Sako TRG 338 Lapua Magnum

[MarioB]

Hi guys
I’m new to this forum so help me out here.
I’m used to shooting 250G Sierras with VV N-170 powder, Unfortunately N-170 is very hard to come by, So I decided to switch to 285G Hornady and Retumbo powder.
If anyone has any luck with this bullet and powder combination please let me know.
Thanks

 

[Dogtown]

That's a very popular combo these days.

 

[GUNENTHUSIAST]

Is your trg-42 a 1/10 or 1/12 twist barrel? I don't know if a 1/12 will stabilize the 285 gr bullet. My buddy and I are researching for an ELR bullet that can be stabilized by his 1/12 trg-42.

 

[MarioB]

It is 1/12 twist and I heard that 285 grain bullet with the slow burning powder like Rutombo should work. I tested couple of loads already with this powder and bullet with some promising results, Unfortunately with high loads I noticed some unburned powder in the barrel. (27” Long barrel)

 

[Yasherka]

I think you're ultimately going to be disappointed with the 285's in a 1/12 barrel, the bullets may stabilize but may not. It's not a matter of a slower burning powder, but rather the bullet length vs. twist rate....longer/heavier bullets need that tighter twist.

You don't necessarily have to give up on the 250's. I shoot 250 Scenars on top of 90.0 gr. H4831sc and they are amazingly accurate. There was a thread here several years back where a Finnish sniper mentioned he had a 2nd round hit with 250's at something like 2008 yards.

 

[agbm]

Use this tool, it will tell you if it will work: http://www.bergerbullets.com/twist-rate-calculator/

 

[Sako man]

RL33 is great for 338, much more available as well. Retumbo and H1000 are hard to find these days.

 

[ELR researcher]

Sako man - where are you finding RL33 available in other than 1# bottles? I've been looking for the 8# jugs for ages.

 

[Starbuck]

I think you're ultimately going to be disappointed with the 285's in a 1/12 barrel, the bullets may stabilize but may not. It's not a matter of a slower burning powder, but rather the bullet length vs. twist rate....longer/heavier bullets need that tighter twist.

You don't necessarily have to give up on the 250's. I shoot 250 Scenars on top of 90.0 gr. H4831sc and they are amazingly accurate. There was a thread here several years back where a Finnish sniper mentioned he had a 2nd round hit with 250's at something like 2008 yards.

^^^^^^^^^ Agree don't give up on the 250 gn bullet, especially in a 1:12 .338LM. I use 250gn Scenars with 95gn Retumbo in my 1:12 TRG-42, at 2950fps. Quite accurate out to 1400.

When you re-barrel the rifle, go with a 1:10 or 1:9.8 twist and shoot the 285s and 300s. These seem to be the best, at least as described in Lowlight and others' testing, described here:

http://www.snipershide.com/shooting...118704-gunsite-xlr-bullet-test-phase-2-a.html

 

[swamp donkey]

Tag


Regards

Pete


www.varmintinguk.co.uk

 

[gewehr]

RL33 is great for 338, much more available as well. Retumbo and H1000 are hard to find these days.

Very good powder for the lapua in a trg


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[knife edge]

Sako TRG 338 Lapua Magnum

I have been unable to get 285 BTHP to group out of either my R700 XCR or TRG with H-1000. Both are 1:10, shoot 1/2 MOA with 300 SMK and factory Hornady 250. I am NOT a 285 fan.
^^ 285 stringing as usual. Have tried several brakes.

And for those wondering, the stock R700 groups better. Stock brake sux and was swapped out.

 

[graewolf]

I have been unable to get 285 BTHP to group out of either my R700 XCR or TRG with H-1000. Both are 1:10, shoot 1/2 MOA with 300 SMK and factory Hornady 250. I am NOT a 285 fan. View attachment 50331View attachment 50332
^^ 285 stringing as usual. Have tried several brakes.

And for those wondering, the stock R700 groups better. Stock brake sux and was swapped out.

Im still using up some Hornady 285gr Match ammo and have had fantastic luck with this as factory ammo. several 1/4MOA groups @ 400-600m. If it wasnt so much cheaper to load my own, I would stick with them - just too hard on the pocketbook....to shoot it as much as I'd like to at least. I'll soon have to break down and buy some Lapua brass and start over with load development. That looks almost exactly like my TRG too. Tan stock, Vortex Razor.

 

[tat668]

My son and I signed up for the October Gunsite XLR class and did the read on the 338 Bullet test article. We followed the finding and decided to go with the 285 grain Hornady rather than the Berger 300 grainer that I have been stocking up. We have been hording Retumbo and have sufficient jugs to last a couple of barrel changes. We made that decision after reading Frank's (Lowlight) comment. We were able to get the 300 grain Berger to 2850, but we want to keep that for next XLR class with a different 338 chamber.

This is what we did with 24 boxes of Hornady, ogive sorted them and pointed them with Whidden's bullet pointer. We then weight sort them into groups and found them vary wider than the Berger or SMK. We have Marc Soulie of Spartan Precision Rifle chambered 2 barrels with Pacific Tool and Gauge 338 Lapua Magnum Tactical Match reamer. This have a slower entry and more flexible for our loading. The load development sessions were tedious, we started with CIP magazine length, but we settle with single loading length for we want max speed for the class. We start the testing from 92 grain Retumbo with bullet touching land and went up .5 grain till we found the speed we want. The two barrels shot 1/4" to 3/4" groups at 100 yards with just about anything we put through it. I wished I can do more testing with longer distance. We found that the most consistence and lowest SD seating length with 96.0 grain of Retumbo is between 3.049" to 3.051" cartridge base to ogive (0.330" gauge diameter). The heavy varmint profile barrels are 28" Bartlein 5R, 1 in 9.5" twist, and 30" Kreiger, 1 in 9" twist. The load give us 2930 fps for the 28" tube and 2980 fps for the 30" tube. Our original intension was to shoot the 300 grain Berger and have the faster twist for that bullet.

We don't have any experience with the 1 in 12" twist barrel, so I do no know how the 285 Hornady with perform with it.

We shot a box of Remington 250 factory load for comparison, they were Lapua brass with 250 Scenars, and those chron at 3100fps out of the 30" tube.

I hope this helps a bit on you load development. We have shot over 500 rounds for the two rifles for the load development, and after the batch of 500 we sat aside for the class we have only a few boxes left to try for CIP magazine length loading. We probably won't buy any more of the 285's after this for we have other bullets we want to try out. I probably would not resist if there is a big sale though.