Thread: .338 Lapua build... thoughts?

OK, I haven't got one, haven't built one so cant speak from experience.

This sort of heavy duty hunting rifle would be quite complimentary to a lighter weight short North Island bushpig. 338 Lapua has better ballistics than the African cartridges, for our conditions; being unbelted, has arguably better reloading potential than 7mmRemMag and 300 WinMag and apparently better barrel life than the big 7mms. For a hunting rifle you do want barrel life, to build up enough experience to use it well on animals. Supply of off the shelf factory ammo, brass and standard loading data also favour the 338LM over ballistically superior wildcats. For hunting you are looking for first shot hit probabilities (>90%) at medium ranges (300-600m) in high wind, difficult range finding situations. A few people say they achieve this but more hunters would have the odds tilted in their favour if they use a big cartridge. So, it does make sense as an open country South Island hunting cartridge, which is the OP's application. The extra KE is also useful for the biggest or toughest animals here, Wapiti Sambar and Tahr. A bull tahr's front legs are the size of a red stag's hindquarters.

Scope is critical and if NZ durability and weight are important but cost is not, I would start with a S&B 5-20 compact. What would you mount under it ?

The rifle itself is simple. Your mate needs a top notch, proven tough, reliable and accurate hunting rifle. Sako make a long range model 85 in a special 338LM action. I'd suggest this would be better for hunting than a precision target rifle type action like the defiance. The model 85 is 100% the best all round action for New Zealand conditions. I once hired a Sako made from a 270 TRG-S (Robbie Tiffen) and it was good. But the 85 action is better and you can get one brand new. Optilock mounts are now available for 34mm rings but you might need to do some homework on the mounting length for the compact 5-20 scope. The 3-20 might fit better. This rifle comes with a heavy laminate stock so you could save weight by buying an aftermarket carbon stock. Fitting a different sized action that the stock wasn't designed for isn't trivial, so that will need some care. This model does come with a muzzle brake.

Well, that was a good exercise.