in the new handloader they show some great loads for the 338-06 using varget and 760. Any one have luck with any of these powders. I'm useing imt 4320 right now, but it looks like I can get almost 100 FPS by changing powders. I'm looking for around 2700 FPS or so. Thanks

I haven't used either one of those but I've had good luck using RL-19.

What weight of bullet are you referring to at 2700fps?

N150, N160, Norma 203-B and 204 is ok

m

quote:

Originally posted by lagerboy:
What weight of bullet are you referring to at 2700fps?

Sorry about that. I'm shooting 210gr Partitions

H4350 with a 225 Gr Interbond clocks in at 2725fps and kills Moose very well.

RL15 or IMR 4895

2700fps is easily attainable with 210gr bullets.

I have used varget and prefer it, simply because I have a bunch. But the cartridge is easy to load for, and many powders work.

My 23" Hart liked:

4230

200 BTs 2910
215 2790
225 2670

If I shot one now, I would use the same, but 4064 and Varget might do as well or a smidgen better w/200s and slower powders like 4350 perhaps edge out w/250s. For 200-230s I think 4320 has a great blend of top speed plus 1/2 MOA accuracy IME.

WW cases, std. primers, std. chamber but throated for 250s, partial sized cases.

Woodelf,

Varget should work very well with the 210 NP. W760 is another good choice..I have had very good performance from H414 which I believe is the same as 760, RL15 and 4320.

Good luck

While H-414 and W-760 are identical ball powders, the two extruded powders (RL-15 and IMR4320) are not the same as the ball powders nor the same as each other. This was not clear in the above post.



.

Good clarification...did not mean to imply RL15 or IMR 4320 are ball powders or similar to H414.

I'm in the process of putting a 338-06 together and I am quite interested in this thread. Has anyone used RL17 with the 210 & 225 gr bullets?With a burning speed between 4320 and 4350 but with a flatter presure curve this powder may provide top velocities. Anyone have any RL17 loads??

Can anyone with Quickload make a comment on RL17 with 210 & 225 gr bullets?? Thanks

I use H414 in my 338-06AI with 225gr Accubonds and TTSX's.

I use IMR 4064 for the 180-200gr bullets in my rifle. H4350 with 210 and above. I tried Varget and 4320 but perfer 4064. N150 is another very good powder in my rifle. H4350 will give you around 2750-2800 in most rifle with the Nosler 210. Good Hunting

Snowman,

Quick load kicked out the following for a 210 NP, 22 inch barrel:
Alliant Reloder-17 103.9% 61.3 gr 2806 f/s 65000 psi

For 225 gr NP:
Alliant Reloder-17 103.4 % 58.7 gr 2698 f/s 65000 psi

from the QL calculations, RL17 should give very good velocity with the 338-06 with these slightly compressed loads...

Start below and work up, etc etc etc as these loads are at published max pressure of 65000 PSI.

Cheers

Kreyten Thanks for that. That seems like pretty decent velocity out of a 22 in barrel. Certainly worth developing a few test loads for.

quote:

Originally posted by snowman:
I'm in the process of putting a 338-06 together and I am quite interested in this thread. Has anyone used RL17 with the 210 & 225 gr bullets?With a burning speed between 4320 and 4350 but with a flatter presure curve this powder may provide top velocities. Anyone have any RL17 loads??

I too am putting together a 338-06, well, I have all the components, it's a savage switch barrel, so it's a 6mmAI at the moment. Once load development and the fun wear off, I'll put on my 260AI barrel. But before next fall, the 338-06 barrel will be fitted and a load developed for a whitetail for sure, but hopefully a moose! What part of the province you from?? I live in the Brandon area...

Coyotekiller you have a PM

R-15 for 165 to 215 grain bullets has worked great for 5 years no complaints at all.

Since I built my 338-06 in '95 I have only loaded VV N-550 and have been quite pleased from 185's to 225's. I suggest you give it a try.

Try some Big Game, it will make 2800 fps in a 24 in barrel for me. 4064 is also good as is RL15 and H414. This caliber isn't very picky or fussy.

