I was pretty impressed with the gun and ammo on Top Shot (please let's not start a Top Shop flame war). Has anyone shot one of these type guns and want to share their experience? I realize they were shooting at a 30" target but 1500 yards is out there.

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Jim
Many K and N Frames

Jim,
Youngest son has a Barrett and it shoots very well. We are experimenting with the loads right now and it seems that the 300 gr. bullets work the best. He was able to streach it to about 500 yds this weekend and the 300 grs consistantly would take out coke cans. Can't say about longer ranges in that we have difficulty streaching past 200 yds here at home.
It is more sociable than oldest son's .50 in that the back blast from the muzzle break doesn't slap your sinuses together all the way when it goes off. Per round the .338 is actually a little more expensive to shoot/reload for, no once fired brass out there. The optics are critical.
Stay away from the Remington it just doesn't look that substantial. The Sakos, McMillians and Barretts are good beefy rifles and should give you the accuracy you are seeing on TV.
Larry

No, but I shot a .408 Chey Tac once at the 2005 Bor-Tac conference. I only got one round, the last one they had, but it shot like a laser.

Love those exotic calibres until I look at price and availability.
But when I'm in bumphouque Arkansas and realize that I forgot my ammo-I want to be able to walk into the first ga station-store I find and get a box of ammo along with my beer and pack of little white do-nuts. Some of those places, a .270 is an exotic calibre.

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Forum consigliere

I don't have a lot of experience with the .338 Lapua but I do have a 50 BMG bolt gun. I considered the .338 when I bought the .50, but one of the reasons I decided to go with the .50 was cost - the .338 was more expensive than 50 BMG ammo! From everything I hear, it's a magnificent cartridge, but you will PAY for it!

Hey Jim,
I have a good amount of experience with the 338 Lapua mag round as well as the 50cal match round. I have put both of these rounds consistently out to 1800 yards using match ammo. For the 338, I use the 250gr. and 300 gr. lapua scenar round- $6.00 per factory round. It gets down to about $2.00 per round once you've spent a spent a bunch of money on factory brass. Hornady 250 and 285gr. seem to work well and moderately cheaper at $74 per 20- I have tried the cheap stuff- prvi partizan. It does not load into my AI magazines- Too long.

I use a McMillan tac338 with a 26in. barrel and a Nightforce 3.5- 15 NSX F1 scope. I have 44moa below zero to reach mechanical bottom. If I had the room, I could run this gun out past 2500yrds. There is a 10moa difference between my 250 and 300gr. scenars at 1800 yards. The 338 flies flatter than the 50 and goes trans-sonic at approx' 1300 yrds. The recovery rate back onto the reticle is dependent on the muzzle brake employed- do not shoot one without a brake-(ouch). I'm usually able to recover my reticle to watch the splash at distance-1.2-1.5 sec. out...
McMillan guns like good quality brass. Mr Barrett's will shoot anything. I've heard good things about the Sako 338-$$$ for one. It's cheaper and most seem to speak well of them. I have no experience with Mr. Barrett's toys- he does not like california.

As to hunting: unknown- These are work guns- however, there is a lot of energy packed into these rounds down range- something akin to hitting something point blank with a 44mag.

I just got a 175gr. 308 round out to 1010yrds. with a 14.5in barrel- I can't wait to see how a 14.5in or 16in. barrel will run on a 338.
thanks for the thread- finally something I can about.

Mike E
BTW- The 50cal ammo I shoot costs $8.00 per factory round- 700gr. fast mover- My gun will not feed the surplus M113 ball ammo- brass metallurgy sucks..