First 338/375R Range Report!!

[jmad_81]

My 280 AI likes 7828 with the 160 AB as well. Other than that I don't use it much, until now.

I loaded a quick ladder with MagPro this morning as well. I had a little laying around so I figured, why not?

Gotta run to Home Depot for a project, then grab some wings for the game this afternoon. Hoping to get some range time in between it all. Really excited to see how the 225AB shoots.

GO Ravens!!"

 

[SJB358]

Gotta run to Home Depot for a project, then grab some wings for the game this afternoon. Hoping to get some range time in between it all. Really excited to see how the 225AB shoots.

GO Ravens!!"

Me too Jake. That should be an awesome rifle for elk when it is all loaded. 3000 with a 225 or 2850 or so with a 250 is some awesome medicine to hammer elk with..

 

[jmad_81]

View attachment 2013-02-03_13-43-47_322.jpg
Not a bad start! I think I'll try this load again seated a little deeper and go up a half grain. The groups were getting smaller as the charge went up. Gotta love the ES pf this load though! If it doesn't grt amy faster and groups shrink in half, I'm done and happy.

 

[DrMike]

Not a bad start! ... If it doesn't get any faster and groups shrink in half, I'm done and happy.

Not a bad start at all.

I concur with your assessment and expectation. It looks as if you are set, Jake.

 

[Elkman]

Nice !!!
It will be nice to see the next target. It seems as though you are on the right track. !!!!

 

[jmad_81]

Thanks guys. I'm pretty excited about it. I think I'm going to bed it before I do anymore load work. We had to hog some material out if the recoil lug area because the Holland replacement was a bit thicker than the factory. I think some skim bedding will help tighten things up a bit.

 

[SJB358]

That's awesome Jake. Seems like QL is about spot on, assuming you meant 84 grains of 7828..

Cartridge : .338-375 Ruger
Bullet : .338, 225, Nosler AccuBond 54357
Useable Case Capaci: 84.167 grain H2O = 5.465 cm³
Cartridge O.A.L. L6: 3.340 inch = 84.84 mm
Barrel Length : 25.0 inch = 635.0 mm
Powder : IMR 7828 SSC

Predicted data by increasing and decreasing the given charge,
incremented in steps of 1.0% of nominal charge.
CAUTION: Figures exceed maximum and minimum recommended loads !

Step Fill. Charge Vel. Energy Pmax Pmuz Prop.Burnt B_Time
% % Grains fps ft.lbs psi psi % ms

-10.0 95 75.60 2686 3605 44997 10260 94.8 1.372
-09.0 96 76.44 2719 3693 46621 10379 95.3 1.349
-08.0 97 77.28 2751 3782 48311 10493 95.8 1.327
-07.0 98 78.12 2784 3871 50068 10603 96.3 1.305
-06.0 99 78.96 2816 3962 51896 10708 96.7 1.284
-05.0 100 79.80 2849 4054 53800 10808 97.2 1.263
-04.0 101 80.64 2881 4147 55782 10902 97.6 1.242 ! Near Maximum !
-03.0 102 81.48 2914 4241 57846 10991 97.9 1.222 ! Near Maximum !
-02.0 103 82.32 2946 4336 59998 11074 98.3 1.202 ! Near Maximum !
-01.0 104 83.16 2979 4432 62242 11152 98.6 1.183 ! Near Maximum !
+00.0 105 84.00 3011 4529 64583 11223 98.9 1.164 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE!
+01.0 106 84.84 3043 4627 67026 11288 99.1 1.145 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE!
+02.0 108 85.68 3076 4726 69577 11347 99.3 1.126 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE!
+03.0 109 86.52 3108 4826 72244 11400 99.5 1.108 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE!
+04.0 110 87.36 3140 4927 75029 11445 99.7 1.090 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE!
+05.0 111 88.20 3173 5029 77944 11484 99.8 1.072 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE!

Results caused by ± 10% powder lot-to-lot burning rate variation using nominal charge
Data for burning rate increased by 10% relative to nominal value:
+Ba 105 84.00 3155 4974 78839 10812 100.0 1.074 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE!
Data for burning rate decreased by 10% relative to nominal value:
-Ba 105 84.00 2808 3940 52250 10955 92.7 1.279


I think with a little tweaking, you will have it nailed down pretty quick. Nice work buddy!

 

[jmad_81]

Scotty, you are correct. That should be 84gr. That is not the first time I have wrote 74gr. Not sure why I keep doing that. Thanks for noticing. Looks like I don't have much more room for upside.

