I have recently (I will pick it up this afternoon) become the proud owner of a Winchester 70 that has been rebarreled to .330 Dakota. I have looked around on the internet, but have not found very many loads listed, and none of my manuals have any. Do any of you guys have any favorite loads, or know of any good resources?

Thanks,
Jason

If you can't find any Dakota specific data, a reasonable starting point is 340 Weatherby data. The case capacities are pretty similar and that would at least give you a starting point.

Hornady and Barnes Manuals have load data listed for the 330 Dakota and the Dakota Website used to list it also.................DJ

quote:

Originally posted by djpaintles:
Hornady and Barnes Manuals have load data listed for the 330 Dakota and the Dakota Website used to list it also.................DJ

This is correct. Yuo can always use 338winmag & work up. Powders for one will work for the other. Case cap. is sim. to 340wby. I shoot a 7mmDakota & love the round. I have always wanted to do a 330Dakota as well. Maybe some day.

I tend to like mid-weight for caliber bullets, so I am shooting 200 and 225 grain pills mostly. For the 200 gr Accubond I ended up with 83 grains of H4831 sc, which is a grain below book max--Nosler Manual #6. Very consistent, I also got good results with V V N-160, something just below 80 grains.

On the 225 gr AB I ended up with right at 76 gr of H4831sc. My rig is too damn heavy--trying to figure that out right now--but it doesn't recoil very much which is a plus....I get some good velocities with the H4831 sc, a little faster than published, 26" barrel, same as the test data I've seen.

Good luck, it's a great caliber, very easy to reload case IME.

I picked up the gun last night, and the fact I don't have any ammo to try it out with is killing me. It came with dies, some 225 grain Barnes X bullets, and a good supply of brass, so I just need to pick out a good load to start with and get going. Thanks for the tips about the Hornady & Barnes manuals. I will check them out the next time I make it down to Cabela's, plus I will pick up some Accubonds, since they shoot so well in my 7 STW and 3006.

If anyone has a good load with the Xs or the Accubonds, let me know.

Jason

You really need load data for Barnes bullets. I don't have any load data for the 330 Dakota with Barnes bullets, but here is the link to Barnes Bullets web page that lists load data for Barnes bullets in the 338 Weatherby:
http://www.barnesbullets.com/images/340WeatherbyMagnumWeb.pdf

Thanks for the link SST, I had seen that in the past, but forgotten about it. I looked at what they had on line, but there is nothing for any of the Dakota cartridges - but I know they have them in the books, so I will pick one up in the next week or so. I know the Weatherby loads are close, but since I am not very familiar with the cartridge yet, I prefer to have something that is listed for it.

Jason

Here are my 330 Dakota loads developed in my rifle, which is a Dakota M-76 with a 26" barrel. These are MAX loads in my rifle, so you need to reduce these loads and work back up for your rifle. All velocities are from chronograph.

225 grain Northfork
85.0 grs RL-22
OAL = 3.33"
velocity = 3050fps

225 grain Nosler Accurbond
83.0 grs RL-22
OAL = 3.370"
Velocity = 2935fps

250 grain Nosler Partition
82.0 grs RL-22
OAL= 3.369"
Velocity = 2806fps

250 grain Nosler Partition
84.0 grs IMR-7828
OAL = 3.369"
Velocity = 2887fps

200 grain Nosler Balistic Tip
85.0 grs RL-19
OAL = 3.370"
Velocity = 2986fps

Thanks MHC_TX.

Jason