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).

New .338 Lapua Magnum Target Rifle from Savage

Want to go big…on a budget? Then check out the new Savage Model 112 in .338 Lapua Magnum. MSRP for this new rifle is just $1177 and “street price” should be considerably lower. That’s tempting. Most factory target rifles chambered for the .338 Lapua Magnum are quite expensive (and you could easily spend four grand or more on a full custom .338 LM). The new single-shot Model 112 Magnum Target from Savage Arms provides a much more affordable platform for the powerful cartridge. (In the photo below at the bottom of this story, you can see the .338 LM compared to .308 Win and 6mmBR. The .338 LM is definitely a brute of a cartridge.)

The new rifle features a single-shot Magnum Target Action coupled to a 26″ heavy barrel fitted with a big muzzle brake. The Target AccuTrigger adjusts to a minimum pull-weight of 6 ounces. Rifle weight, without scope, is 12 pounds. The gray/brown laminated stock features a near-vertical grip with a moderate amount of drop in the buttstock. We’ve used this same-type stock on other Savages. It is comfortable and works well with a bipod. However, you may want to add a “bag-rider” in the rear for better tracking.

More .338 Lapua Options from Savage
The new Model 112 Magnum in .338 Lapua Magnum is currently offered in a right-hand, single-shot version only. If you prefer a .338 LM rifle with a magazine, Savage offers three other rifles chambered for the .338 Lapua Magnum which all feature 5-round detachable box magazines:

1. Model 110 BA, Law Enforcement Series, $2638 MSRP.
2. Model 10/110 FCP HS Precision Stock, $1726 MSRP.
3. Model 11/111 Long Range Hunter, $1380 MSRP.

Nearly a Third of Americans Own Guns

As an American firearms owner, you’re in good company. A new Columbia University Study indicates that nearly 30% of American adults own at least one gun. As you might expect, state gun ownership rates varied greatly. States with low population density showed a higher percentage of gun owners. The Top Five gun-owning states were: Alaska (61.9%), Arkansas (57.9%), Idaho (56.9%), West Virginia (54.2%), and Wyoming (53.8%). As you’d expect Montana (52.3%) and New Mexico (49.9%) were in the Top Ten, but to our surprise Texas, at 35.5%, was not. Must be those Yuppies in Austin …

Two East Coast micro-states were at the bottom of the scale, with gun ownership rates under 6%. Delaware, at 5.2%, had the lowest percentage of gun owners, followed by Rhode Island (5.8%).

The gun ownership study, published on the Injury Prevention website, showed that 29.1% of Americans over age 18 own firearms. Results were based on a web survey of a representative sample of 4000 persons from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. CLICK HERE to Read Full Study.

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California’s Lead Ammo Hunting Ban Goes into Effect

If you’re hunting in California, you better start using lead-free ammo. Starting July 1, 2015, “certified” non-lead ammunition will be required when hunting on all California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) lands and for all Nelson bighorn sheep hunts anywhere in the state.

CDFW reminds hunters who plan to hunt bighorn sheep or at any CDFW wildlife area or ecological reserve to acquire nonlead ammunition. California’s bureaucrats also state: “Hunters are also encouraged to practice shooting nonlead ammunition to make sure firearms are sighted-in properly and shoot accurately with nonlead ammunition. Nonlead ammunition for some firearm calibers may be in short supply so hunters should plan accordingly.”

CLICK HERE for List of CDFW-Certified Nonlead Ammunition.

Why is lead-free ammo now required? Thank the California Legislature. In October 2013, Assembly Bill 711 was signed into law requiring the phase-out of lead ammunition for hunting anywhere in the state by July 1, 2019. This is the 2015 phase, which applies to CDFW lands and Bighorn sheep hunts. The restrictions will become tougher each year, with a complete ban going into effect in four years.

More information on the phase-out of lead ammunition for hunting in California can be found at: https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Hunting/Nonlead-Ammunition.

