The relatively new cartridge 338 Lapua Magnum was originally created for sniper shooting at long distances, however, now it is used both in trap shooting and by hunters. The 338 Lapua Magnum ranks between the.50 BMG and the.308 Winchester ammunition.
Appointment
In 1983, the United States Department of Defense announced a competition to create a new sniper cartridge. The cartridge had to meet several parameters. Firstly, his task was to defeat the growth target at a long distance (more than 1, 500 meters), and secondly, to accelerate the bullet to 900 m / s with a mass of 250 grains (1 gran = 0.0647 grams).
History
Among others, the creation took on Research Armament Industries from the United States. Based on the.416 Rigby hunting cartridge, the designers Boots Obermeyer and Jim Bell (who later creates the.700 Nitro Express, which became the most powerful of the hunting ones) create a cartridge that meets the requirements of the competition. It gets the name.338 Bell. But despite the formal observance of the conditions, there is a significant drawback. The.416 Rigby sleeve could not withstand the strong pressure of the powder gases and was severely deformed, which not only led to rapid wear of the weapon, but could also be dangerous for the shooter.
After the first failures
The palm passed Lapua from Finland. They created an original sleeve, which is why they solved the problem of deformation. The cartridge has a bottle-shaped sleeve, the rim does not protrude. The maximum pressure of the powder during the explosion is 400 MPa, and the sleeve withstands a pressure of 420 MPa. Then they developed another bullet, more suitable for shooting at a person at such a long distance. Four years later, in 1987, the company begins to produce 338 caliber (in mm 8.6 x 70) under the label Lapua Magnum.
Silent killer
In parallel with the creation of the cartridge, the company Accuracy International LTD from England was developing a rifle for caliber 338, the aim of which was to accurately shoot at great distances in extreme conditions (low temperatures, strong wind). The so-called Arctic sniper rifle, nicknamed the “silent killer”. Now we know it under the names Arctic Warfare Magnum, L115A, and L96. When shooting from one kilometer, the rifle had a spread of 15-16 cm, this is a very accurate indicator. For example, a.50 Browning rifle had a dispersion of about a meter under the same conditions, given the large recoil, weight and a much louder shot.
An arctic rifle set a record that has not yet been beaten by anyone: two people were killed with two shots at a distance of about two and a half kilometers.
The rifle Arctic Warfare Magnum can be two more calibers: 6.2 and 7.62. Its weight with an empty magazine may vary, depending on the modification, from 6.1 to 7.3 kg.
Types of bullets
The cartridge had only one type of bullet until 1996. The appearance of new bullets has greatly expanded options for the possibility of service cartridge. Under.338 LM, five types of bullets were developed:
- SP (semi-shell).
- Partition (expansive, composite core).
- HPBT (conical tail, nasal cavity).
- FMJBT (shell, conical tail).
- FMJ (shell bullet).
The cartridge with the SP bullet with a mass of 12.96 grams (200 grains) has an initial bullet speed of 1002 m / s. An expansive bullet with a mass of 250 grains (16.2 g) gives an indicator of 897 m / s, and the hunting GB488 VLD has a speed of 910 m / s with the same weight. Armor-piercing and armor-piercing incendiary bullets Armor Piercing and Armor Piercing Incendiary are also used.
Several types of hunting bullets (Barnes XLC-Bullit - 14.6 g, Sierra MatchKing - 19.4 g, Homady SpirePoint - 16.2 g), developed under the cartridge, also met all the characteristics. Their flight speed ranged from 754 to 920 m / s.
Cartridge application
Caliber 338 “Lapua” was developed for sniper shooting and did an excellent job due to its flat trajectory and high accuracy, however, it began to be used in trap shooting even earlier than its official presentation. In 1986, American shooters won a competition with him in Virginia. The cartridge is also used by hunters. It is very popular among fans of warmitting (hunting over long distances) and benchrest (shooting from a long distance at a paper target).
Hunting bullets have been developed for the cartridge, effective in firing at animals weighing up to a ton.
Production
In addition to the Finnish company Lapua, the Czech company Sellier & Bellot, Norma Precision (Sweden) was also involved in the production of the cartridge, but currently.338 Lapua Magnum is produced only in Russia at the Novosibirsk cartridge plant. The performance of Russian lapua is somewhat inferior to the original version. A full copy of the cartridge is called SC-152.
Cartridge Weapons
The heavy.338 LM cartridge was created for specific tasks, and rifles using it should have been consistent with this. But due to the narrow focus, many rifles have not gained distribution, such as the M98 Barrett. Barrett’s M98B was also designed specifically for the 338 Lapua caliber, it is quite light (6.1 kg in weight - it’s really not much for a rifle of this type) and compact (1267 mm in length, it can also be disassembled), with a longitudinally sliding shutter and magazine for ten rounds, equipped with a flame arrester. Like other rifles of this type, it can be used to defeat equipment, but it is designed specifically for live targets
Orsis SE T5000 caliber rifle 338, multi-shot rifle with manual reload, suitable for both hunting and sports shooting. Also among Russian rifles there are models for this caliber of the Russian weapons company Tsar Cannon.
They produce weapons for caliber 338 from Blaser, Remington, Keppeler, Weatherby, Accuracy International (the creators of the "Arctic rifle"), Sako and several others.
By the way, many of these rifles are positioned as sports, which means that they are used in trap shooting, including in Russia. The only thing that holds back the spread of these high-class rifles is their price.
