338wsm. Rl 26

[Handler67]

Need a good start point for 338 wsm and rl 26 and rl 23 with 225 pills. Any help would be appreciated

 

[Kurz]

Since there aren't any real top end Match Target bullets available in the 225 class, I will guess that you're looking for a hunting bullet.

When I worked with this cartridge a few years ago, I found Re-17 to be a great fit for the 225 class hunting bullets. Now you can use the Re-16 also with a minor adjustment to the load weight. The Re-23/26 are a little too slow to get the most out of this cartridge. I also use 2.925" as a maximum for seating rather than attempting to be limited to a single shot when hunting.

 

[Zero333]

Kurz is right on the money.

There is not enough capacity to fill with RL-23 / RL-26 with 225 gr bullets.

If you were shooting a 300 gr match bullet seated with a COAL of 3.350", only then those powder might be suitable.

RL-16
RL-17
Ramshot Hunter
H-414 (Win.-760)
Norma URP
Norma 204
AA-4350
H-4350
IMR-4350
VV-N550
Hybrid 100V

Even Varget and IMR-4064 are a better match for this combination than RL-23/26.

If you're using a long action and you have enough freebore to sit the 225 bullets at a 3.000+ COAL, maybe then RL-23 could work. But still not optimally.

If I had to guess the MAX with RL-23 with 2.860" COAL and 225 bullet, I'd say maybe around 76 gr.
And I assume 72 gr would be a compressed load... so 76 gr would be a VERY compressed load.