Hunting Washington Forum

Equipment & Gear => Guns and Ammo => Topic started by: scottfrick on November 26, 2011, 01:33:26 AM

Title: .338 Lapua
Post by: scottfrick on November 26, 2011, 01:33:26 AM: The wife and I went up to the sportmans warehouse tonight to take another look at the rifles we are planning
on getting with our income tax money this next year. (Tikka t3 superlite - .270 & 7mm. While there
i set my eyes on a new gun I havnt noticed before. It was the .338 Lapua. Dang that is a SWEET rifle!!
not sure what I would hunt with it tho but I would love to add it too the gun cabinet just to stare in awe
at it everyday!! I love the pistol grip and just the overal look of the rifle!! If only.....If only!!!!
Title: Re: .338 Lapua
Post by: carpsniperg2 on November 26, 2011, 02:42:59 AM: What gun was it? The 338 lapua is the cartridge, who was the maker of the gun you were looking at.
Title: Re: .338 Lapua
Post by: yorketransport on November 26, 2011, 08:17:33 AM: My guess is that it's the Savage 110 BA. They are pretty nice rifles, but they certainly aren't cheap! I've shot a few of them and they've all been, easy shooting guns. You should probably just buy it now! :chuckle:

Andrew
Title: Re: .338 Lapua
Post by: scottfrick on November 26, 2011, 09:47:48 AM: Sorry guys yea it was the savage.
Title: Re: .338 Lapua
Post by: JimmyHoffa on November 26, 2011, 10:10:22 AM: You could hunt any of the animals you can get a tag for in WA. And do it farther than you can with most other rifles. There is a lot of market and info out there right now for .338 Lapua because of medium to long range military sniping. They shoot great and are not bad on game as many think. If you reload you can buy .338 bullets designed especially for the .338 Lapua.
Title: Re: .338 Lapua
Post by: high country on November 26, 2011, 05:00:35 PM: unless you wipe your butt with $100 bills, I would urge you to consider a rum or edge over the lapua. price the brass. a bag of brass, a reamer and a custom die set is about the same $$ as lapua brass.
Title: Re: .338 Lapua
Post by: Biggerhammer on November 26, 2011, 05:10:19 PM: The Lapua is over rated, specialty action and a larger bolt face is required other than the standard Remigton or Winchester magnum bolt face. Want the same performance and a faster cartridge with way less expensive brass. Do yourself a favor and purchase a Remington in .338 Ultra Magnum, about 100 fps fast. If a Remington doesn't turn your crank. For the price of that Savage you can build a heck of a custom.
Title: Re: .338 Lapua
Post by: JackOfAllTrades on November 27, 2011, 02:54:29 PM: I have to agree with the comments about the Lapua. Unless you're long range target shooting and have years of reloading precision ammo behind you, then you really don't need that one. It is not a cost effective cartridge to shoot.

Let the choice of game and hunting conditions determine what cartridge you need, then set your list of rifles that are chambered in that cartridge. The Tika T3 is available in several cartridges so you and your wife can have one or many for different situations.