From my experience Quickload is way off with their calculations for RL17 in the 338-06. I found that in my gun the velocities were almost 200 fps slower than what quickload predicted. I also found that I could bump the loads up quite a bit over what Quickload recommended as the maximum without showing any signs of pressure at all.

That being said I worked with RL17 quite a bit and was never able to duplicate the velocities I was able to get with RL15 (my current favorite powder in the 338-06). I got nice groups and the velocity spreads were so small it was hard to believe but I also got great groups and small spreads with RL15 but with higher velocities so for now I'm sticking with that.

quote:

Originally posted by kreyten:
Snowman,

Quick load kicked out the following for a 210 NP, 22 inch barrel:
Alliant Reloder-17 103.9% 61.3 gr 2806 f/s 65000 psi

For 225 gr NP:
Alliant Reloder-17 103.4 % 58.7 gr 2698 f/s 65000 psi

from the QL calculations, RL17 should give very good velocity with the 338-06 with these slightly compressed loads...

Start below and work up, etc etc etc as these loads are at published max pressure of 65000 PSI.

Cheers

i'VE BEEN RUNNIING 760 IN MINE BUT AM ITCHING TO TRY RL17 WITH THE 210 TTSX ANYONE ELSE RAN THIS?

Backwoods Thanks for your input. Would you care to share some of the RL17 loads that you worked up as well as your better loads with other powders ?

IMR 4320 easily hits 2700fps w/ a 210grNP in a 22"+ bbl. Mine wears a 22 1/2" bbl. & 4320 was what I started with. I have moved a bit slower & gone to H4350. My groups are better, & the vel is still just over 2700fps. Varget didn't work for me, but all rifles are diff. RL15 is a good choice too, as is RL19 & VV160.

Here is my only load for the 338-06 225 noz accubond seconds 60 grains of ramshot big game necked up hornady 30-06 case and CCI 200 primer at 2670 fps moa at 200 yards, the barrel is a E. R. shaw 24 inch.

scott

sounds about like my load, I haven't loaded 225's, but 210 TSX's go 2800 fps with 62 grains of Big Game and shoots really well.

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner snowman, I have been swamped lately and haven't checked the forum in a while. I'm at work now but when I get home I'll check my log books and post some of the loads I've tested for you.

quote:

Originally posted by snowman:
Backwoods Thanks for your input. Would you care to share some of the RL17 loads that you worked up as well as your better loads with other powders ?

Another vote for Varget here. It gave me great velocity and superb accuracy with the 210 Noslers and the cheap 200 Hornadys. Standard CCI LR primers used.

Here are some of the loads I tested snowman. Please remember that some of these loads may be a little on the hot side so start low and work up. My gun is a Savage 11 with a 24" Adams and Bennett barrel from Midway. It's throated fairly long so I can seat the bullets out longer than the standard 338-06 and gain a little powder capacity but it's not a particularly fast barrel so the velocities I get are usually less than the book velocities. All cases used are Winchester 30-06 necked up to 338 and all primers are CCI.

180gr Nosler Accubond - 61 grains RL17 - Average velocity 2751fps
180gr Nosler Accubond - 62 grains RL17 - Average velocity 2769fps
180gr Nosler Accubond - 63 grains RL17 - Average velocity 2810fps
180gr Nosler Accubond - 60 grains RL15 - Average velocity 2900fps
180gr Nosler Accubond - 60.5 grains RL15 - Average velocity 2937fps (This is my go to load for the 180gr bullet...I could probably suqeeze a little more velocity but the consistency and accuracy of this load is incredible in my gun)

225gr Hornady SST - 57 grains RL17 - Average velocity 2512fps
225gr Hornady SST - 57.5 grains RL17 - Average velocity 2542fps
225gr Hornady SST - 58 grains RL17 - Average velocity 2562fps (this load was compressed more than I really like so I didn't go further even though I was showing no pressure signs at all.)
225gr Hornady SST - 54 grains RL15 - Average velocity 2584fps
225gr Hornady SST - 55 grains RL15 - Average velocity 2597fps (this load was extremely accurate and consistent in my gun and is my go to load for the 225gr SST)
225gr Hornady SST - 55.5 grains RL15 - Average velocity 2646fps (this load was not quite as consistent as the previous load and was starting to show some slight pressure signs)

I tried a few loads with Varget and the velocities were almost identical to what I got with RL15 but in my gun they loads with Varget were slightly less accurate so while that is still my favorite powder for my AR15 I prefer RL15 in my 338-06.

