The .300 Lapua Magnum (30-338) — Big Power for Big Game
Not many folks are familiar with the .300 Lapua Magnum, but this big boomer is an official CIP-certified cartridge for which Vihtavuori offers load data. This necked-down version of the .338 Lapua Magnum makes one heck of a hunting cartridge. In our article on the .300 Lapua Magnum (aka 30-338 LM), you’ll find expert advice on forming the cases from .338 Lapua Magnum brass plus tips on selecting powder and bullets. The story also features some great photos of a 30-338 custom Richard Franklin built for a California client. That rifle is designed as an Elk Gun, shooting the 190gr Berger VLDs with Reloder 22 powder. The laminated stock is made from exhibition-grade Claro Crotch Walnut and Dennis Smith (aka the Stock Doctor) provided beautiful checkering and a hand-rubbed oil finish.
Ultimate Varmint Cartridge?
Franklin has also pioneered an ultra-high-velocity varmint version of the 30-338 LM. This cartidge achieves amazing 30-Cal velocities using long, very slow-twist barrels. Richard tells us: “I use 15- to 17-twist barrels with both the 300 WSM Varminter and the 30-338 Lapua Varminter. The 300 WSM easily gets 3900 fps with the Nosler 125gr Ballistic Tip and the 30-338 Lapua will do 4150 fps easily with the same 125gr B-Tip. In the 30-338 LM, the 130gr Barnes, a “ringed” bullet with grooves to reduce bearing surface, will get another 150 fps, topping out at 4300 fps. I find the 17-twist does a good job with the light bullets in the 30-338 but I’m going to try an 18-twist and a 19-twist to see if high velocity is a little more easier to obtain. I believe the 19-twist will beat any thing I’ve built to date for velocity and I also believe it’s going to be very accurate.”
The “Official” .300 Lapua Magnum
While nearly every 30-338 you see in the USA is a wildcat, manually formed by necking-down the .338 Lapua brass, there was an “official” version, the “.300 Lapua Magnum”. This was a factory 30-caliber cartridge based on the .338 Lapua Magnum parent case. Lapua produced enough factory ammo to get the .300 Lapua Magnum sanctioned as an official CIP-certified cartridge. QuickLOAD includes the .300 Lapua Magnum in its load database, and QuickDESIGN has complete CIP cartridge specifications. Unfortunately, the .300 Lapua Magnum is no longer in production. For you cartridge collectors, we’re not even sure if Lapua ever produced brass with a distinctive “300 Lapua Magnum” headstamp. However Vihtavuori does include .300 Lapua Magnum load data in the current Vihtavuori Load Manual. That reloading guide shows the .300 Lapua Magnum can drive a 220gr HPBT Sierra MatchKing at 3044 fps with a max charge of VV 24N41 powder. The .300 Lapua Magnum can push the 30-caliber 155gr Lapua Scenar at nearly 3500 fps with VV N170 powder. That’s impressive performance indeed!
CLICK HERE to download Current Vihtavuori RELOADING MANUAL (35-page .pdf file).
I have one. Hold on to it one GREAT Rifle.
Be vary careful and state exactly what you are referring to when you refer to the 30-338 wildcat. I have had a set of 30-338 dies for decades, and that wildcat is most emphatically NOT a necked down .338 Lapua mag. Every 30-338 wildcat I’ve seen is based on the .338 Win mag; while there may be a wildcat 30-338 out there based on the .338 Lapua mag, I’ve never seen one. The 30-338 wildcat like mine exists because we figured that Winchester would just neck down the .338 Win mag without changing the neck length or anything else, so a number of companies, like CH, just produced such a die; we were wrong, of course; Winchester shortened the neck and got a bit more powder capacity, but the 30-338 wildcat based on the .338 Win Mag case with unchanged neck length was and is a useful cartridge and was called the 30-338 long before the .338 Lapua mag even existed. I have a hunch there are more of them out there than .338 Lapua mag based 30 caliber wildcats, quite possibly a lot more.
What is the cost of this rifle