338 375 ruger build

[jasnt]

I do know howa is 26mm-1.5 mm thread pitch

[jasnt]

Looking closely at the rws 8x68s brass. Always been a fan of rws.  Build won't be done as quickly as I was hoping. But I'm doing my research.

[Goshawk]

I did a 338/375 build a few years back and have been absolutely as pleased as possible with it.
Bullet selection was a bit of a trial and error for me, but we settled in with the Barnes 225 line.  The 225 Hornady blew apart like a berger on animals as small as coyotes almost blowing off the opposite shoulder!

Final loading puts a Barnes 225 at 3,050fps.  I'm using the Hornady 375 Ruger cases with annealing before and after resizing and getting very good case life.  It' currently my most accurate rifle, so long as I don't think about the recoil when I press the trigger!

IMHO, Hornady and Ruger are both missing an excellent opportunity in not standardizing that round and branding it as one of their own. It's a flat shooting dang accurate thumper that can stop anything in the America's and I'm sure a lot of African game.

[CLARKTAR]

I'm still following this thread.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

[jasnt]

Build is still a go, but I'm currently moving back to the farm which is eating up all my funds but will save me a ton of it in the long run. Plus my range will be in my back yard again. I'm going nuts since I packed up the reloading room.  I got 43 rounds till I can get it all set back up. Going to be a rough month!  Prob won't get much range time till May 1st

[yorketransport]

I did a 338/375 build a few years back and have been absolutely as pleased as possible with it.
Bullet selection was a bit of a trial and error for me, but we settled in with the Barnes 225 line.  The 225 Hornady blew apart like a berger on animals as small as coyotes almost blowing off the opposite shoulder!

Final loading puts a Barnes 225 at 3,050fps.  I'm using the Hornady 375 Ruger cases with annealing before and after resizing and getting very good case life.  It' currently my most accurate rifle, so long as I don't think about the recoil when I press the trigger!

IMHO, Hornady and Ruger are both missing an excellent opportunity in not standardizing that round and branding it as one of their own. It's a flat shooting dang accurate thumper that can stop anything in the America's and I'm sure a lot of African game.

I had really good luck with the Barnes 225 TTSX as well. What are the specs on your build?

[jasnt]

I'm courious as well @goshawk

[Goshawk]

I'll try and download the pictures.
There was an old M77 sitting on the shelf at a local gunshop that I was helping out at once in a while that needed a new home. It was a 1976 in 30-06.  I had bought a Krieger lapped stainless fluted barrel from a fellow gunshop that was going out of business a few years earlier and that barrel just had to have a new home.

The barrel is 27.5" long, with a Cerakote finish just to cover the bright stainless.  It's seen a lot of use in load development.  That extra length brings me into the same basic velocity as the 338 lapua and 338 RUM without all the coin attached. Since it was in the lathe anyways, I threaded it and blended it all together for a continuous finish.
The load I settled on are the 225 grain Barnes at 3,050 fps.  Ironically, due to the difference in brass vs copper I can drive the 250 grain brass solid at the same speed. 

The bullets shown are a before at 225gr and after 199.5gr. of a Barnes that took a 1,400lb+ blacktail head on.  One of our Angus Steers had gotten real spooky and had taken to just jumping fences or blasting through.  Well that got old in a hurry. So, come fall rather than try and get an angle on him, I took him head on in the field with the Ruger.  It was as much a test for the bullet as it was for revenge for fixing fences.  The bullet entered straight in between the eyes, and traveled out the back of the skull and straight down through the middle of the spine, completely vaporizing 20+ inches of Cattle size vertebra before stopping.  When the farm slaughter was parting the carcass in half, the slug fell out at his feet. He was astounded at the damage and wanted to know "Just what the hell did you hit 'em with? I've seen a lot of 06 kills and nothing ever turned neck bone into pulp like this and still be in one piece!"

The scope is a VX6 3-18.  I carried a Mark 6 on my duty rifle for a few years and was astounded by the clarity of the optics but did not like a front focal plain for hunting. It's a very good scope, but not quite the clarity of the Mark 6.

The 223 and 270win are there for size.

Yes it's old, a bit ugly on the wood between it's former owner, riding around in the trunk of my patrol car and my own hunting. It's also a bit heavier than I like compared to my M77 in 270 but it's the most accurate rifle I own, and the Good Lord willing, will be with me if I ever get the chance to hunt the big Alaskan bears before I get too old to do so.

[jasnt]

Thanks for sharing. Did you turn your necks? Hard to tell in the pic. Also what powder.

[Biggerhammer]

The bullets shown are a before at 225gr and after 199.5gr. of a Barnes that took a 1,400lb+ blacktail head on. 

That’s a MONSTER Blacktail !!! Holy smokes! I thought I had shot some big Mulies.

[Tjkride]

Haha, I think he meant Black Angus, if not I want his hunting spots.

[jasnt]

Technically black angus do have a black tail 🍻

[Goshawk]

BINGO On the Blacktail / Angus joke!

I worked up a good load using Reloader 22. I'm hesitant to say how much since I'm no lawyer or ballistics expert. Since I did the work myself I set up the chamber very snug, so there's just about zero backlash, giving me a safe load. No idea how it would work in anyone else project.

The necks were not turned. When I measured the first few formed cases, I ordered the reamer sized accordingly.

[jasnt]

Charge weight isn't important to me. Just wondered which powder.  I have a bunch of re22. I used to by a pound every chance I got. Burned up about half of it smoking the old 243 barrel and 300wm. Still plenty to play with and most in the same lot.  I wish I had the equipment to chamber and thread my own barrels.....corse I'd need the know how to go with it lol.   Some day

[Goshawk]

I spent a fair time of my working life as a tool and die machinist, so when it comes to precision I have the training to make it happen.

What's the use being a master machinist if you don't build a few wildcats now and again....