I'm really wanting to try some of the new Alliant Power Pro powder and I've heard that VihtaVuori N550 is great in the 338-06 so I'll try it if I can ever get my hands on some.

Backwoods Thanks for sharing this info. You have me a little confused about a couple things.You say your throat is fairly long so you can seat the bullets out a little further and gain case capacity. What is the complete overall length of your loaded cartridges? I can't see how 58 grs of RL 17 can be too compressed.58 grs of RL17 comes approx 1/2 way up the shoulder on a resized Win 30-06 case. The 225 Hornady just barely touches the powder when the bullet is seated to 3.30 inches COL. However 60.5 grs of RL 15 comes 1/2 way up the neck on the same Win case. When you seat a 180 gr Nosler on top of that you must have a compressed load. I did search on the web for other RL17 loads and found results from one loader who used RL17 and 225 Hornady Spire pts. The spire pt is approx 3/32 shorter than the SST so that gives you a little more powder room.This loader used a stock Wby 338-06 and started at 57.5 grs of RL17 for 2489 fps up to 63.5 grs for 2728 fps. So your results of 58 grs giving 2562 is pretty much bang on the results in the Wby. RL17 may not be THE powder for the 225 gr bullets but I hope it will be very good in the 210 gr.

Sorry for the confusion!

The 225gr SST loads were at the standard 3.34" COL but with the 180gr Accubond (and most other bullets I have tried) I was getting the best accuracy on my gun with the COL at 3.4" so that's what I used for all of those loads. I guess that's just a quirk of my barrel, but if I seated the SST's any longer than 3.34 my groups opened up considerably.

The 60.5 grains of RL15 and the 180 Accubond is slightly compressed but not overly so in my opinion.
The 225gr SST's are fairly long bullets and when I seated them to 3.34" with 58 grains of RL17 I could feel the powder crunching and could feel quite a bit of resistance when seating the bullet.

Some friends of mine and I have a shooting session planned for this Saturday and I will be running a few more loads (using RL15, RL17, and Varget)through the chronograph so if I hit on anything interesting I'll let you know.

quote:

Originally posted by snowman:
Backwoods Thanks for sharing this info. You have me a little confused about a couple things.You say your throat is fairly long so you can seat the bullets out a little further and gain case capacity. What is the complete overall length of your loaded cartridges? I can't see how 58 grs of RL 17 can be too compressed.58 grs of RL17 comes approx 1/2 way up the shoulder on a resized Win 30-06 case. The 225 Hornady just barely touches the powder when the bullet is seated to 3.30 inches COL. However 60.5 grs of RL 15 comes 1/2 way up the neck on the same Win case. When you seat a 180 gr Nosler on top of that you must have a compressed load. I did search on the web for other RL17 loads and found results from one loader who used RL17 and 225 Hornady Spire pts. The spire pt is approx 3/32 shorter than the SST so that gives you a little more powder room.This loader used a stock Wby 338-06 and started at 57.5 grs of RL17 for 2489 fps up to 63.5 grs for 2728 fps. So your results of 58 grs giving 2562 is pretty much bang on the results in the Wby. RL17 may not be THE powder for the 225 gr bullets but I hope it will be very good in the 210 gr.

BWB, seriously you should give H4350 a shot. No pun intended. I'm using Hornady Interbond 225gr. Virtually the same bullet as far as the barrel is concerned. 61.0gr yields me 2725 over the chrony with nice groups. A loose in. at 100yds. Slightly compressed. No pressure signs. Goodluck.

I forgot to mention that I'm also using, like many others, IMR4320 with a 200gr Nosler BT. That combo is a tack driver. Over a chronograph it is 2850fps and sub moa. I kinda like the heavier 225 bullet myself. After all that is why I had this thing made was to shoot heavy bullets. Cheers.