Post by elkman1310 on Oct 13, 2019 16:51:47 GMT -5
Well today was pretty nice day. We can only shoot from 1 to 5 on Sunday afternoon it can get pretty windy on our range but today was decent enough to see what this big dog would do. I only tested the 300gr SMK because I couldn't get the Berger to group at all.
I tested RL33 with 106.5 grs in the Norma cases which now have 6 firings this is the max load for this gun it was 58 deg today the bolt did click at the top and the cases came out a little sticky but it also shot a good 5 shot group at 1K. I had 4 in 4 inches and one drift over to the right a little to give me 7 inches total .that shot that drifted out to the right was on the same elevation as the others so the group had very little vertical which is what I was looking for. Even in a 17.5lb gun it does jump pretty good so that shot could have been me I don't know but that is very good hunting accuracy for 5 shots. They all stayed well within the kill zone on a deer. This load got on with 20moa from 100 yrds that actually beat my 338/378 I had.
I also tested WC872 with new Rem brass 110grs of WC872 is all your going to get in these cases period. If I wouldn't have throated this gun way out to shoot the 300gr bullet you could not begin to get that much powder in the case that's why most people shoot H1000 and only report getting 2800 to 2850 fps when they run these through a mag. I only single shot all my long range rifles. At any rate WC872 was slower than RL33 but it shot just as good which didn't surprise me because I have used WC872 in the past with good results. RL33 with my max load goes 3080fps and WC872 went 2985fps I can live with either load. Probably won't do anymore testing till the temp's drop in Nov. probably US869 would work better than WC872 but I don't have any to try but it could be a good option.
The 338 Edge makes a nice long range rifle you don't need a expensive custom action to build one on and the brass is cheap compared to some of the other big cases my 338/378 where close to 4 bucks a pop and they didn't hold up very well plus you don't need a super long barrel to get good velocity number this has a 31 inch barrel which is plenty. You can also mix and match 338 RUM dies and buy a 300 Hornady Match bushing full length die for the Edge all you need to do is run a 3/8 cobalt drill bit through the neck of the Hornady to up it up to .375 this area supports the bushing so it is fairly easy to drill through you can buy just that die for around $30.00 so you don't need to spend $200.00 for a custom die set.