.338 Lapua

[MeanderingBeing]

Anyone own or have used one of these new .338 rifles? Are they worth the ridiculous price or is it just another gimmick?

 

[Shadowrider]

Check out the .338RUM (Remington ultra mag). Compare the ballistics and the prices of the rifles.

 

[Big-Tex]

Just get a .416 barrett. Honestly, unless your hunting 2 legged predators from 1200 yards or so then I don't think the lapua is necessary. Now I've never been one to buy out of necessity, so get you one.

What do you want to shoot with it?

 

[QTRMOA]

What is your intended purpose for the rifle, paper hunting, zombies?

 

[okie98]

+1 on Shadowrider's response.

 

[Lance Jensen]

Not a fun gun... Bone jarring

 

[ninefan]

How heavy Lance? Any gun can be hospitable with enough brake and enough mass!! I bet if that 338 weighed enough that two people had to carry it it wouldn't be so bad.

 

[Ksmirk]

For the difference take a look at either the 338 RUM or if you want something a little different take a look at a 338 Edge. As far as differences you'll be looking at maybe 100-150fps in velocity, the real difference is in brass! Lapua brass is good and a 100ct will maybe leave you enough for a trip to McDonalds when you give the guy 2 $100 bills, the RUM and Edge both use the not so great Remington brass but you'll get change back from a $100 bill. The RUM and Edge use a normal magnum boltface so you could find a donor rifle in 300WM or 7RM but the mag boxes will be a touch short but they make extended mag boxes to cure that problem.

Don't get me wrong the 338 Lapua is cool but there are other choices that match or better the Lapua. Now I don't know your intended target or what you are looking for this rifle to do so I can't give you any other ideas but then you didn't ask :-) so to answer your question the Lapua is cool, and good break and recoil is not an issue, if you need any other information I would take a trip over to Long Range Hunting those guys are full of information about long range hunting and the 338's are talked about quite a lot. Later,

Kirk

 

[338Shooter]

Yeah, brass is 2.50 each for Lapua .338LM brass. .338 bullets for hand loading are about 75 cents each. 90 grains of powder and a large rifle magnum primer. If you get 10 loads on each piece of brass you're looking at $1.50+ per round of hand loaded ammo. Factory .338LM ammo is 5-$6 per trigger pull.

But, you get more cool points for shooting the LM. If you've got the $$ it is a cool round.

.338LM, .30-06, .223, .357Mag

I guess this is what $500 looks like.

 

[Thorgrim]

I've got a .338 Edge. I prefer Nosler brass over the Rem. brass. The recoil on the bigger guns isn't so bad; but the blast off the muzzle brake is seriously loud. By the way, I'd take the .408 Chey-tac over the .416 Barrett, or maybe a .375 CT.
Lapua brass is very nice quality for the .338 Lapua...$$$. You pay either way.
If you have to ask whether it's worth the expense, you might not want one anyway. A proper scope for a big rifle is not going to be cheap either.