338 RUM 225 SH opinions/ suggestion/ bloviating welcome

Reemtyj said:
Even though I have challenges with the 235 seating depth to fit my magazine, I am using them to see the velocity and accuracy potential in this rifle, single feed. Shot three groups this morning at 45 degrees, keep in mind only 40 rounds have been thru this barrel. I am shooting off a bench with bench bipod and rabbit ear bag on back of the stock. Firm hold on gun as I find that a rifle with some recoil, I shoot them better with firm hold.

235HH, 88 grains RL19, oal 3.709, 1/4 turn crimp, 3167 velocity 3/8” 3 shot group @100 yards
90.5 grains RL22, oal 3.709, 1/4 turn crimp, 3185 velocity 7/16” 3 shot group
90.5 grains RL22, oal 3.709, 1/4 turn crimp, 3283 velocity, 2 in jagged hole 1 pulled and 5/8” low, operator error.

Seems like I am gaining speed and not sure why other than barrel getting polished up. I notice the first shot on a clean barrel is slower than those after. I would have to say between the gunsmith building an accurate rifle and hammers being easy to work up an accurate load, this is a lot of fun/success! I realize these RL powders are temperature sensitive, but they give great velocity and accuracy, and are top end both. If I can get it in the case RL25 may give even more velocity.
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The RL’s will be just fine, Let Her Eat
 
Gday
Many many decisions with this 338 line many scenarios

it’s the most unbalanced line I’ve seen & only a few pills in the line make the grade imo


The advantages with the 338 is they have insurance/bandaids built in


& then we have the what ifs & critter size comes into this with angles , fat & muscle mass then bone

I hate bears or more trying to answer questions / recommendations on them as no history

So I’m left to interpret what you guys with history post show & then my assumptions start

So the reason I like the 225 sh is penertration capabilities & a shank weight & efficiency of the shedding most likely will give us more than adequate penertration

Over penertration is better than under

The 175 hh & 205 ph are definitely out for me as we have stopped these pills in fallow deer , & mate lost a buff with the 175hh

Both these pills suffer from exact same thing as the old 30 cal 137hh
Now they may have been tweaked that I don’t know & only go off what I know

The 186 sh kneedeep put that in gel & a 30 cal looked superior & everyone knows I don’t like gel but I can’t recommend anything less than what I know does what so yes I will take note of the gel ( oh the tinker is going to give it to me lol )

The 223 hh my mates used results the same as the Barnes so that pill does tick some boxes but weight of shank & more speed of it as it’s slower than the 225 sh so now we have the 235 hh same basically as the 223

Spokenflys results of the 225 is what I’m honing in on & mikes 186 gel test
The petals don’t go to far & by all accounts the spring bears arnt fat or a minimum less overall body weight so while the petals may not travel a longway they have more chance of getting into vital cavity & the wound channel of the faster bigger shank will produce a longer wider permanent wound channel than the other versions mentioned and are going to rely on the petals to help & while it may I’ll go with insurance & the old rule of thumb I use is over penetration is better than under

Hence my thoughts on the 225sh

The 286sh is useless imo as it has a theory base of out of spec calibre to shank ratio & a slow shank speed to begin with
I’ll rely on the comparison weights of the 375 sh that I tested pretty extensively & showed on numerous occasions the smaller pill out penetrating the larger

Now the 255 sh is close to working but where it potentially will be less effective is the pill will most likely impact below the 3 k mark & looking @ most likely impact range the 225 will give us that

So that’s where & what I talked over or @ least some of it with reemtyj
Just how I go about accessing things but I’m really out of my depth on bears & look more towards the guys who have had history

What we need is a BALANCED hht & this im trying my best to push this as quickly as I can , got first round out the road & learnt a lot lately .
I believe the gen 2 are cut & we will test them asap & I’ll hone my testing to be extremely thorough on what potential issues may occur & this is starting tonight on 30 cal that we may be able to learn for the 338

More to come on that but I value you guys more on bears than this muppet as mine is solely based on assumptions & believe me my assumptions get me in trouble yep Murphy loves me I’m sure

Cheers
 
Reemtyj said:
Thank you Mate 🍺🍺🍺🍺🤝👍😉 I believe this 338 RUM will get those 225SH north of 3300, would not bet against 3400, I will know in a couple days and report back.
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Reemtyj

Another aspect I left out from my comments before is reliability of cycling your ammo in your rifle.
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This is the 186sh in the 338rum. This particular rifle has an internal magazine. While checking reliability of feeding. I did catch the nose of the 186 while loading. I check feeding multiple times with a full mag and empty by cycling at different rates of speed. Not firing but just cycling. Sometimes these internal magazines will hang up on or catch the nose of large open hollow points. And sometimes a round will catch when feeding from one side of the mag (right or left) but not from the other.

You may have already checked this but I think it’s important on these particular type of hunts.

