338 Lapua WHAT??

[Sako man]

Ok so I'm on my second going on third reload of some 338 Lapua brass, been shooting 300 grain bullets. So far i have not had to trim the brass at all, they have not grown or only grown +.001 or .002

Shooting a Sako TRG 42

I have 308 loads where on first round the brass has grown .005-.010, or there a bouts.

Whats the deal, is the brass just super awesome or the chamber super tight tolerance wise so it's not letting the brass grow?

I'm not complaining but it seems strange to me. I figure more people are shooting 338 here in ELR so better luck posting vs. reloading section.

 

[pyrofx]

Sounds like a good chamber . George cut mine small and I have 7 loadings on mine and have not trimmed them . But then , I am only using 92.5 grains of retumbo and 285 hornydaddy's

Greg

 

[Sako man]

Sounds like a good chamber . George cut mine small and I have 7 loadings on mine and have not trimmed them . But then , I am only using 92.5 grains of retumbo and 285 hornydaddy's

Greg

7? Ok good news then.

Yeah, I was using Retumbo but have switched out for H1000 but still no change in case neck length this last outing. Your probably right, the chamber and throat is probably cut tight. Fine by me, I hate trimming.

 

[Griffino]

Mine haven't grown hardly at all after 4. I'm assuming annealing well soften brass enough to stretch more? I'm using Lapua brass. I plan to anneal every 4 shots.

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[Sako man]

Mine haven't grown hardly at all after 4. I'm assuming annealing well soften brass enough to stretch more? I'm using Lapua brass. I plan to anneal every 4 shots.

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Yes, annealing it will soften it. What are you shooting the brass through?

 

[Griffino]

Savage 110ba. 1.9 26" I haven't found my load yet, using 285s and 300s

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[Jeffvn]

I anneal my 338 brass every other firing.
Agreed it does not seem to grow very fast (Some of my brass has nearly 10 reloads on it and I have trimmed it exactly once). Annealing does not make it grow faster. But, neither does my 30-06, and the 338 is shaped pretty much like an overgrown 30-06.

Jeffvn

 

[Griffino]

When I first got into reloading, I saw so much about trimming cases. My cases came new under size. It's good to know this is normal for more people than just me.

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[FunkBass2008]

So it's nothing particular to the 338's characteristics causing minimal trimming?

 

[Griffino]

I can't imagine so.

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[Dogtown]

I think it really depends on your load. I had a pretty mild load that I used for a while and the brass rarely needed to be trimmed, but some of my hotter loads always need a trim.

 

[Sako man]

I anneal my 338 brass every other firing.
Agreed it does not seem to grow very fast (Some of my brass has nearly 10 reloads on it and I have trimmed it exactly once). Annealing does not make it grow faster. But, neither does my 30-06, and the 338 is shaped pretty much like an overgrown 30-06.

Jeffvn

As an FYI. I wasn't suggesting that annealing would make it grow faster but rather make it softer from the work hardening that happens when you shoot it. And it's probably true my loads are fairly light so they do not spurn faster case growth. The nice thing about 338 is you can get way out there with tremendous accuracy and loads don't need to be hot.

The overall question was really is this the general nature of 338? As I have had to trim the heck out of my 308 Sako. Funny but no trimming out of my 260 either.

Thanks for the opinions.

 

[Tango down]

Ok so I'm on my second going on third reload of some 338 Lapua brass, been shooting 300 grain bullets. So far i have not had to trim the brass at all, they have not grown or only grown +.001 or .002

Shooting a Sako TRG 42

I have 308 loads where on first round the brass has grown .005-.010, or there a bouts.

Whats the deal, is the brass just super awesome or the chamber super tight tolerance wise so it's not letting the brass grow?

I'm not complaining but it seems strange to me. I figure more people are shooting 338 here in ELR so better luck posting vs. reloading section.

Hey Sako

Jumping on that train with a question for everyone with more experience on the same topic
Also shoot TRG .338LM, brass trimmed at 2.714, loads from mild to hot (still working on load development), Lapua brass. After firing, brass goes to 2.711/2.712, all of them. After FL resizing (Redding S serie, .365 TN bushing, did not remove expander), brass is around 2.717, then trim back to 2.714. Comments?