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New to 338Edge: VV N170 or N570?


MajoPikeras

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Hi all;

 

New to the forum... well, not new: long time reader, first post...

 

I´m about to build a 338Edge for long range hunting/shooting. The slowest VV powder I have used to date was N165 on a 300WM loading 208 a-max. Never used N170 or N570.

 

I´m planing to use 285-300 grain bullets. Barrel lenght 28". My main concern was maximun accuracy, minimun ES. Also worried about temp stability.

 

Shawn Carlok (www.defensiveedge.com) has had great results with N570. This high energy seem to be the winner, but temp stability and ES could be better with N170.

 

Any help appreciated!!

 

Thanks all!!

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I am a bit different in that I use N165 in 338LM with 300 grain pills but of the 2 you mention I would use N170 as it is single based so less temperature sensitive and won't burn your barrel as fast as N570. The downside is less oomph (about 100fps if similar to 338LM).

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Thanks both for your answers!

 

Ds1, what kind of speeds are you getting with N165? It will be nice to know your ES. I´m quite happy with N165 in the 300WM, but I find some shots out of the norm with speed... I´m pretty sure that this will be due to reloading inconsistencies, not powder issue.

 

Regarding throat wear, I´m not much worried, as this rifle will not shoot long fire strings. I think that the case/bore ratio of the Edge will also help with barrel wear.

 

Thnaks!

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My feeling in 338LM is that N165 is a bit fast and N170 is a bit slow. With a COAL of 95mm with a 300 grain Scenar quickload says 94.7% fill for 80 grains of N165 and 104% fill for 88 grains of N170 with both around 3940 bar and N170 get a bit more velocity. .

 

Reality with N165 in both a DTA srs 26" barrel and a new ai axmc 27" barrel I am getting around 784 m/s at 10c, which is about 15m/s more than quick load predicts. I have not had time behind the Ai to test at different temperature but have done with the Dta from -10c to +30c, as a rule of thumb for the Dta a 1c. change in temperature resulted in a 1 m/s change +/- from a baseline 15c. It is a bit messed though as I did some of my testing at 200m above sea level and some at 400m. I noticed that during winter, below 7c as velocity dropped I lost some accuracy from 1/2 moa to near 1 moa. Maybe cold fingers or dropping out of an accuracy node - I just don't know. My ES figures have always been around 13m/s which is not that good. I seem to get better ES with 308win than I do with 338 Lapua which is annoying as I reload both in the same way.

 

If you are not worried about barrel life. N570 will give you more velocity and I would give Reloader Swiss rs80 a look - I have no experience with that powder yet, but hope that there will be a supplier here within the next six months.

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