.300 WM vrs .338 lap

[dryheat]

I haven't never shot or owned either, but I read the thead below about the new army sniper rifle and it seems I remember reading something about the .338 Lapua round. Could I get a little education on the difference between the two?
I know Lapua ammo goes for about $4.00 a rd! Why the .300 over the .338? Economics, politics?

[Johnny in Texas]

I think the .338 lapua is already approved by NATO and whom ever else since the Brits are using it.

I heard from a reliable source within the USMC Rifle shop that they were looking very hard at the .338 as well.

Barret makes a much lighter than the .50 cal. simi-auto in .338 Lapua ,I looked one over last summer and it is very manageable did not shoot it.

.338 will have better long-range ballistic characteristics in my opinion.

Testing was done on magnum sniper rifles back in the 70's in San Antonio at camp Bullis and the .300 win mag. and the .338 win mag did very well.

[Rick]

I will argue the side of the 300 Win Mag just for the fun of it.

The 300 Win Mag will use the same receiver and small parts as the currant rifle. So parts and tools are already available. If it doesn't work out they can convert the rifles back to 308. In a rifle of about 12 lbs the 300 Win Mag is about as much recoil and muzzle blast as the majority of people can take. The 338 Lapua needs about a 20lb rifle to shoot comfortably and would be too heavy to carry out in the field. Possibly the government has a bunch of 30 cal match grade bullets in inventory they need to use. Second shots would take less recovery time for the 300 Win Mag than the 338 Lapua. The sound of the 300 Win Mag is closer to other rifles. When the 338 Lapua goes bang everyone would know a sniper is in the vicinity and would make every effort to eliminate the shooter.

[Badgerord]

Dry heat,

The .338 Lapua Mag is a formidable cartridge, it can put more energy on the target than a .300 Win Mag. There are in Europe, attempts to make the .338 into a .50, its not working!
They are trying to make "AP" (Armor piercing) rounds, Tracer rounds, APIT rounds (Armor Piercing Incendiary Tracer) and best of all Raufoss rounds (explosive, see Mk 211 .50 cal) the problem is that the payload is really to small for most of them, AP's OK, Tracer is doable, APIT is iffy but Raufoss rounds are not really viable, not enough explosives to make it worth it.

The simple answer is .338 flies better longer, bucks the wind a better, that's all it has to offer over the .300.

The M24 is big enough to upgrade to a .338 Lapua mag. the recoil of the LM would be reduced via a suppressor, this is also the plan for .300WM XM 2010 rifle.

The AAC Titan suppressor reduces the recoil to that of about a .308 win. The can is Titanium and is very light and an acceptable weight penalty for what it brings to the table. So this solves the heavy gun issue.

In a Navy test the (Navy) snipers said that the .300 WM was good enough because 1000 m shots are not realistic and past about 800 m the odds of a first round hit is very low.
The Snipers made the statement in a debrief that "If a target is 1000-1500+ m they would call in Air or Arty support and not give away their location".
This is one of the most professional things I have heard come from a sniper.

All this being said, I am a huge .338 fan, I have 6 of them and have designed 2 receivers specifically for the .338 LM cartridge, but having shot out to 2000 m with .300's and .338's its just not a realistic goal.

Hope I have answered some of your questions.

Marty
Badger Ordnance

[dryheat]

Very informative, thank you all.
Having reread- 2,000 yrds? What is that, over a mile? Yeah, bring in the airstrike/predator.
It's hard to consider a shot that woould approach that.

[lonegunman762x51]

I thought the army was also looking at a new .338 Norma Mag cartridge? It was supposed to have all the velocity of Lapua and fit in a long action, unlike Lapua. Anyone heard this? I got my info from an AMU guy.

[Badgerord]

The 338 Lap will fit in a Long action rifle unless you want to seat the bullets out.

The 338 Norma can not be the same as the 338 Lap. Less powder always means lower velocities, its simple physics.

Marty
Badger Ordnance