Zac Williams
Member
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2018
- Messages
- 3
Hello guys, new member but long time shooter and reloader. I've never really felt the need to go to this level of asking anyone outside of friends and family who reload but none of them have a 338 Lapua and I have a possible concern. I'm shooting an FN Ballista 338 Lapua Magnum with 300 grain Sierra Match Kings. I loaded up brand new Lapua brass and W-LRM primers from min to max loads in 1 grain increments to begin and showed no pressure with bolt lift, brass, or primers. I then loaded 5 rounds each at half grain increments from 90 to 92.5 grains of Retumbo powder. I watched for signs of pressure all way from start to finish and never found any sign whatsoever. At 92.5 grains of powder I found my best node. My Savage Stealth 338 Lapua loves 92 grains of powder with 300 SMKs but velocity thru it's 24" barrel was 2780 fps, thru the Ballista 26" barrel at 92.5 grains I'm shooting 2906 fps...thats a big jump for 2" of barrel and a half grain of powder in my eyes. Temperature is much lower now than it will be later in the year and I understand pressure can show up due to temperature so I guess my question is should I find another node that shoots decent and abandon the most accurate at 2900 fps?? It seems way to fast for a 300 grain bullet in my opinion but at the same time I want the best accuracy with how much $ I have into gun and scope, and I obviously want to be safe more than anything. Any input or advice would be greatly appreciated!! Am I being "gun shy" so to say, or should I be concerned with pressure as the weather warms up?? Also I shot 80 rounds total since I got the rifle.
Zac
Zac