338 Edge...Range Report Post #32

[LynnJr]

Brian
I am still waiting on the target systems to arrive and we will be holding a 2000 yard match.
We have the gongs and all the hardware we are just short the electronics. The Facilitator who posts here has the gongs in his truck ready for the trip north as soon as we get the lights.
I want him to hook everything up and show me how to use it then we will shoot.
Get a steeper base on that bad boy or add a second base and your all set.

[bsumoba]

Got out to the range with my 338 edge finally. Made a few adjustments with the buttstock length and proceeded to throw rounds downrange. Started at 89gr of H1000 and worked all the way up to 92gr with 300 gr OTM hybrids

No break in process...just throw rounds down range. I did however throw a couple wet patches and then a few dry ones after about 9 rounds. No brush.

After 12 rounds and approaching the powder charge I thought I would be around, the gun started to shoot around 1/2"-3/4" groups at 100 yards. Not bad for no load development. The (3) three shot groups you see are 91-91.5-92.0 grains. Looks like the node is going to be around 91.5-92.0 grains. Vertical and POI is about right and data from online with the 30" barrel puts the node around where I saw my groups placed and tighten up a bit. No pressure signs at all out to 92 grains. 91gr powder charge was giving me about 2790 fps. I will probably end up around 2800-2810fps.

Now I just need to increment my powder charges by 0.2gr around 91.5-92gr and after, play with seating depth.

I suspect this gun will be a 3/8" gun after all is said and done.

On a sidenote, I shot 27 rounds in all and after 18 rounds my shoulder was done, even with a brake. I got home and found some nice bruising on my shoulder.

Time to remove a couple more buttstock sections and put on a limbsaver

Got shot very well all-in-all.



Small red dot is 1/4".

[killshot44]

I thought you had Honey-Do's today, hmmmm?

[bsumoba]

I thought you had Honey-Do's today, hmmmm?

Sunday...lol.

Snuck out for an hour early in the AM.

You know I wouldn't miss a match like that if I didn't have a good excuse

[bsumoba]

Getting closer....still learning how to handle the gun. Shooting this thing requires much more gun handling discipline than the 284's and 6.5's I'm shooting now.

I seem to be getting a weird flyer after a near colverleaf 2-shot pattern, opening the groups to around 1/2". I am sure it is me though.

I also modified my buttpad and raised it higher and canted it for my shoulder. What a world of difference shooting prone. 50+ rounds over two days and no shoulder pain at all.

Again, my expectation is a sub-1/2" 5-shot group gun with 300gr OTM hybrids and running it around 2800 fps. I could probably go much higher as my brass is showing no pressure signs at all up to 92 grains and I did not go any higher. No need for a barrel burner or brass destroying velocities for this thing. That 300 RUM remington brass is near impossible to find!

[LynnJr]

Brian
Unexplained fliers comes down to seating depth and bullets.
If your using a comparator and at this level you should be its time to start sorting bullets.
Lynn

[2shotjoe]

Brian
Unexplained fliers comes down to seating depth and bullets.
If your using a comparator and at this level you should be its time to start sorting bullets.
Lynn

Oh, didn't know that. I normally have 1 or 2 fliers in my 308 match lc boxes. I'm gonna open them up and check them to see if I can no fliers next time.

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[russ69]

...Looks like the node is going to be around 91.5-92.0 grains...

That thing is going to eat your powder supply really fast. You'll be buying a lot of 8 pound jugs, lol.

...I also modified my buttpad and raised it higher and canted it for my shoulder. What a world of difference shooting prone. 50+ rounds over two days and no shoulder pain at all...

Getting the buttstock adjusted and putting on the same place on your shoulder everytime is going to give you the best results. Although you are looking good already, I'm sure you are happy so far.

[bsumoba]

That thing is going to eat your powder supply really fast. You'll be buying a lot of 8 pound jugs, lol.
Getting the buttstock adjusted and putting on the same place on your shoulder everytime is going to give you the best results. Although you are looking good already, I'm sure you are happy so far.

Yup, 91.5 grains (and that's not even pushing the rifle) and going about 2800 fps.

Going to need A LOT of powder and lead for this puppy.

[bsumoba]

Decided, what the hell, nothing else to do on a Easter Sunday, so after my range session this morning, I went back to validate the seating depth I chose as my most accurate and decided to shoot a few more groups at 100 yards and to chronograph the load.

My Magneto V3 spit out these numbers for a 5 shot chrono group:

Min: 2774
Max: 2802
Average: 2786
SD: 12
ES: 26

Numbers are a little high, but I suspect with some annealing and getting the brass fully formed (this was virgin brass), my ES/SD will stabilize into the teens for ES and maybe single digit SD or stay around 10ish.

Velocity is still a little lower than I expected, but I am not complaining. 2786 fps with a 300 gr bullet is nothing to sneeze at. JBM puts this combo and velocity at 1850 yards @ supersonic (above Mach 1.0), and carrying over 700 ft lbs of energy at 2000 yards. The OTM bullet from what I read is very stable even through the transonic, so it looks like I got my 1 mile easily covered and more. Drop is about 81 MOA at 2K, so I am going to need a 30-40MOA canted rail or another scope to able to dial this amount of elevation without holding over. I might look into getting one of them Vortex Gen II Razors.

Anyways, my load is shooting very consistent and ES/SD is not too terrible, so I expect this thing to shoot alright at a grand when I finally get this rifle out to Sac Valley or to Avenal and bang on the 900 yard gong.

Here are the shots. Left and Middle target are 3 shot groups. Target on the right is actually 5 shots. Calculations show all right on 1/2" groups. This will probably tighten up with more time on the gun and maybe some slight tweaks to the load later. The gun only has about 100 rounds on it now so it still could be considered in its infancy.



Here is my rifle with the canted buttpad. I drilled out the thin 1/2" rubber pad and amusing just the top screw and letting it swivel on this so it will conform to my shoulder pocket. This is much better!

[brando]

Nice setup!