Sako TRG-42 300 Norma Magnum

[longrangehunter]

So I finally got my TRG back from GA Precision yesterday, looks great! I didn't think it would have taken five months to get back since I sent them the barrel, but oh well, it made it here for my B-day this weekend!

Bartlein 5R 1:8" Twist Rem. Varmint profile @ 27 1/4" and threaded for my 338 TBAC can. No other changes were made to the Sako other then coating the barreled action in Armor Black.

Basically it appears to look just like the original TRG-42 that I had sent them only now it's in 300 Norma Magnum.

I only just test fired it this evening using 83.5 H1000 F215M in Norma brass w/ a 230 Berger Hybrid OTM Tactical @ 2.800" CBTO = 3.500" COAL. This has the very long 230's sitting in the case with only the Boat Tail below the neck shoulder juncture, which has always work very well for me to find an accurate load.

Since you all have seen my Sako TRG before no reason to post any gun porn, but I will post some targets once I get the barrel broke in and start doing load development. This is what has now replaced my Baer/Jarrett rifle in 300 Jarrett that I sold last year and it should really hammer the Elk at long range.

Oh, We had a fire here last Thursday that got within a 1/2 mile of my home, lucky for me it was on the other side of the Hwy. and is now 100% contained, yahoo! Thank God for that!

 

[DrMike]

The 300 Norma Magnum is an interesting cartridge. I began kicking around a 300 Blaser Magnum this morning. Just maybe. :?

 

[SJB358]

Very nice! That thing should really hammer elk or just about anything else you point it at.

Cool cartridge for sure. Can't wait to see how it shoots.

 

[IdahoCTD]

It's not a 338 for umph but a 230 @ 2900+ is hauling the mail and will hammer a elk. You might try 215's too. You should be able to break 3100fps with those. They are a bit shorter but not a ton. You might also try R-33 once you get the H-1000 ironed out. I get more FPS out of my improved with it and it shoots tiny groups (sub 1/4") at close range. I haven't shot it long yet.

 

[longrangehunter]

It's not a 338 for umph but a 230 @ 2900+ is hauling the mail and will hammer a elk. You might try 215's too. You should be able to break 3100fps with those. They are a bit shorter but not a ton. You might also try R-33 once you get the H-1000 ironed out. I get more FPS out of my improved with it and it shoots tiny groups (sub 1/4") at close range. I haven't shot it long yet.

The big 338 Lapua Magnum had my neck messed up for three months after shooting it prone for a week straight and hopefully this won't?

I have a box of the 215's and RL-33, about six pounds of it. I was just wanting to use up the H1000 since I can still buy more of it and besides I didn't think it would end up being the better powder to use in the first place? And since I have 200 of the 230's I thought why not break in the barrel with them since they have a long bearing surface to polish the throat.

I have a lot of smoke around here late in the day today, but I didn't pull out the Oehler 35P this morning because the market is tanking for the second day in a row and I have been waiting for this to happen so I can put some money to work? The 64,000 question.... will we bounce next week and run lower or not? I bet we will bounce and head lower!

I have only three rounds down the tube so I gotta get back to breaking in the barrel and get this thing shooting well before too soon.

 

[IdahoCTD]

I'm sure you'll appreciate how much less recoil it has over a 338 Lapua. It's hard to tame 300gr bullets no matter what you do. JBM says about 28lbs of recoil versus 39 for the 338 Lapua. That's a pretty big drop (29%) and the more over bore the better for muzzle brakes and suppressors.

 

[longrangehunter]

You're right about that, there is way less of a push to the shoulder and the big can really hushes the blast to the point of almost not needing hearing protection. I haven't got down prone yet because I'm still braking in the barrel, but hopefully my neck won't act up?

Even with the load I pulled out of thin air seems to be keeping them all in the 5/8" range center to center at 100 yards off the bench, but the cleaning each round I don't think is helping with the group size but the barrel is cleaning up better with each round down the barrel. After the next round (5 total) I'm going to start shooting 2 rounds and clean and see what it looks like.

