[FOTIS]

Very nice brother. Love the half shelter. :wink:

 

[gerry]

Cool, also love you shooting shelter, for some reason I have never thought of that. It will be interesting to see how you guys do with the 300 gr AccuBond in those big 338 Lapuas when it finally comes out.

 

[shoots_5]

Thanks. I also can't wait to see how the 300 AccuBond does!

Dr Mike, very likely could have been seated just short...I've been having some issues with my priming tool. Looks like it's time to buy a new one.

 

[edge]

Really nice setup

A couple of questions.

Did you chrono? If so what were the results?
How full is that case with the H1000?
And have you done any barrel cleaning?

I'll be interested in where you end up on your loads.

edge.

 

[C.Smith]

What a true die hard you are, great looking shack and very promising looking groups. Hope so see them smaller in ther future. Got to love those Savages rifles.

Corey

 

[shoots_5]

Edge,

I brought my chrono with me but didn't set it up due to the driving rain and wind. I decided to just get some more time behind the rifle playing around than doing any hardcore load development. It's not an especially full load....can still hear the powder rattling around pretty good in there. It is .6 grains shy of max according to the Hornady reloading manual....and I was just getting a very faint ejector mark in the brass, so it's pretty hot. Book says velocity should be about 2750.

Yes, I have cleaned the barrel, after the first 20 rounds. I think barrel break in routines are similar to selling snake oil personally. I typically clean the bigger rifles after 20-40 rounds depending on the gun and when/if it starts to lose accuracy due to fouling. I know some guys that have hundreds of rounds down the tube without cleaning, and they can outshoot me, but to each their own.

I did notice something kind of interesting today in regards to the Hornady 285 match bullet. The Hornady reloading manual lists the BC as .720, but if you go to the hornady website and look up the bullet it lists the G1 as .700 and G7 as .352. I'm curious if they did some additional testing and found their first number to be optimistic?

An interesting link regarding BC testing if anyone in interested and hasn't seen it: http://www.snipershide.com/2011/12/338l ... t-results/

 

[edge]

Will be interested in your velocities, sounds like 2900+
I would not want to be on the receiving end of that

edge.

 

[jmad_81]

Looks like you have yoru self a great shooter! I miss my 338 Edge a little bit, there is just something about those big .338s that is fun :wink:

 

[JD338]

Very nice!
I like your "Snipers Hide". :mrgreen:

JD338

 

[muleman]

Shoots_5,
Every summer I tell myself I'm going to build a covered shooting bench but it never seems to happen. Way to make it happen! I've been toying with the idea of one of them .338 Lapua - need more wapum though. I can't wait to see what it can do at 500+.
Scott

 

[FOTIS]

I envy your lack of 60 MPH winds!

 

[shoots_5]

Fotis, I'm pretty happy to not have those kinds of winds too! It can be a rather tricky place to shoot wind wise. I measured the wind right up against the tree line where I was shooting at an average of 3mph, but if you stepped out into the field more than about 20 yards it went up to 15-20mph and it changed direction significantly from one end of the field to the other....

Muleman, I've had plans to do the same thing for years now and never seem to get around to it. I would probably be properly motivated now, but now it looks like I will likely be moving sometime in the not too distant future so not sure I want to go through the effort.

 

[Desert Fox]

Nice shooting set up there shoots. Sometimes you just have to scratch that itch :lol: By the way, welcome to the 338 Lapua Shooters group. I think we should start a thread dedicated to all 338 Lapua shooters.

 

[bullet]

Nice cartridge, rifle and shooting and I like the shelter :mrgreen:

 

[shoots_5]

By the way, welcome to the 338 Lapua Shooters group. I think we should start a thread dedicated to all 338 Lapua shooters.

Hi, My name is Tim and it's been 1 day since I last fired my Lapua.....

Seriously though, a dedicated thread isn't a bad idea. Info is sometimes hard to track down on this cartridge. Might be nice to pool our collective knowledge! And then we can work on setting up a 338 Lapua shoot somewhere and we can all meet up and burn massive amounts of powder!!!

 

[Desert Fox]

It's been 8 months since I last touch my 338 Lapua. If I remember correctly, it did this at 1000 yards.