
When .338 Lapua Magnum cartridge made its first appearance on the civil scene had already been well tested and used by various specialized military corps that had had the opportunity to appreciate the many qualities of this project including energy and long-distance precision, the great balance of the different factors and in every theater of use, manageability in weapons still very well transportable by the single individual with the intuitive advantages of sudden movements without too much weight and with rifle sizes still easily controlled. Beyond the purpose that remains strongly primary in war and that is to hit the adversary, this cartridge lends itself successfully to invalidate the electronic equipment without which many pieces of artillery or missile systems remain inactive. Obviously the useful range with a high precision and many kgm to unload guided the Lapua project and the Finnish company did not betray the expectations, providing a consequential result to its fame and the essence of precision shooting, a subject very followed in these lands. where competition, hunting and, every now and then war, have forged over the years generations of excellent shooters and equally valid designers of rifles and ammunition. The measures requested starting from Research Armament Co. indicate the .338 "caliber, a bullet weight of 250 gr (16,2 g) and a muzzle velocity of 3000 ft / sec, so about 915 m / sec: a nice combination capable of delivering 691 kgm and, thanks to the use of bullets with a high ballistic coefficient, to maintain respectable values for a wide range of trajectory. The basis of the project comes from the measures of the .416 Rigby and the first cases are produced by Brass Extrusion Labs. Ltd of Bensenville, Illinois as the bullets exit the Hornady; It wasn't long before both Lapua and Norma put their cartridges on the market with the approval of SAAMI and CIP for the conventional measures which in metric terms see an 8,58 × 71 mm case. The military charge equipped with a pointed ball with a secant profile of the ogive e boattail at the rear apex it comfortably beats 1.500 m.
The Fiocchi Perfecta cartridge
The Casa di Lecco has introduced this caliber in the Perfecta series, the shooting one with very accurate workmanship and performance in proportion to the price which, necessarily, is not popular: the beautiful 10-cartridge pack goes on average to the public around € 66,00. , but if you consider that the very progressive amount of powder is really great and you use the valuable 250 gr Sierra Match King ball, you understand how everything comes to cost that amount. We like the cardboard used for the box and the print that characterizes this special series where there is no lack of information on the ball in place while for the ballistic data the company refers to its site from which we have obtained the tables that we report: for the less well-knit with modernity we would say that the classic mirror with the trajectory, speed and energy data reported on the box would not be bad. The cartridges they are presented with excellent brass, pocket rootstock and groove for the extractor very clear without the slightest burr, an annealing of the upper part of the case, then the last mm of the body, shoulder and collar that guarantee elasticity and possibility of reloading. The test conducted with a Sako 85 showed a correct chambering without any effort either in closing or opening, absence of anomalous flashing, correct blackening of the collar and optimal shape thanks also to the perfect chambering of the weapon under test.

We juggled the shooting as best we could having chosen and fixed the day at the Carrù (CN) shooting range for that November 24th when the rain and the wind worked hard to wear us out, but without succeeding: the position on a plateau he kept far enough away from the disasters caused by the Tanaro stream. The Burris Veracity 5-25 × 50 optic deserves a mention, which in the Burian one allowed adequate visibility to the 200, beyond that it was not seen at all, and a regularity in the corrections really adequate to the combination of shotgun and cartridge. For comparison we have fired some domestic refills with Hornady A-Max bullet always of 250 gr and the compliance has always been very high.
Conclusions
Wondering what this .338 LM is for is superfluous. It serves to appreciate a work carried out with exemplary ability to reach certain values not accessible to anyone, to rediscover the brand as always Giulio Fiocchi, Lecco ready and willing to follow enthusiasts on any terrain, even the most difficult and demanding, to verify how experience and knowledge of the market always place the Italian company at the highest levels in the international arena. And if you want to experiment with long-distance shooting, you will put yourself in the most suitable conditions to savor what the .338 LM is able to provide: unfortunately the shooting range of Pian Neiretto (TO), which we rely on for the distances above 300, m in this period it closes and will reopen only after mid-May. It is not possible to close the discussion without an eye to hunting: in the hands of people of common sense, capable of saying no in the absence of optimal conditions, the cartridge allows for rebounding results; otherwise the "sanitary ware" factory reopens at ever greater distances, something to be avoided promptly in order not to ruin an exalted art such as hunting, which must never end in mere sporting practice.