This is just a post about theory as I have no intention of building this.
Why don’t you hear more about the 338 WM as a long range shooter. I’ve read some people getting 2700 FPS out of the 250 grn bullets. With a good design it seems like it would be a pretty decent long range round.
Generally a belted magnum has shorter usable case life. You can use an Innovative Technologies collet die and get longer life / more firings from a case over standard dies.
In the “Olden days” (late 50s-through mid-80s) the 30-338 / 308 Norma Magnum was considered a formidable long range cartridge at Camp Perry. The 300 Winchester Magnum had the advantage of using factory brass and not requiring fire-forming (cutting the case’s usable life by a shot).
The 6.5 x 284 “Fag Mag” replaced the 300 Win Mag at Perry – it would shoot inside the 300 and do everything the bigger cartridge can using less powder and with lower recoil (thus the silly nickname).
The straight .338 Winchester Magnum suffers from knocking the snot out of a shooter’s shoulder since NRA long range prone does not allow a muzzle brake.
338 Win Mag on left, 338 Lapua on right:
We load for and shoot a .338 WIN MAG. It’s more of a Bush gun… with factory iron sights… It’s Pappabears.
That specific gun isn’t much for a long range shooter. I’d love to do a 6.5 284 if I had the time and money… but for now, the 300 WM is able to shoot farther than any spot we can find to shoot it. 1200 yards at this time.
can’t say i’ve ever shot one. but the 30* shoulder seems like a big plus
Yup, not a big fan of belted mags.
Belted mags haven’t bothered me too much. If you set up the sizing die so you’re head spaced off the shoulder, there’s not too much difference.
Every so often you’ll need to run that Collet near the belt. But that die has a guage built in. So you only have to run the brass that needs it.
… other than the cartridge being designed to headspace off the belt. :no:
Yeah yeah… Unnecessarily as I’ve come to understand. The rounds were rooted of the belted system un-necessarily.
What can you tell me about donuts? I’m having donut issues with Pappabears 300 WM RWS brass. Looks like crispy creme in his ammo boxes these days.
I can tell you that you should stop using bushing dies. :nono: :happy:
If you are talking about a donut down by the case head… then you are further understanding why I don’t like belted magnums.
Because to resize them properly you need a collet sizing die.
http://www.larrywillis.com/300winmag.html
No… the neck donuts.
I don’t use bushing dies. I hate bushing dies. Learned that the hard way.
Body die, and Lee Collet neck die… with an occasional Larry Willis Belt collet true up.
You’re getting donuts from a lee collet die? This is a new one on me. I’ve never heard of anyone getting donuts from that. What’s the location of the donut?
We have to push out the donut to get the stem of the collet die to go into the neck.
It’s hit and miss… some cases nothing… and others… krispe Kreme!
reference photo to illustrate… not actually 270 win.
Ok, I just wanted to make sure you were seeing it where everyone else would see it.
… again though, I can’t believe you are getting it with a lee collet die. That’s that system’s whole claim to fame.
Is the brass being necked down to tight and then the neck is getting pushed down during bullet seating?
what do you have against bushing dies? bushing dies rock.
If you like runout and ass aches with different flavors of brass. Try a lee collet and you’ll toss those bushings in the drawer.
THe donut is only on a handful of the brass. I’ll dig deeper into this.
I did not want to say anything but all this belted magnum bashing boils down to nothing more than internet ho ha! There is nothing wrong with belted mags, I own 2 and have never had any of these issues. I don’t use collet dies, I’m not burning up my barrels and case life is more than reasonable.
On the 338 win mag, you don’t see it because its impractical. It will not drive the big 300g, 338 bullets fast enough to be useful at long range. It gives up to much, its really better suited for big bears in Alaska, where you will find it quite popular almost as popular as the 300 win mag.
If you necking down brass the donut can be a factor but it can also be avoided by running your press in stages or but using a bushing in between the 2 sizes and working it in stages.
Do you think those that disagree with you on this just don’t know what they are talking about?
I don’t know what it is, different knowledge base i guess.
So if they disagree, they just don’t have any experience? As to say, if they don’t agree… they don’t know what you know?