 

[Oldtrader3]

I am also able to get 3000 fps with the 160 Partition in th .280 Rem (not AI) easily with 58.00 grains of IMR 2878 SSC. This is very close to te velocity of my 7mm Rem mag.

 

[SJB358]

I think it looks great Jake. A little seating depth tuning and your done buddy. That 225 AB at 3K should be all you could want for elk in your area. You have the ability to reach far with that load, that is for sure.

 

[Woodycreek]

Great work buddy! Kinda funny how a crazy idea and a few phone calls has turned into this. Impatiently counting down the days till my rifle shows up. Think I know where I will start my load development with the 225 AB :mrgreen:

 

[jmad_81]

I am also able to get 3000 fps with the 160 Partition in th .280 Rem (not AI) easily with 58.00 grains of IMR 2878 SSC. This is very close to te velocity of my 7mm Rem mag.

That is faster than I'm getting with my 280 AI!!

I think it looks great Jake. A little seating depth tuning and your done buddy. That 225 AB at 3K should be all you could want for elk in your area. You have the ability to reach far with that load, that is for sure.

Thats kind of what I'm thinking. Seat them a little deeper a few times and see what happens. I might just shoot them one more time the way they are, but with fire formed brass this time around.

Great work buddy! Kinda funny how a crazy idea and a few phone calls has turned into this. Impatiently counting down the days till my rifle shows up. Think I know where I will start my load development with the 225 AB :mrgreen:

I'll try to get up to the gunsmiths this week and pick up the reamer and get it sent out to your smith. I'm going to try to get some bedding compound oredered and call Leupold and check up on my scope today.

 

[Woodycreek]

Thanks! Smith said he would start blue printing and threading the barrel this week.

 

[jmad_81]

View attachment 2013-02-17_13-42-38_968.jpg
Did a little more work on this today. Tried the top end of MagPro with no luck. Tried the top end of Rl-22, 83 was the best group that I have got from this rifle to date. Not to bad for having a 20mph gusting cross wind. I tried Hunter as well. 82 proved to be to hot. I would have really loved to have had chrony data today but it would have blown over.

I'm going to play with the 83gr Rl-22 load some more. I might try to get my hands on some 4831sc as well. But right now Rl-22 is looking good.

 

[FOTIS]

It is a start.

 

[SJB358]

Looks good Jake. I think your close to the point to grab your charge of 7828 or RL22 and do a seating depth profile to see what it likes. I recently tried it the way Mike and the way Berger shows how to find a load with their bullets. Started .010" off and did .030" jumps. I would bet something might jump out at you. I know it worked really well for me. Seems like you have the speed where you want, looking forward to seeing what it shoots like with some tuning. It is a powerhouse for sure.

What do you think of it so far? What kinda dies are you using to reload?

 

[jmad_81]

View attachment 2013-02-24_09-45-57_922.jpg
Finally got the chrony out. Played with seating depth on the 83g Rl-22 load that shot well last time. Windy again, and cold. I'm not sure if I pulled the 3.845" load or not. Fingers were getting a bit cold on the last few groups. First two cut each other third went wide left. Gotta love the extreme spreads I'm getting. Biggest one out of the four loads today was 20 fps. I think if I tweak seating depth a tad more I'll be done. If it doesn't work out I'll move on to some H4831sc.

 

[SJB358]

Looks great Jake. Speeds look excellent. Maybe load .010", .040", .070" And then .100" off and see if you find a node it really settles in for you. Seems like you'll see where it really wants to be and then little variances in seating depth won't throw shots? Just thinking out loud, but it looks real good to me, speed wise, you can't ask for much more than that. Awesome shooting man.

 

[jmad_81]

These were. 010", .030", .050", and. 070" off from top to bottom.

 

[SJB358]

These were. 010", .030", .050", and. 070" off from top to bottom.

Gotcha. Sorry, I was looking at my phone when I initially posted. It is really hard to tell what it is doing to me. I hate when a gun puts two in a hole then throws a 3rd way out, then gives you around 1" triangular groups with another setting. Seems like I would almost have to pick two of them, and reshoot before I spent a ton of time trying to tweak a certain depth.

Maybe reload one set of 3.865 and 3.805".. Just to see if it does the same thing. Plus, when I get that 2 in like that and toss that 3rd, I gotta have a 4th to retry..

Sorry, it all makes sense in my head...