New 338 rum. Need load advice please

[shootinmiles]

Hi all,
My buddy is having a custom 338 RUM built which should be finished in about thirty days, and he is wanting me to help him load for it. He has actually never loaded before. The $100 per box price tag has made him a convert. I priced it at $59 for the first reloading and $29 for subsequent plus beer.

Anyways, I have never reloaded for this cartridge so I was hoping to get some information from those of you who have. His Gus will have a Rem action and a 26.5" barrel with a break on it. Not sure what barrel is going on it. A heavy contour is all I know. I think a 10 twist. I will know for sure before buying any bullets.
Here are my plans and questions. I plan to load up two different loads for him. In my heart I cannot be made to believe that a Barnes TSX can be beaten for anything closer than 300 yards. Those bullets just seem to do their job. I just don't like that they're longer and that they had a horrible BC. I plan to load up either the 225 gr TTSX or the 250gr TSX. The other Burt I want to load for him is the accubond in either 260gr or the new 300gr. The latter having a superb BC.
Remington cases and primers. I was going to use Retumbo since I have great results with that in my 300 rum. Which Barnes do y'all think that I should go with? Likewise, which accubond should I try? With the 300 rum I was under the impression to go with the heaviest bullet possible in order to get the most out of the powder capacity. Is that true of the 338 rum as well? Hodgdon has a 300 SMK at just over 2600 fps. Is 300grs too much? My nosler book doesn't have loads for the 300 accubond.
If anyone has experience, what starting loads should I try?
Thanks for any and all help.
Miles

 

[GNERGY]

My 338 Ultra mag likes the Barnes 225 TTSX with 92 grs of H4831SC with a Fed Mag primer loaded to 3.760 OAL. It zips along at 3217 fps out of a 30 inch Broughton tube. It shoots 5/8 inch groups at 300yds. and 1 1/4 inch at 500 meters.
I would start a little lower and work your way up to that load. 93.5 was MAX in my rifle.
Tarey

 

[barnesuser28]

I am shooting the 280 grain Barnes LRX out of my 338 Lapua which is very similar to the 338 RUM with great results this season, longest kill was 486 yards on two antelope and the one i hit behind the shoulder went 10 yards and piled up and the other i hit in the neck and was drt. I recently shot a cow elk with the same set up as above at 378 yards, here is a link to a thread i started on LRH, along with some carnage pics at the end. Warning! Graphic pics!! http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f86/finally-my-first-elk-104588/index4.html

If you want to shoot/load accubonds i would reccomend the 225 grainer, awesome BC for its weight and just hammers everything out to 1k.

If you go to my photobucket page (Again Graphic!!) http://s1276.beta.photobucket.com/user/herdthinner/library/#/user/herdthinner/library/?&_suid=135693011706304681447056342071 you will see some more terminal performance pictures of Barnes Bullets.

Good Luck!!

Riley

 

[Preacher]

I have had really good luck with the new RL-33 in my 338 UM, I shoot the 250 grain SMK's, but not at live animals..

 

[wboggs]

I have a custom .338UM which has taken 98 African animals of all sizes, most with one shot at ranges from 25-400yds. My load was Norma MRP, 250 Barnes TSX. MV is 2986fps in the African sun, less than 1/2' 3shot grps. It is one of the most effective rifles the Professional Hunters have ever seen and they have seen them all. Yes, the BC of the Barnes is less but at reasonable ranges it produces spectacular results on game.