I was commissioned to do load development for a friend's rifle. He was having problems getting it to shoot well.

He knows I'm an addict and wouldn't be able to turn an interesting project down.

The rifle is very interesting to say the least. It's a Score High Gunsmithing custom build chambered in .338 Lapua Magnum, 32" stainless Brux barrel, Score High Tactical muzzle brake, McMillan A-5 Tactical Stock, Leupold 8.5-25 Mark IV with Mil Dots (Second focal plane ), Barrett BORS ranging system installed.















My friend had tried various powders and bullets with no acceptable luck. I checked the Hodgdon Data Center and found that the powder giving the best velocity with the 300 grain Sierra MatchKing was none other than US-869, a powder that I happen to have 16#'s of. I've been playing with it in the .264 Win Mag.

I took a measurement with the cleaning rod and determined what .030" off of the lands would be and loaded 5 at 101.1 grains then increased every consecutive case by .3 grains til I reached 104.6 grains (.6 grains over published max load).

The Audette's Ladder finds the nodes and max load in the same test. As woods knows, I want to marry Mr. Audette's daughter. This test solidifies my love for her!







I shot the test at 200 yards since our sillouette range was occupied with a 3-gun match. As you can see, it was very difficult marking some of the hits from the bench; some went into the same holes as others and most were very close to each other. A good barrel and choice of components!

The starting load chrono'd at 2901 fps and the ending cartridge fired (104.6 gr with a tad bit of cratering in the primer) chrono'd at 3072 fps.

The node of my choice are shots 7 through 11 encompassing 1.2 grains of powder impacting at the same place virtually. About 1" for the 5 shots.

I will load #9; right in the middle and shoot for long range groups.

Will post results.

I am Impressed with this cartridge for my first exposure to it. It should be an unbelievable long range load at around 2950 fps and a BC of .75!

I now understand how the longest sniper kill on record was made.