338-300 Norma Improved 35 degree

[Alex Wheeler]

Looking real good. I just chambered another 300 Norma imp for myself today. 245s and N570 is shooting well for Hovee at 3000 fps, so I may have to try them. I am surprised to see those 285 Hornadys shoot that small though.

 

[rhovee]

Tom, are you sorting the 285's? I too did not take Hornady to be a consistent enough bullet maker to contend at long range with the Berger's and such. I did pick up 100 to try out and compare my results with yours.

I will take some pictures next time with the 245 30 cal's and the 300 NMI. It is not a sensitive bullet. Doing seating depth test at 300 from +5 to -.040 jump, none of the groups were over 1.75" at 300.

 

[tom]

Tom, are you sorting the 285's? I too did not take Hornady to be a consistent enough bullet maker to contend at long range with the Berger's and such. I did pick up 100 to try out and compare my results with yours.

I will take some pictures next time with the 245 30 cal's and the 300 NMI. It is not a sensitive bullet. Doing seating depth test at 300 from +5 to -.040 jump, none of the groups were over 1.75" at 300.

So far I've just reached in the box and loaded them.

Tom

 

[Ga. Dawg]

Is this yo new Wabbit Wifle?

 

[500yards]

Some really great shooting.

 

[tom]

My buddies (sister rifle) is shooting the 300 OTM and vit 570 combo well. His 28" broughton wants to be +-2930.


5 off at my 871 yard spot today.




3 off after a cool down




Tom

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Thinking I might have to have Alex spin me up a barrel for the 338 NMI. Looks like a very capable round in a compact package.
Plus I could use the same Lapua 300 Norma brass I use for my 300 NMI.

Maybe retire my 338-375R because I only have crappy Hornady brass at the moment. If I could ever get my hands on some ADG 300 PRC brass, I would have renewed hope for my 338-375R. No luck finding it so far

 

[Ledd Slinger]

@tom

You might also try some faster powders in the 338 NMI. I can cram a bunch of slow powder in my 338-375R and it works well for speed, but it also does really good with mid burn rate powders.

Tried a bunch of slow powders like Retumbo, IMR 7828, RL22, RL25, etc. with 82-87gr charge weights depending on the powder.
I found just as good speed and also better accuracy with H4350 and RL16. As you know, H4350 and RL16 are pretty much the same burn rate, but 16 gave a slight speed and accuracy advantage with identical charge weights. 16 being a ‘fluffier’ powder, it gives better case fill than H4350 with the lower charge weights. Ran H4350 and 16 both easily up to just over 3000fps with the 250gr Berger in a 26” barrel using around 77gr of powder but my crappy Hornady primer pockets started stretching out. It’s pretty happy with Hornady brass and the 250 Berger at 2980fps using 76.5gr RL16

My old belted 358 Noma Mag was an even more of an odd duck. It also worked well with somewhat medium burn rate powders, but I ended up using 73gr of BLC-2 behind a 225gr Nosler Partition in that rifle. Launched them very accurately at 3030fps from a 26” barrel. Same powder I use for certain loads in my 204 Ruger. Crazy.

So just because the 338 NMI is a bigger case with a big bullet doesn’t necessarily mean that it will only work with really slow powders.
I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if you had similar positive results using H4350 and RL16 in the 338 NMI.

 

[rhovee]

Here is a little info for a solid hunting bullet I will be trying this season. Same 24” barrel. H1000. Cci 250’s 2980 FPS. 260 Hammer Hunter bullets. 3 shot 100 yard zero. I also purchased some 338 Norma Lapua brass and will post measurements. This could be a nice benefit when considering no doughnut at shoulder junction.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Well I finally found 100 pieces of ADG 300 PRC brass. Will finally have some tough primer pockets for my 338-375 Ruger. Excited to finally figure out the round’s true potential. Hoping the ADG case capacity is similar to the Hornady brass but I’m expecting it to be a little less due to the beefier construction.

If it doesn’t perform like I expect, I might switch things up and do a 338 NMI.

Might have to give those Hammer bullets a closer look too

 

[tom]

1st day out with a new heavy varmint broughton today. Vv570/300 Berger. 363 bushing.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

1st day out with a new heavy varmint broughton today. Vv570/300 Berger

Good speeds and accuracy. whats the barrel length and twist?

 

[tom]

Brandon,

@Alex Wheeler might remember twist, i wrote 1-9 but I think it is 9.???. I think he finished it 28 or 30. The heavier contour is doing what i had hoped, which is to give width to the node, plus it's easier to see my own splashes. The original Krieger does shoot as well, but I think I'm going to like it configured this way better.

Tom

 

[Ledd Slinger]

I really like N570. Such a great powder for speed, accuracy, and temp stability. Quickly becoming my favorite powder.

 

[tom]

I really like N570. Such a great powder for speed, accuracy, and temp stability. Quickly becoming my favorite powder.

Me too. I was glad I made time to develop a load with it for my 338 LIMP before last years 2,000 yard group match. It wound up serving me well. Through that tuning, it seemed to favor less neck tension and also favor the jump nodes. I will take this rifle out and go through charges with a couple different bushings next, and of course watch it speed up for a few trips still.

Tom

 

[Alex Wheeler]

1 in 9.35 30"

 

[Ledd Slinger]

I’m just gonna start paying @tom to tune all my new rifles. Lol.

 

[Bc'z]

That's impressive!

 

[rhovee]

Both my Broughton 338 barrels have not speed up much. 30 FPS on one, and the other didn’t. Looks like you might end up in the same 94.3-94.6 area. Are you jumping the 300 OTM’s? My Elite hunters also shot good around 5-8 off.

 

[tom]

@rhovee

Jumping about 3 1/2 lol. My buddies broughton is great 3-5 and holding vertical but widens out at 7. We'll see what happens with it as it seasons in, but his 28" wound up around 2950. I'm hoping that 93.9 area winds up being it, it's easier to get it in there.

Tom