Litz on Long-Range Shooting — Accuracy vs. Precision

The NSSF has posted a video featuring Bryan Litz of Applied Ballistics. Bryan also serves as Chief Ballistician for Berger Bullets and ABM Ammo. In this short video, Bryan explains the importance of ballistics for precision shooting at long range. Bryan covers key elements — drop, wind drift, angle correction and more. And Bryan also explains the key difference between Accuracy and Precision.

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Report from Ireland — 2015 Creedmoor Cup Preview

Here’s the view at 1100 yards through a Nightforce 15-55x52mm Competition scope. Click to zoom.

Nightforce’s Sean Murphy is a member of the American F-Class Squad in Ireland for the Emerald Matches and Creedmoor Cup. This event (which kicked off with a 1100/1200-yard Long Range Match today) is being held at the Midlands National Shooting Centre in Tullamore, west of Dublin. Sean says conditions have been great so far: “[We] spent a great day practicing at the Midlands National Shooting Centre. Got rounds on target from 800 yards to 1200 yards. The weather was exceptionally nice, and quite the heatwave at 70 degrees! Thank you to James E Crofts for the .308 hammer that I’m using.”

Shooting over a peat bog… (Click to Zoom)

The 2015 Creedmoor Team Match takes place June 28th and 29th (Sunday and Monday). The USA and Ireland National Teams will compete for glory and bragging rights. The Course of Fire consists of two sighters and 15 shots for record at 800, 900 and 1000 yards each day.

The original Creedmoor Match pitted an American team vs. an Irish squad on the range at Creedmoor, New York. The match went down to the wire, with the Yanks earning a narrow victory (read more below). The next year, 1875, the Irish team challenged the American team for a repeat match, to be shot in Ireland. The contest took place at Dollymount Beach, near Dublin. According to newspaper accounts at the time, more than 40,000 people turned out to watch the 1875 match. Below are 2015 Irish and American Creedmoor competitors at Dollymount.

V-Bulls not X-Rings
In Ireland, targets have a V-Bull, instead of an X-Ring. Sean reports: “Here’s the target we are using. To put things in perspective, the center V-Bull is not much larger than a man’s fist!”

Blueball in Offaly?
The official address of the Midlands National Shooting Centre is “Derrymore, Blueball, Tullamore, County Offaly, Ireland”. Hmm, Blueball sounds kind of painful. We’ll just call it the Tullamore Range. That has a much nicer ring to it…

The Original Creedmoor Cup in 1874 — How the Americans Won
American Team Captain Gen. George Wingate recounted how the host nation’s team won the very first Creedmoor Match: “Col. Bodine was the last to shoot. He had been selected with special reference to his steadiness under excitement and nobly did he justify the confidence that had been placed in him. The Irish score was 931, the American 930. If he struck his target his team would win by one point. If he missed the match was lost. The crowd had pressed inside the ropes, and formed a long V extending for several hundred yards on each side of the firing point and leaving scarcely room enough to make it safe to shoot. All held their breath and fastened their eyes on Col. Bodine. He had been kept in ignorance of the exact condition of the scores, but he knew perfectly well that everything depended upon his shot.

Calm and imperturbable, as if engaged in ordinary practice, with blood dripping from a handkerchief in which he had tied up a cut on his hand received from a broken ginger-ale bottle a few minutes before, Col. Bodine stretched his long form out into his familiar position and taking a long, steady aim fired. Every one of the thousand pairs of eyes present were shifted from the man to the target, a little point half a mile off. Breathless silence prevailed. Then came the spat of the bullet accompanied by a roar from the crowd, ‘He’s on,’ and then came slowly into sight a large white disc which showed that a bullseye had been made and the match had been won. The disc lingered apparently lovingly upon the center of the bullseye, the most charming and welcome sight I think I ever witnessed. America had won by three points!

When the result appeared pandemonium broke loose. The sky was darkened with the hats which were thrown into the air. Men danced and thumped each other on the back and whooped and yelled and acted like crazy people. I remember I found myself standing on a chair behind Bodine waving my hat (which, however, I had sense enough to hold on to) and leading the cheering. But to this day I have not the remotest idea of how I got there from the place where I had been standing behind him watching the wind flag[.]”