truck driver
Ammo Smith
- Mar 11, 2013
- 7,303
- 845
After waiting for the cold front to blow threw so the wind would settle down some I was able to make it to the range today to sight in the new to me M77 338Wm.
I have to admit I was a little anxious due to all the talk about how the 338 WM was a real kicker. Well I must admit I was surprised to find out that it is as bad as some would have had me beleave or at least not in this factory stock combination though I did chage the recoil pad by swapping the one of a Weatherby stock I happen to have sitting in the corner which was left over from a previous restocking job.
My load was a middle of the chart Hornady #II manual load with a 225gr Spire point and 65.0grs of H4350 for around 2600fps. and the felt recoil was lighter than with my 35/AI with the same bullet weight but 150fps faster.
I did a bore sighting at 25yds and then fired a round to check for center, 10 o-clock .0579" out so a slight windage and elevation adjustment and out to 50yds. Opps went the wrong way 2.183" in the wrong direction so readjust and shoot again, 7 o-clock .457", slight elevation adjustment and out to 100yds, 10 o-clock .400" off center 2 clicks right and fire for affect. next 2 went side by side almost in the same hole at 3 o-clock .400" out of center. Now I'm a happy camper but still had to mess with the knobs next shot went at 2 o-clock 2" out and adjusted again and put the last shot at 12 o-clock 1.400" high right where I wanted it.
I had 9 more rounds loaded but decided to save 6 of them because I couldn't get my chronograph to read do to heavy cloud cover and was getting error messages but wanted to see just how bad it would kick so I picked out the 3 heaviest powder charges with the 225gr Spire point 69.5grs H4831 and sent them down range. Hornady says that load is right around 2700fps and I could hardly tell the difference in recoil. Thoe 3 shots were at 12 o-oclock just above the target paster and measured 1.543"X.822" with a little tinkering this will shrink
I was surprised to see how this rifle handled different powder charges and basically shot to the same point of impact, 100fps doesn't seem to change anything and also a different powder, H4350- H4831.
Can hardly wait to go again just to see what it can do.
I did float the barrel in this stock since when I took it down for cleaning I found the stock was rubbing the barrel so I gave it a little clearance and put it back together. The front action screw was torqued to 65inlbs and the tang screw to 45inlbs with the center screw just snug.
I have always noticed how Hornady always gives a seating depth for their bullets and knew it was off the base but it never crossed my mind to measure the distance from the base to the canular ( crimp groove ) and it is the exact same as specified and the pictures on the load page are exactly the same measurements.
So you see and old dog can still learn new things.
I have to admit I was a little anxious due to all the talk about how the 338 WM was a real kicker. Well I must admit I was surprised to find out that it is as bad as some would have had me beleave or at least not in this factory stock combination though I did chage the recoil pad by swapping the one of a Weatherby stock I happen to have sitting in the corner which was left over from a previous restocking job.
My load was a middle of the chart Hornady #II manual load with a 225gr Spire point and 65.0grs of H4350 for around 2600fps. and the felt recoil was lighter than with my 35/AI with the same bullet weight but 150fps faster.
I did a bore sighting at 25yds and then fired a round to check for center, 10 o-clock .0579" out so a slight windage and elevation adjustment and out to 50yds. Opps went the wrong way 2.183" in the wrong direction so readjust and shoot again, 7 o-clock .457", slight elevation adjustment and out to 100yds, 10 o-clock .400" off center 2 clicks right and fire for affect. next 2 went side by side almost in the same hole at 3 o-clock .400" out of center. Now I'm a happy camper but still had to mess with the knobs next shot went at 2 o-clock 2" out and adjusted again and put the last shot at 12 o-clock 1.400" high right where I wanted it.
I had 9 more rounds loaded but decided to save 6 of them because I couldn't get my chronograph to read do to heavy cloud cover and was getting error messages but wanted to see just how bad it would kick so I picked out the 3 heaviest powder charges with the 225gr Spire point 69.5grs H4831 and sent them down range. Hornady says that load is right around 2700fps and I could hardly tell the difference in recoil. Thoe 3 shots were at 12 o-oclock just above the target paster and measured 1.543"X.822" with a little tinkering this will shrink
I was surprised to see how this rifle handled different powder charges and basically shot to the same point of impact, 100fps doesn't seem to change anything and also a different powder, H4350- H4831.
Can hardly wait to go again just to see what it can do.
I did float the barrel in this stock since when I took it down for cleaning I found the stock was rubbing the barrel so I gave it a little clearance and put it back together. The front action screw was torqued to 65inlbs and the tang screw to 45inlbs with the center screw just snug.
I have always noticed how Hornady always gives a seating depth for their bullets and knew it was off the base but it never crossed my mind to measure the distance from the base to the canular ( crimp groove ) and it is the exact same as specified and the pictures on the load page are exactly the same measurements.
So you see and old dog can still learn new things.
