Need Input for Building a .338 WINMAG Round

[27hand]

Put all your once fired brass in one place, your twice fired in another container, etc etc.

I believe I deleted an entire post trying to add this info.
Big fat fingers. Small keypad

[27hand]

Ok. Second try.
Generally speaking the closer the bullet is seated to the lands, the more accurate the round will be BUT each rifle likes what it likes. I would not adjust seating depth till you have a fairly accurate round in place .

Fire formed brass is thought to be best for an accurate round.
Neck sized, trimmed to length, chamfered and deburred consistently helps.
Case shoulder headspacing every few firings helps as well.

Get as accurate a round as you can with your choice of powder, primer, bullet.
If it isn't what you want, try adjusting the seating depth to within magazine limits unless you want a single shot rifle with less bullet jump.
If it still isn't what you want, try another bullet weight or different bullet mfg.
If it still isn't what you want, try different powder and start over.

Are you building a ladder load to check velocity?

Develop a shooting style with breathing and trigger press to make the you factor more consistant.

[JDA58]

OK, I'm inching closer to trigger time. I've assembled three (3) specimens ,

I just wanted to say It was nice meeting you and loved your deviled eggs... You know Just in case!!
Good Luck!!

[27hand]

I just wanted to say It was nice meeting you and loved your deviled eggs... You know Just in case!!
Good Luck!!

He'll be ok as long as here doesn't warm them up in the microwave.

" Here honey. Shoot this gun while I go to the car and get another bullet"

Ahh. Westies. Confidence builders.

[Walleye Hunter]

Ok. Second try.
Generally speaking the closer the bullet is seated to the lands, the more accurate the round will be BUT each rifle likes what it likes. I would not adjust seating depth till you have a fairly accurate round in place .

Fire formed brass is thought to be best for an accurate round.
Neck sized, trimmed to length, chamfered and deburred consistently helps.
Case shoulder headspacing every few firings helps as well.

Get as accurate a round as you can with your choice of powder, primer, bullet.
If it isn't what you want, try adjusting the seating depth to within magazine limits unless you want a single shot rifle with less bullet jump.
If it still isn't what you want, try another bullet weight or different bullet mfg.
If it still isn't what you want, try different powder and start over.

Are you building a ladder load to check velocity?

Develop a shooting style with breathing and trigger press to make the you factor more consistant.

I've asked questions and gotten what seem to be good answers. My gun is a Winchester Model 70, which does hold a few rounds but it is a bolt gun and can be single shot if need be. Based on intel, I've homed in on IMR 4831 for my powder and I got some Hornady 225gr bullets off of Ducati Ron, which I intend to use for my first round learning session. Guys are telling me to seat bullets based on ogive and it looks to me like that will be the way to go once I get the rest of this dialed in. But for now I'm just doing the OAL and will see what happens. I was also given a velocity range to try and I have loaded the first three for the bottom of that range. If I manage to fire those three without incident, then I'll load a ladder and see what I find. I've been gathering components for a while and I'm impressed my hoard at the moment. I don't know where I got them but a brick of Federal LRM primers is in stock.

Thanks for all the help.

[Boo Vuccla]

for now I'm just doing the OAL and will see what happens. I was also given a velocity range to try and I have loaded the first three for the bottom of that range. If I manage to fire those three without incident, then I'll load a ladder and see what I find. I've been gathering components for a while and I'm impressed my hoard at the moment. I don't know where I got them but a brick of Federal LRM primers is in stock.

The above is what you need to do first foot forward. You'll need a chrony to do things right and to shoot long range, you need a powder that is temp stable. This is incredibly important to long range results in Pennsylvania or anywhere you see large temp swings. You have received a lot of good info and advice here but remember...........you need to load a good cartridge first and foremost using good basic reloading fundamentals. These are taught in reloading manuals and need to be reproduced each and every time you sit at your bench. Velocity "can" be your best friend but it certainly isn't everything. Being able to repeat successful rounds is the key. It takes patients, practice and a laboratory standard of procedure.

[Walleye Hunter]

First day of shooting my reloads and things went pretty good. I do need to start with a bigger target now though, as my scope came loose and I
had to tighten it down and apparently, it's no longer sighted in. I did get one shot on paper. Anyhow, three rounds supposedly loaded to 2600 FPS only yielded a 2465 average with what seems to be a 56 FPS spread. Now that I'm confident that I won't blow myself up, I can make some more. What would you guys recommend at this point?

Thanks for the help.

[27hand]

First day of shooting my reloads and things went pretty good. I do need to start with a bigger target now though, as my scope came loose and I
had to tighten it down and apparently, it's no longer sighted in. I did get one shot on paper. Anyhow, three rounds supposedly loaded to 2600 FPS only yielded a 2465 average with what seems to be a 56 FPS spread. Now that I'm confident that I won't blow myself up, I can make some more. What would you guys recommend at this point?

Thanks for the help.

Remove the scope and rings.
Clean the screws and threads with acetone.
A drop of blue locktite on the baseand torqued to spec.
Install the rings. A drop of loctite as well.
Torque those to spec.
Lap the rings. Install the scope. Torque the rings to spec.

Bore sight the new installation.

First zero at maximum point blank range near zero ( Google that for the calculator). You need the bullet BC, the velocity and the size target.

Shoot paper with the ladder you've developed based on your first attempt.

[Walleye Hunter]

Remove the scope and rings.
Clean the screws and threads with acetone.
A drop of blue locktite on the baseand torqued to spec.
Install the rings. A drop of loctite as well.
Torque those to spec.
Lap the rings. Install the scope. Torque the rings to spec.

Bore sight the new installation.

First zero at maximum point blank range near zero ( Google that for the calculator). You need the bullet BC, the velocity and the size target.

Shoot paper with the ladder you've developed based on your first attempt.

Already did the scope re-mount. Thanks for the other info, will do.

[Walleye Hunter]

OK, I was working out of a round specific book that I got at a gun show and now I have to question its reliability. Guys in another group have wised me up that 65.1 grs of 4831 is too low, based on Hodgdon's data center. It says to start at 69 grains and max around 73. Additionally, I sited my rife in with the boresiter and it shows that I should be right on target. I'm wondering if that weak load is causing the inaccuracies. So...I loaded three, three round test loads at 69, 69.5 and 70 grains and will take a bigger target with me and see what gives. I have a heavy shoulder pad but I'm still feeling the kick pretty good. Is there anything else I can do to help with that? I'll probably take a dish towel or some bubble wrap with me next time to stuff inside my shirt. I'm also starting to think about a muzzle brake for it. I'll have to look around and see what I can find.