What velocity can I expect out of the 338 winchester with 225 and 250 grain bullets.

Thanks

Flip

It will depend on a number of factors, but with the right powders and bullets I get between 2750 to 2850 fps with 250's. With 225's those numbers go up 75 fps. They are max loads and dependent on bullet and barrel with many in the low end of those figures.

I have a stainless Ruger M77 MK-II with a 24" barrel that ends with a KDF muzzle brake. The muzzle brake is not needed since I can take the recoil without any problem, but since I shoot this rifle quite a few times at the range when developing handloads the brake helps my shoulder.

For some reason whatever it may be, this rifle shoots a little fast, so with my handloads it can easily duplicate and surpass the velocities listed in most reloading manuals even before I reach the powder charges listed.

Factory ammo is usually loaded a little slower than those handloads we can develop, but there are a few that we can't easily match. For example, Federal 225-grain TB-HE develops 2,930 fps at my rifle's muzzle, and the 250-grain NOS-HE develops around 2,770 fps, just a little short of the advert iced 2,940 fps and 2,800 fps respectively.

A friend of mine develops handloads for accuracy, and his deer hunting ammo with 180-grain bullets develop around 3,000 fps. However, he does not use the original factory barrels in his .338's.

My handloads with 230-grain FS bullets with RL-19 powder develop around 2,830 fps at the muzzle. I could get more velocity out of this bullet/powder combination, but my rifle shoots better with these bullets coming out of the barrel somewhere past 2,800 fps.

I don't know if that's the case with others who reload for their .338's, but in my case: During handload development my .338 tends to shoot off center and to the left at 100 yards. I have no idea why, but all I know is that when I tune the powder charge to the point where the bullets print right in the center of the target, that's exactly when I know I have arrived to the accuracy I seek. This usually happens somewhere around two or three grains from the maximum powder charge listed. But since the barrel shoots a little fast, the velocities are already reaching or surpassing the listed velocities.

The ballistics of factory ammo are published by Guns & Ammo Annual, Petersen's Rifle Shooter Annual, and others. Look at the back pages of the "2002 Guns & Ammo Annual " issue. You will find a series of tables of velocities, energy, and trajectory from muzzle to 500 yards.