Kneedeep
 
Kneedeep, looks like a Remington action? Excellent point! I would say everyone made valid points and things to think about! I should have the 225SH today if so I will have some velocity and accuracy numbers,. The strength of this forum is shown over and over again, Thank You my Friends! 🤝👍💪🍺🍺🇺🇸
Kneedeep, since hammers are not seating sensitive, do you think deeper seating helps feed or not? Looks like you couldn’t get those too much deeper.
 
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I'll be hunting black bears in less than 6 weeks. They are much different in many ways than what you will be chasing. I talked with my neighbor who has retired down here in Idaho from Alaska. He has shot a lot of Coastal Brown Bears in Alaska. I think from what Farleg was saying, the 225 is a nicely balance bullet to cause good penetration and damage. His hunting days were pre-RUM and pre-Hammer. His preferred gun was the 375 H&H. He thought your 338 RUM would be an ideal round as well. He said penetration is key. You want a pass through if possible. He also said, to make the first one count. His advice was to realize the adrenaline will be kicking in when you see the bear! Take the extra breath. He also said, make sure when you practice, you work on a quick follow-up shot.
 
Reemtyj said:
Kneedeep, looks like a Remington action? Excellent point! I would say everyone made valid points and things to think about! I should have the 225SH today if so I will have some velocity and accuracy numbers,. The strength of this forum is shown over and over again, Thank You my Friends! 🤝👍💪🍺🍺🇺🇸
Kneedeep, since hammers are not seating sensitive, do you think deeper seating helps feed or not? Looks like you couldn’t get those too much deeper.
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The rifle is a custom, razor-ti action.

I would think seating depth could help but I haven’t messed with it yet. I don’t load shock hammers much. Hopefully you can give us the good news when you’re finished checking yours. Although, if you have a single feed mag, you may not have an issue.

Good luck
Kneedeep
 
So I had the same decision on bullet selection in the 338 RUM for a Brownie stopper. I am limited to 3.596 for worry free stacking/feeding in my 700 BDL magazine. I am running the 236HH which seems to have been made just for this application. I started my ladders with RL22 and RL26. RL26 is winning out. I have not found pressure at 95.5 grains running 3163. I will make one more trip to the range and run up to 97.5 grains, but I feel like I am going to get that spike in the next grain. My goal was 3150 so that is met. I'll see where this pressures out, but if this load settles out at 3160ish it is an absolute masher for a long way out. Bear, moose, juvenile T-Rex the 236 should make a for a full and stout can of whup-a$$. It is worth a look versus dropping to the 225.
 
Quintus said:
So I had the same decision on bullet selection in the 338 RUM for a Brownie stopper. I am limited to 3.596 for worry free stacking/feeding in my 700 BDL magazine. I am running the 236HH which seems to have been made just for this application. I started my ladders with RL22 and RL26. RL26 is winning out. I have not found pressure at 95.5 grains running 3163. I will make one more trip to the range and run up to 97.5 grains, but I feel like I am going to get that spike in the next grain. My goal was 3150 so that is met. I'll see where this pressures out, but if this load settles out at 3160ish it is an absolute masher for a long way out. Bear, moose, juvenile T-Rex the 236 should make a for a full and stout can of whup-a$$. It is worth a look versus dropping to the 225.
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Wow that’s fast. 26” barrel? I’m shooting a 200 gr bullet with 92 gr of R26 in my 338 RUM and that’s about max in my gun. Gets me 3200 FPS out of a 23” barrel. I’m sure I couldn’t run that much R26 in my gun. Especially with a 36 gr heavier bullet.
 
Beeman said:
Wow that’s fast. 26” barrel? I’m shooting a 200 gr bullet with 92 gr of R26 in my 338 RUM and that’s about max in my gun. Gets me 3200 FPS out of a 23” barrel. I’m sure I couldn’t run that much R26 in my gun. Especially with a 36 gr heavier bullet.
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I am as surprised as you. I am using R-P brass once fired. bolt lift is still smooth, primers look the same at 95.5 as they did at 87.0 and zero hint of an extractor mark. I have checked my scale twice. I had the same experience with the 124HH in my 270Win. When I got to pressure, or when I got traditional signs of pressure it was sudden with RL26. I do want to make sure I find the top and back off because all the Hammers I shoot across 5 calibers and 11 rifles best accuracy is from loads that are at the top of the curve.
I also just finished a load in my 7mag with the 169HH and RL26. That ladder went as expected with primers starting to flatten and then a hint of circle on the case head and then an easily noticeable extractor mark and all in line with folks previous findings.
I have been using the Garmin Xero to measure velocity so no more bayonet on the barrel and it is pretty amazing how tight the group is for the entire session. I will report back after the next trip to the range with an update.
 
Me? I would be practicing bolt cycling while rifle is at shoulder since you may not have time to lower rifle to cycle. Long magnum actions can be short cycled into a jam especially under high stress so COAL and solid feed is paramount IMO. I would make sure the COAL is short enough to prevent any round feed tilt off rails which can jam at chamber entry.
 
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