any of you guys have a .338 fed...and checked the muzzle velocities on the factory offerings? I have a hard time believing federal's #'s

handwerk

I put a few 180gn Federal Accubonds over a chrony a couple of weeks ago and found they were doing 2750fps which is about 80fps short of Federal's figure.

I was happy with that - I have a Tikka T3 and there is some freebore with the barrel.

I will be interested to see if I can get near that figure with handloads.

mlg

MLG- thanks for the reply. I'm sure their #'s are for a 24" barrel, and since your tikka has a barrel a little over 22" they may not be that far off.
Btw, I saw you fusion targets, hang in there, I've bought 3 tikkas and they all did 1" or better with some factory load.

I wanted to chrono my 338 Federal sooner but this weekend was the earliest I could do it. Anyway, I'm gearing up for a black bear hunt next month (May) and will be using a 'Hill Country Rifles' built 338 Federal. It's on a remington short action with a 22" barrel.

I've been handloading the 210 partition for it and get consistant 3/4" groups. My load is a book max charge of 46.0 grs of RL-15 and WLR primers. My chrono results are rather disapointing for the handloads. I also chrono'ed factory partition loads and here is what I got.

338 Federal/210 Partition/22" barrel

Published velocity: 2630fps

Actual factory ammo velocity: 2570fps

My handload velocity: 2470fps


I don't have time to try other loads before I go. I have confidence that I can hit what I point at with that rifle, which in my opinion is the MOST important factor. I don't think the loss of 100fps is going to be a big deal although I may end up taking the Federal Fusions which shoot fairly well out of my rifle.

I just got a chance this weekend to Chrono the Factory 200 grain Fusion loads.

They Chronoed more than the advertised velocity, yes, I said more. They are advertised at 2660 and they went around 2675 avg. from my Tikka T3. They did have slight flatten primers but the pockets were still plenty tight with WLRs. Now, the terrible groups from those loads is another story.

I couldn't get anywhere close to the factory loads with: Varget or H4895. They were in the mid 2400s with compresed loads under 200 Hdys and lower with 200 NBTs(took up more powder capacity).

This cartridge is going to take a faster powder to really shine. I dropped down to AA2015BR and with an advertised max load of 43.5grns I had a full case and achieved mid 2500ish speeds with the Hdys and mid 2400s with 200 NBTs(42.5 grns).

It would be nice if we had some of the pixy dust powder Federal is using

I think I may try H335 next to see what kind of results I get.

I'm pretty satisfied with the 2015 thus far as it gave acceptable velocity with no pressure signs. working up to max listed loads I had no normal pressure signs with the 2015 so, I may go alittle over and see if I can get up to 2600 with 200s. I feel like I'll be able to get to 44-44.5 grns of 2015 before I start having compressed loads with the 200 HDYs.

A Ball powder that's alittle faster than Varget may be a good place to start. Maybe some of Ramshot's offerings.

Good Luck

Reloader

I'm doing one on a 1910 Mex Mauser, going to throat a bit longer so I can seat out the bullets. I've read somewhere that the 338 Fed is a High Energy load, but not advertised as such, could this be correct?

Hi guys,

I just shot my 338 Federal this weekend past. It's a Rem 700 with a 24" Lilja barrel of varmint contour.

I read Reloader's post with his experience using H4895. I had already made 40 rounds, 20 with 180gr accubonds and 20 with 200gr Ballistic tips. Reloader is 100% correct, velocity and accuracy was piss poor using H4895 with 2" groups the norm at 2450 fps.

RL7 was the story of the day. With 180gr accubonds and using 42 grains of RL7 I was in the 2790 to 2805 fps range. Accuracy was smoking with two 5 shot groups each making a ragged hole of about the size of a quarter.

I plan on fine tuning it a little more using some Lapua brass and adding 1/10th of a grain increments up to 43 grains and record what happens.

I believe I'll also try some RL 15 with the 200gr ballistic tips since I would like to hunt with those if accuracy is the same.

beretta96,

Keep us updated. Nice to hear you got great velocity and accuracy with the R7.

What charge did you start with on the 180s?

Did you try R7 with the 200s?

I'd like to try it under 200s as well but, I'm not sure where to start in charge weight. Maybe 39?


Thanks!

Reloader

Reloader,

I had actually read an article about a 338-08 rifle Charlie Sisk had built, and it was the load he used with the 180gr ballistic tips. He used a max charge of 42.9grs of RL7.

I started at 39 grs, then 40,41,42. That gave me 5 rounds of each charge. My next attempt will be from 42 and work up .1grs each 5 rounds.

I love the way this load is shooting for me, but I will try and find a powder that will push my 200gr ballistic tips to 2650fps (hopefully). That would give me the trajectory of the 308win with 180gr bullets but with more authority for moose and bear.

I'll keep you posted on results next week.

I'm waiting for a leupold single piece base with windage adjustment to come in. I ran out of horizontal adjustment on my scope and still printing 3 inches left. This way I can re-zero my scope and keep things in its center.

Beretta96

Great to hear RL7 is working.

I will be very keen to know how you go with RL15 and 200gn projectiles.

mlg

I have moved to 200gr AB's with RL15. Best groups yet, by far. Big improvement over 180's. Much happier with gun now.

Dan

Dan, what kind of velocity are you getting with R15?

I hope R15 is a good powder in this cart but, I'm afraid we'll run out of room before we hit descent velocity. Like Seafire said, this cart is probably going to shine with the faster burning stuff like R7.

Reloader

Have not chrony'd yet. I'll let you know when I do. I have a knife show in 1 month and I'm busy getting ready for that.

Sorry for getting back so late on this subject, too busy around here! I couldn't get the 200 ballistic tips to shoot well with th RL7 so I'll abandon them for the time being.

The 180gr accubonds and RL7 are fantastic! I've settled on 42.6grs of RL7 with a MV of 2810fps. No pressure problems at this charge but in my rifle this would be max. With a charge of 42.8 I had a sticky bolt lift and lots of velocity spread.

Accuracy was excellent. I can't post my target yet since it was raining that day and they got pretty soaked. I'll try again next week and post one. At 200 yards off a bench I was able to print 1 1/4" to 1 1/2" groups. My rifle seems to like being shot dirty. I need to fire 3 fouling shots before it settles down. It's a new barrel too so maybe a little longer break in would help as well.

I'll keep you guys posted.