New Barrett 98 to play with

[LRPV]

Today my brother in law bought me something new to play with. A 98 bravo. I am just putting out a feeler for things to look out for in loading the 338 Lapua and maybe some load ideas. My books that I have right now only have limited data in them. Thanks for any help. Jason

 

[hawghunter]

I need a brother-in-law like that enjoy

 

[uncleduke]

I'm sure there's a bunch of posts on Snipers Hide w/info for you. Just don't piss em off with too many questions; they don't suuffer fools. Just kidding. ;D

 

[LRPV]

Yes you and everyone do. I am very lucky I guess. I got cut off in the middle of the initial post, so I will pick up here. As far as dies go, I was going to go with the Forster two die set with micro seater. I use these for just about all the others I load for and he isn't going to want to spend 2-300 on Redding. Does anyone have a real objection to this? As far as bullets go thinking about Sierra 250's or 300 grain MK. Until berger unleashes their new one full bore, I suppose supply will be very limited on those. I have looked at the Sierra book yet, not even sure if 338 lapua is in there. Hornady doesn't have much of a bullet selection but powder wise it looks like RL-22 should work fairly well, Is there a different choice that is far and away a better place to start? I have 10# sitting here already... I am running a Forster Coax and a T-7 press and just from the looks of things, a bigger press might be nice but I am assuming it will work fine. Again any advice or reassurance would be great.

I never have ventured over to Snipers Hide. Kinda scares me...

 

[TonyR]

My brother-in-law has a 98B and has had good success with Retumbo using the 250 and 300grain Sierras, Hornadys and Lapuas seated to run through the magazine. We did some ladder testing with it and found some loads that were pretty consistent out to 1000 yards. He actually hit an 8 inch gong a couple of times at 1000 the first time we took it to the range. It is a wonderful thing. He had some problems getting a consistent hold when shooting off the bench because the rear monopod is hard to adjust properly and the stock doen't ride a bag very well so he made up a little pipe attachment for the monopod that sits nicely in the bag then put the bag on a plate with vertical adjustment screw. He was then able to get a consistent point-of-aim for the load development. Also, the top rail is level and he ran out of scope vertical adjustment when he went to 1000 yards. He has one of the higher power Nightforce NSX scopes but it may not be a problem with other scopes. He ended up getting a set of Barrett scope rings that can add vertical by moving a pin in the rear mount. I was really surprised at how little the barrel heats up when you do a lot of shooting. We did not see any sort of wandering as it heated up like I've seen with some light sporter barrels. All in all, a very nicely designed shooting system.

 

[people]

The BC on the 250gr is not all that great when looking at the 300. That is why many go with the 300gr bullet.

Forster dies put togeather some good rounds.

 

[LRPV]

I ordered Lapua brass, 300 smk (gonna keep it simple to start) Found some Forster dies finally after alot of looking. Ordered some LS jaws for the Forster Coax, but I couldn't find a normal Redding shell holder in stock. I hope the Forster has enough room that it isn't a complete pain to use it. Waiting on a 10-50x60 Sightron now and trying to decide on rings. Probably will end up with the Barrett rings. Gonna have to find another place to shoot now too I guess, We have a pretty nice private deal with concrete bench but limited to about 600 yards with it. Wish me luck.

 

[people]

That is the hard part about these rifles. It is very hard to get a place to streatch the legs on these guys. Most ranges I have access to that are 1,000yds do not want a person to have a break on it. The one close to me has a zero tolerence on it. No sheilds to block the noise. I asked if I could use a sound supressor. They just came back with the standard "Do you have one?" responce. I said "sure why not can I use it here?" Nope was the responce. I am not a member any more.