Fighting qualities
The 338 LM was a good addition to the.50BMG ammunition, which, however, did an excellent job of firing light armored vehicles over long distances, but was not suitable for firing at live targets. In addition, 338 caliber rifles turned out to be much lighter than the "fifty".
Caliber 338 Lapua Magnum with an expansive bullet has a powerful stopping and killing effect. A bullet pierces any, even heavy bulletproof vest and obstacles. Lapua will break through both the concrete fence and steel sheets up to 2.4 cm thick
In hunting, a cartridge with a Partition bullet can be used to kill large animals, such as bears and large ungulates, however, even with an expansive bullet, a cartridge is ineffective against large African animals: elephants, hippos, rhinos. On such a hunt, the cartridge developed by Jim Bell and William Feldstein, the.700 Nitro Express, is used. The cartridge is designed for shooting from short distances, the bullet has an initial speed of 590 m / s with a mass of 64.8 g. The optimal distance for firing this ammunition is 122 m, while it has a dispersion of not more than 3 cm. The length of a 700 caliber cartridge is 106, 88 mm, the recoil, despite the heavy weight of the guns, is colossal - the weapon literally knocks out of hands. However, not in vain.700 Nitro Express is considered the most powerful cartridge in the world. The energy of the cartridge is 11, 279 J, which is enough to cause a tipping rhino or elephant to tip over. Even with a defeat in a non-slaughter place, the beast loses the ability to move for a period of 5 to 20 minutes, and at this time the hunter can finish off the animal from a lighter gun.
Service History
The cartridge 338 Lapua Magnum is used for military purposes. It was used in the war in Afghanistan (2001), in Iraq, as well as in eastern Ukraine and in Libya.
Cartridge 338 Lapua produced the famous double shot by Craig Harris (from the equally famous "Arctic rifle") - in 2009, he killed two enemy machine gunners in Afghanistan with two aimed shots.
It was this cartridge that Chris Kyle, a well-known sniper from the USA, used when he fired his farthest shot - 1, 940 m. In 2008, he killed a grenade launcher near the city of Sadr, who was about to shoot at a convoy of US troops.
Another famous shot by the Lapua Magnum cartridge was fired by British Corporal Christopher Reynolds. Also in Afghanistan, but a year later, he killed with a targeted shot from 1853 meters the commander of the Taliban detachment, nicknamed Mullah. For this shot, Christopher Reynolds was awarded a medal.
Other cartridges 338 caliber
The 338 win cartridge can be called narrowly targeted, although it has good performance. 338 Winchester Magnum - a hunting cartridge designed to kill large animals (including bears and moose), has only three types of bullets, which reduces its popularity among hunters, although it has taken a strong position in its niche as the most powerful medium caliber cartridge, not intended for long-range bullet shooting. In sales in America, it is inferior to 7 mm Rem Mag and 300 Win Mag. Under the caliber 338 Win Mag in America and around the world, quite a lot of weapons are produced: Remington 700, Steyr - Mannlicher S, Winchester Alaska and others.
Another ammunition of the same caliber is the.338 Weatherby Magnum. The ammunition was created based on.378 WeatherbyMagnum. Like the designers at Research Armament Industries, Roy Weatherby created a new cartridge by crimping the sleeve. However, unlike the 338 Bell, this sleeve withstands the pressure of powder gases and successfully competed with the.338 Win Mag that entered the market, and with a weight of 250 grains it also shows a speed of 900 m / s.
Under a new cartridge, Weatherby began production of Akkumark, Synthetic and TPM rifles.
Interesting fact: 338 Lapua Magnum became the title for a book from the Stalker series. After the development and commissioning of the cartridge, the term "Marxman" appeared. So they began to call shooters at exorbitant distances.
The choice of caliber for sniper shooting
There are many opinions, but they all agree on one thing: there is no universal caliber, and 338 is no exception. In addition, the action of the caliber can vary greatly depending on the bullet used, its weight and shape, as well as on the amount of gunpowder. The shooters themselves can modify the cartridges, slightly changing the indicators in the direction they need, but this is particular and we should only talk about factory cartridges. Everywhere has its drawbacks and exceptions. Each caliber perfectly copes only with the tasks assigned to it, so in the first place you should decide on them.
Light gauges (below the thirtieth) are now offered by almost all arms manufacturers. If earlier it was believed that light calibers are suitable only for shooting at a distance of less than 300 meters, now athletes use it even when shooting long distances up to one kilometer. The main advantage of the caliber is mobility. The relatively small weight of weapons and ammunition allows you to carry more ammunition and respond quickly to changing circumstances.
Medium calibers, to which the.338 belongs, are designed for long-range shooting. Compared to the first group, such a weapon is heavier. In addition, its use implies a great legal responsibility: 338 Lapua breaks through a concrete fence, and when using an expansive bullet, you can almost say with 100% probability that a person will have no chance of surviving.
Heavy caliber - "fifty" is very controversial. On the one hand, they cope well with the defeat of equipment over long distances, but they are not so effective against manpower. Yes, a 50-caliber rifle is capable of sending a bullet to a distance of more than two kilometers, however, there are so many factors influencing it that conducting targeted shooting at a growth target becomes almost impossible. So the exact hit in such situations is not a trivial case. Do not forget that the cartridge was originally created for firing from a machine gun.
