Reloading 338 Lapua...FN Ballista

[Zac Williams]

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

 

[LoonWulf]

I owned a .338 for about two weeks, a .338 in a 11lb rifle is too light.....
Anyway, i shot the ammo that came with the gun and never reloaded for it, so my guess are just that....

My guess is your ok with your current loading. The combination of 1/2 a grain, longer and better barrel can add up to 200fps pretty quick, especially with a powder as slow as retumbo.

I would still do a short pressure ladder to be shot when heat gets up there, again ive seen little temperature sensitivity in retumbo, but most of my shooting has been between 50-90degrees.


I just looked at hodgdon site and they have 94grns compressed for 2650ish from a 24" so your velocity is high comparatively in both guns.

 

[Zac Williams]

This one is close to 20 pounds with scope and bipod. I agree on the velocity being high and that's what is bothering me, it's way higher than it should be. Both guns were shot through a brand new Magnetospeed V3 chronograph so I'm kind of torn on what's real?? Pressure is pressure is pressure and if I had seen any at all I would have immediately stopped but not seeing any I'm not sure what to think??

 

[Blue68f100]

I would not worry about the velocity difference. Some barrels will be faster than others. Good high quality barrels are hand lapped producing a highly polished barrel which has less drag. I have one in 223R that is normally 200 fps faster than my other guns and faster than any test barrel used by mfg. As long as you do not see any pressure signs your good. Just make sure you confirm during the hotter months.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I think you are fine but if you are in doubt I suggest you call Hodgdon and ask them. They are usually very helpful. Your 92.5gr charge of Retumbo is well below the 94.0gr max on the Hodgdon Load Data Site using the same 300gr Sierra bullet.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Howland]

My brother has the same rifle. After zeroing it at the local 100 yard range, we took it out to the 400 yard range to put it through it's paces. Easily sub MOA with factory 285gr. AMAX. He dropped some coin but it has the accuracy to reach 1,000 without breaking a sweat. I can't wait to see what it does once we tailor a load for that specific rifle.

 

[Dudedog]

Welcome to THR,
lots of great people here.

Don't own a .338 but I would be curious what vels you get with factory ammo. Is the factory stuff fast as well?
Curious if someone with Quickload ran the different barrel lengths what it would show for 2" more barrel.

 

[Zac Williams]

Thanks for the responses guys, I appreciate it. I haven't shot factory ammo through it before, just the 80 rounds so far but put about 600 rounds or more thru my Savage. I think I'm going to stay at the 92.5 grains for now but also load up a bunch more in half grain increments to check everything as the weather starts to warm up this year and make sure I play it safe. I still can't believe I'm over 2900 fps with a 300 grain bullet though lol.

Howland, you and your brother are going to love it beyond 1000 yards!! I shot my Savage out to 1900 and I know the Ballista is way more accurate already.

 

[Nature Boy]

Curious if someone with Quickload ran the different barrel lengths what it would show for 2" more barrel

That's exactly what I was thinking. It would also give you an idea what pressure that load was generating. 2,900fps is hauling the mail

 

[LoonWulf]

https://rifleshooter.com/2017/03/338-lapua-magnum-barrel-length-versus-muzzle-velocity-30-17-inches/

I ran into some oddities trying to put the .338 thru quickloads. Using stock inputs EVERYTHING, including nosler and Hodgdons data was something like 5-10K over pressure. Quickloads uses a water capacity of 108grns

Doing and internet search and extrapolating from what nosler lists as there water capacity (they use available after a bullets seated) i came up with about 112-114grn. This made the published data much more reasonable.

So as a base line here is what QL does with a 300SMK, 94grns of Retumbo, using113grn water cap, from 24" and 26" barrels
24"
60905Psi, 105% fill, and 2663 FPS (compares pretty well to Hodgdon)

26"
60905Psi, 105% fill and 2712 FPS
.......................................................................................................................
If we drop the charge weight to 92.5
24"
57560Psi, 103% fill, and 2623

26"
57560Psi, 103% fill, and 2672
......................................................................................................................
Now if we use the Quickload standard water capacity of 108grs we get THIS

92.5gr Retumbo

24"
64861Psi, 108% fill, and 2692fps

26"
64861Psi, 108% fill, and 2739fps


According to QL to hit 2900fps, youd need to be running up around 99grn of powder and pressures in the 80Kpsi range
You may want to check your Magnetospeed against another chrono or with known velocity ammo. I have a V3 also, and its been spot on when compared to my eyeball chrono, but everyonce in a while theres bound to be a lemon.

Ive also realized that my understanding of the performance window of this cartridge isnt that good. I expected to see more of a jump in velocity from the extra 2"s, but according to QL even at 24" your getting 100% burn with retumbo.

 

[Dudedog]

Thanks LoonWulf!