H1000 still has a lot of black powder residue, almost like Retumbo. I forget what RL-33 was doing to the factory 338 LM barrel, if memory serves me it was just as black?

Hey, thanks for the idea of the 300 NM in the first place, without your help this might not have even came to be!

 

[IdahoCTD]

R-33 and Retumbo are dirtier than H-1000.

 

[longrangehunter]

Not the best picture, but you get the idea.

 

[SJB358]

That's a deadly looking rifle Kevin... Looks mean.

 

[taylorce1]

Looks long!

 

[longrangehunter]

Looks long!

The rifle is 47 1/2" long w/o the can, and 57 1/4" with it attached. It's not for the faint of heart that's not used to carrying around something as heavy as this or as long, but I've gotten used to it over the years. Most of the time I take the can off while hunting which exposes the break that's under it, so you have the choice of suppressed or not and just screwing it on which doesn't take more then 20 seconds.

 

[longrangehunter]

So the actual gun cleaning is not so great, a lot of effort all day today to remove the copper from the barrel has been a real PITA! But I did get it cleaned down to bear metal with the Bore Tech products. For some reason the Shooters Choice MC#7 mixed with Kano Kroil wasn't doing it, even with Shooters Choice Copper Remover, so I pulled out the Bore Tech and their Chameleon Gel to remove the fouling..... not fun since I only had five rounds down the barrel and that last shot really left a lot of copper in the barrel because I forgot to oil it before shooting it again. Which meant it was dry! Not good, but I just shot it and the copper doesn't seem as bad but still a lot of copper in the barrel. This is not like the chrome lined barrel that came on the Sako that really cleaned up super fast!

 

[IdahoCTD]

I'm surprised a Bartlein is fouling bad. All the ones I have clean up very quickly even my 6.5-300wm with 350+ rounds through it.

 

[longrangehunter]

Not sure why that is? This is my third Bartlein barrel and they have cleaned up faster even after a shooting match, so I'm not sure what is going on? I have only 7 rounds down the tube as of right now and maybe now it will start to improve which has usually been the case after break-in.

 

[IdahoCTD]

I don't even do break in's anymore. I typically shoot 12-15 rounds through it the first time out and then clean it. If it cleans really easy, which most do, then I start shooting like I normally would. I've never had a barrel not shoot because I didn't break it in nor had one tough to clean. I use to do the one shot clean for 5, 2 shot clean, 3 shot clean, etc and can't tell the difference in the way I do it now. Most people say cleaning is harder on the barrel anyway. A lot of people I know have moved away from the "typical" break in.

 

[longrangehunter]

I'm with Ya on that one.... I hate this work. I'm ready to just move on, start shooting and then clean it when I'm done with a few rounds I worked up.

 

[truck driver]

I've only broke one barrel in and that was the 300Wby all my other rifles I have just shot and cleaned at the end of the day.

 

[longrangehunter]

I went out this morning to test the load I developed at 1,300 yards. It's a very difficult shot due to the fact it's on a mountain knob exposed to wind in any direction, although has plenty of trees on it so you have no idea where the wind is coming from. Another thing is the shot shoots over a deep "V' ravine, the ridge top another drop, a valley below, and finally to the mountain side behind my house.

I did manage to connect with the 19" round steel once out of ten, the rest were very close and only required 9.9 Mils to get there! The wind also moves up the hill behind my house, but for something I haven't even shot 30 times isn't too bad? The Factory Sako Bipod is not my favorite, no way to reduce cant (side to side roll in the Bipod), but this load was a lot better then the 338 Lapua at the same target.

The other day the last four round shot at the same piece of steel went through it at 445 yards! The 1,300 yard shot did nothing to the steel other then take the paint off.

 

[IdahoCTD]

You'll get it dialed before long.