-Steve
Title: Re: .338 Lapua
Post by: 204chucknorris on November 27, 2011, 08:14:44 PM: Absolutely. Nothing wrong with the savage at all, but if I was spending that money I would go 338 edge just because. Not to mention the brass as mentioned above is wow expensive. The other side is if you can swing the 338 lapua you can afford to reload/shoot it. If I could afford it I would buy it also as it feels and looks real bad a$$.
Title: Re: .338 Lapua
Post by: demontang on November 28, 2011, 07:43:25 AM: I would love to pickup a 338 lapua but in the big picture I would go 338 edge. Its slightly faster then the rum or lapua but is the same price as the rum for cases :twocents:
Title: Re: .338 Lapua
Post by: 204chucknorris on November 28, 2011, 10:53:54 PM: :yeah:
Title: Re: .338 Lapua
Post by: high country on November 29, 2011, 10:23:48 AM: Just be ready to hold your hat when you buy the dies.
Title: Re: .338 Lapua
Post by: landcbeitner on November 29, 2011, 12:37:23 PM: For hunting the 338 lapua offers very little ballistics wise because most are not going to actually shoot game beyond 1000yds. There are plenty of cartridges that shoot flatter and every bit as accurate for the "long range hunter" taking shots out to 600-700yds. The Lapua might buy you a couple hundread yards due to superior wind bucking ability of the highest BC bullets. The Lapua does offer a great deal more energy. I've had a 338 lapua but I never hunted with it... My 7wsm was performing equally well on steel targets to 1200yds beyond that the 338 was superior and dramatically so past 1500yds (I was using 245gr lathe turned bullets). I keep my shots for hunting MUCH closer than I can consistently hit a 10" steel target under field conditions. Most long range shooters aren't nearly as conservative... so I'd rather not see these guys taking rifles into the field that have 1500yd capabilities anyway. JMHO. If you want to reach out a little farther than your average hunting a 7mm rem mag with 168 Berger VLD's is hard to beat!
Title: Re: .338 Lapua
Post by: krism83 on November 29, 2011, 12:59:54 PM: If you want a nice .338 Lapua the 110BA is nice, but I prefer the Barrett MRAD...
Title: Re: .338 Lapua
Post by: demontang on November 29, 2011, 03:10:17 PM: Quote from: landcbeitner on November 29, 2011, 12:37:23 PM
For hunting the 338 lapua offers very little ballistics wise because most are not going to actually shoot game beyond 1000yds. There are plenty of cartridges that shoot flatter and every bit as accurate for the "long range hunter" taking shots out to 600-700yds. The Lapua might buy you a couple hundread yards due to superior wind bucking ability of the highest BC bullets. The Lapua does offer a great deal more energy. I've had a 338 lapua but I never hunted with it... My 7wsm was performing equally well on steel targets to 1200yds beyond that the 338 was superior and dramatically so past 1500yds (I was using 245gr lathe turned bullets). I keep my shots for hunting MUCH closer than I can consistently hit a 10" steel target under field conditions. Most long range shooters aren't nearly as conservative... so I'd rather not see these guys taking rifles into the field that have 1500yd capabilities anyway. JMHO. If you want to reach out a little farther than your average hunting a 7mm rem mag with 168 Berger VLD's is hard to beat!

This is a very good point, manly this kind of magnum is for steel shooting at long ranges and just a cool round to have. Theres realy nothing at hunting ranges that it out does lesser guns besides in energy.
Title: Re: .338 Lapua
Post by: rbros on November 30, 2011, 08:05:22 AM: Be careful with the Savage 338 Lapua's. I have had several guys bring them into me that just won't shoot and they end up selling them. One guy had his sent back to Savage 5 times to fix the bad chamber they put in it. Lucas is correct though, if you aren't shooting past 1k, then a 7RM with a 168 or 180 or a 300RUM will do the job nicely with less recoil and cheaper to shoot. If a guys was limiting himself to 600-700 yds, a 7RM would kill anything in the lower 48 and have way less recoil.

The Lapua is a cartridge that guys like because its a NATA round and has good brass. Performance wise, a 338 Edge stomps its and has much cheaper brass. A guy might get a couple more firings on the Lapua brass, but it still doesn't offset the cost. I build 10 Edges to every 1 Lapua in the shop. Accuracy is all on how they are put together and the components that go into the build.
Title: Re: .338 Lapua
Post by: longrangekiller on December 01, 2011, 05:46:19 PM: there prety sweet scotty u should buy one lol
Title: Re: .338 Lapua
Post by: scottfrick on December 01, 2011, 05:49:46 PM: zach is that yours??
Title: Re: .338 Lapua
Post by: longrangekiller on December 01, 2011, 05:54:16 PM: no i wish lol its a guy that dean works with ask dean and im sure the guy will let u shoot it hes pretty cool
Title: Re: .338 Lapua
Post by: deleted BGS on December 12, 2011, 10:50:04 PM: I know Joe has one. Hunter shot an elk with it this year at 600 yards! He let me look at it one day, its awesome :tup:
Title: Re: .338 Lapua
Post by: JackOfAllTrades on December 14, 2011, 11:45:29 AM: This fall I found a target on the NE side of a tree about 10' up -near the top of the ridge. The only way those bullets pierced that paper was from the next ridge to the north. Probably just shy of 3/4 mile! Someone was playing with a really nice toy.

-Steve