338 Cases

[338 Mollett]

Left to right: 338 Lapua; 338 Norma; 338 Mollett

 

[Rockfish Dave]

That looks great.

Can you do a quick bullet point steps in forming the wildcat, and maybe share the reamer print?

That is a the same case head as the 338 Lapua right?

 

[Sling]

So that is the Cheytac shortened and rebated for Lapua bolt face right? I can`t imagine the work involved. Neat cartridge. Its similar to the 338 Short action Cheytac magnum over in New Zealand. Remember our PM, lets talk.

 

[signut]

Next step is factory brass for us lazy types...
Very efficient looking cartridge.

 

[montana_native]

Left to right: 338 Lapua; 338 Norma; 338 Mollett

How much improvement over a 338 Lapua assuming the same barrel lengths?

 

[338 Mollett]

Ok have brandy will describe.Over five years of testing I discovered a few things about 338's.The lapua is a powerful cartridge but I found the accuracy over many case firings not consistent .The norma is a darn fine cartridge very accurate and dependable over many firings.Jimmy Sloan developed the Norma case who over time has become a friend of mine,and deserves full credit for developing a wonderful cartridge.Rich Macholtz hope I spelled it right did all the load data for sierra on the lapua,who also has become a friend.These gentlemen started my feet on the path of 338's.I felt there was something missing in the lapua but nothing in the norma just got greedy and wanted the 100 fps the norma case lost to the lapua.As to the design on a 338 bore if you want a 1000 rnds of accuracy you cannot go over about 96g of powder.Thus duplicating the capacity of the lapua case,I wanted a 30 degree shoulder and long neck to keep the turbulence of gas expansion inside the neck to help with the barrel life, also to accommodate a variety of bullets.The rebated rim is .585 which is the same as the lapua and Jimmy's case but the shell holders are different due to the extraction groove.Bolt thrust was a concern but I figured the same foot print with the same amount of powder shouldn't matter which proved correct.If a man wants' to out perform a 338 lapua go to 338 snipetac.But as I have stated to toe the line in all issues, repeatable,accurate,dependable,powerful,and controllable with a rifle you can carry I think this is it.The case is stronger than Frankenstein my bolt sticks at 3075 fps with a 250g bullet.I tried a Russian powder from a buddy an the first shot cooked off at 3250 froze the bolt after I let the case cool off I jacked it out and primer wasn't even flat.With annealing at every 5 firings I think 25 or so firings can be achieved.If there is gonna some kind of demand for it which wasn't planned for unless a military wanted it,I have to come up with a production plan,good luck to me lol!This thing will shoot it has the power of the lapua with the accuracy of the norma and a 1000 rnds barrel life.My biggest obstacle since I'm an f open shooter is to get it to shoot for long strings of fire.This has been a problem with past 338's.Which inspired my design.The current barrel I'm testing has a 9.75 twist,which should be ok for most bullets.Experiments will start up again in a few weeks I got off in to a 6xc and 7 wsm because I had matches coming up. But make no mistake I will post further test results.

 

[Rockfish Dave]

Good stuff! Thanks!

 

[Tim]

Interesting I have ben shooting the same case for 3 years now except. I necked it down to 30 cal. My accuracy load shoots the 230 berger out of a 34 inch barrel at 3382. My favorite load shoots the 215 @ 3567 super flat.