I am getting ready to tune up a .338 Lapua for a friend, based on my experience so far with my own .338 WM and a 7mm Rem. Mag. That is, not much.

This fellow has had a few bad experiences with his rifle — getting scoped, for instance — and is likely flinching badly, which I'll address with him on the range.

For now, I would like a starting point for a relatively light load for the Lapua that won't tip him off I'm downloading on him. My initial thought is to start with a 200 gr. bullet and Retumbo.

As of this minute, I don't even know the brand or model of his rifle, so I can't answer questions about barrel length, etc.

My plan is to take him to a gunsmith next week with his rifle, have the length of pull checked and get him set up with a Pachmyer Decellerator. Also, he says he has a Leupold scope on it, so I am guessing he can get more eye relief than he has and we'll check that, too.

Once I get the rifle to behave, I want to have an idea of the direction to take the load. With luck, by spring he will be asking me if there is any way to fire up the load a bit. But for now, he either needs to get control of his rifle or get rid of it.

Comments?

kk

My full house load on the Lapua is 99 grains of H-1000 Powder with the Federal 215M primer, along with a 240 grain North Fork, 250 Barnes X, or 250
Swift A-Frame, the North Fork having an edge in accuracy. I started with 94 grains and worked up, you might give it a try. Good luck and good shooting.

Phurley's load is probably not what I'd call light.

I'd start with a 180 gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip with RL25 or something similar. I use the 200 gr. BT's for cheap target practice and reduced loads in my 338/378 and they're great, the 180's are going to be even easier to slow down.

Hi, Steve:

Actually, your "pages" is the first place I went to look up specs. I looked at my Speer manual last night, and it does not list the .338 Lapua.

And Phurley:

I have done with my .338 WM what you have done with your Lapua — I have a load I am confident with that will kill anything I hunt. In my case, I am using 71 gr. of H4831 behind a 250 gr. Nosler Partition.

My dilemma is whether I should work up a load for this gun that is accurate, hard-hitting and flexible for all situations (as far as possible), or should I download, try to get him comfortable with the gun and then work it back up?

It's not as if a 180 gr. out of a Lapua is underpowered, after all.

Also, in the interests of disclosure, the guy I'm doing this for is my boss's boss's boss. I'm not exactly a production employee, and we live in a golf culture. This guy is the company president, and he doesn't golf. I believe he and I are the only hunters, but he is frustrated and has not had any help.

kk

That sounds like a good "in"! Maybe you'll make VP soon!

Look at Hodgdon's website. They've got some data for the Lapua that you could go off of as a starting point. As an example, they have a starting load for a 175 gr. Barnes using 93 gr. of H-1000. H-1000 is slow enough that you could easily go under 93 gr. without having to worry about load density etc. You could also use Retumbo and just back the charge off a few grains, that's even slower and would serve your purpose even better. You're going to have to do a little math though since they don't have Retumbo listed for anything lighter than 200 gr. However the Retumbo charge for the 200 gr. is basically going to amount to reduced charge for the 180's.

put a pach f990 pad on it, and give him an "extra" .5"... i've got 2 scope cuts from a too short gun... and it'll not happen again that way.

it takes MONTHS to get over

jeffe

One more question:

About the primer � I am using the Winchester WLRM primer. Should I switch to the Federal?

kk

I use the 215M's in all of my Magnums and they have always worked well for me.

I use only Federal 210M and 215M primers. There are other excellent primers, I just decided to "keep it simple stupid". I always had the best accuracy with the Fed primers. Good shooting.