The .338 Lapua Magnum (8.6×70mm or 8.58×70mm) is a Finnish rimless, bottlenecked, centerfire rifle cartridge. It was developed during the 1980s as a high-powered, long-range cartridge for military snipers. Due to its use in the War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War, the cartridge has become widely available.
The cartridge is named after the Finnish town of Lapua.
The loaded.338 cartridge is in diameter (rim) and long. It can penetrate better-than-standard military body armor at ranges of up to , and has a maximum effective range of about with C.I.P. conforming ammunition at sea level conditions. Muzzle velocity is dependent on barrel length, seating depth, and powder charge, and varies from for commercial loads with bullets, which corresponds to about of muzzle energy.
British military issue overpressure.338 Lapua Magnum cartridges with overall length, loaded with LockBase B408 very-low-drag bullets fired at 936 m/s (3,071 ft/s) muzzle velocity from a L115A3 Long Range Rifle were used in November 2009 by British sniper Corporal of Horse (CoH) Craig Harrison to establish a new record for the longest confirmed sniper kill in combat, at a range of (since broken).Sheridan, Michael (May 3, 2010). British sniper Craig Harrison (The Silent Assassin) breaks record, kills target from 1.5 miles away" . Daily News (New York). Accessed May 13, 2010. In reports, CoH Harrison mentions the environmental conditions at Musa Qala were perfect for long-range shooting: no wind, mild weather, and clear visibility."Super Sniper Kills Taliban 1.5 Miles Away" . Sky News, 3 May 2010.
In addition to its military role, it is used by hunters and civilian long-range shooting enthusiasts. The.338 Lapua Magnum is capable of taking down any big game animals, though its suitability for some dangerous game (Cape buffalo, hippopotamus, white rhinoceros, and elephant) is arguable unless accompanied by a larger "backup" caliber: "There is a huge difference between calibers that will kill an elephant and those that can be relied upon to stop one."Robertson, K: The Perfect Shot, Safari Press, Long Beach, 1999. p. 50. In Namibia, the.338 Lapua Magnum in the past was legal for hunting Africa's big five game if the loads had at least muzzle energy. Since 2015, Namibia and other sub-Saharan countries generally require larger minimal bore diameters by law for big-five hunting.
History Initial development In 1983, Research Armament Industries (RAI) in the United States began development of a new, long-range sniper cartridge capable of firing a , bullet at , that could lethally penetrate five layers of military body armor at . After preliminary experiments, a .416 Rigby case necked down to take a bullet was selected, since this diameter presents an optimum of sectional density and penetrating capability for practical spin-stabilized rifle bullets (bullets up to about 5 to 5.5 calibers in length).
The.416 Rigby is an English big-game cartridge designed in 1911 to accommodate 325 MPa (47,137 psi) pressures. One of the disadvantages of these old cartridge cases, which were intended for firing cordite charges instead of modern smokeless powder, is the thinness of the sidewall just forward of the web (the solid portion of a cartridge between the head and the bottom of the primer pocket). During ignition, the cartridge's base, just forward of the bolt face, is not supported.
During the process, RAI employed Jim Bell and Brass Extrusion Labs Ltd. (B.E.L.L.) of Bensenville, Illinois, to make the .338/416 or 8.58×71 mm cartridge cases, Hornady produced bullets, and RAI built a sniper rifle under contract for the U.S. Navy. RAI found that the BELL cases did not fulfill the requirements, since they were modified low pressure.416 Rigby cases. Pressed by military deadlines, RAI looked for another case producer and contacted Lapua of Finland in 1984. RAI was forced to drop out of the program due to financial difficulties. Subsequently, Lapua of Finland put this cartridge into limited production.Barnes, Frank C., Cartridges of the World 8th Edition, edited by M. L. McPherson, DBI Books, 1997, . The .338/416 rifle program was later canceled when the contractors were unable to meet the project's velocity target of for a bullet, due to excessive pressures rupturing cartridge cases.
Final development
The .338 Lapua Magnum cartridge was developed as a joint venture between the Finnish rifle manufacturer SAKO and the British rifle manufacturer Accuracy International, along with the Finnish ammunition manufacturer Lapua, or more officially Nammo Lapua Oy, which since 1998 is part of the Nordic Ammunition Group (Nammo).
Lapua opted to redesign the .338/416 cartridge. In the new case design, particular attention was directed toward thickening and metallurgically strengthening the case's web and sidewall immediately forward of the web. In modern solid head cases, the hardness of the brass is the major factor determining a case's pressure limit before undergoing plastic deformation. Lapua tackled this problem by creating a hardness distribution ranging from the head and web (hard) to the mouth (soft) as well as a strengthened (thicker) case web and sidewall immediately forward of the web. This resulted in a very pressure-resistant case, allowing it to operate at high pressure and come within 15 m/s (50 ft/s) of the original velocity goal. Lapua also designed a .338 caliber lock base B408 full metal jacket bullet, modeled after its .30 caliber lock base bullet configuration. The result was the .338 Lapua Magnum cartridge which was registered with C.I.P. (Commission Internationale Permanente pour l'Epreuve des Armes à Feu Portatives) in 1989. With the procurement by the Dutch Army, the cartridge became NATO codified.
The .338 Lapua Magnum fills the gap between weapons chambered for standard military rounds such as the 7.62×51mm NATO and large, heavy rifles firing the .50 BMG cartridge. It also offers an acceptable amount of barrel wear, which is important to military snipers who tend to fire thousands of rounds a year in practice. This was achieved by coupling a sensible case volume (7.40 ml) to bore area (56.86 mm2/0.5686 cm2) ratio (13.01 Oratio) with ample space for loading relatively long slender projectiles that can provide good aerodynamic efficiency and external ballistic performance for the projectile diameter.The Finnish Army found out during a test/trials program and seven years of service that the barrels of their Sako TRG-42 sniper rifles lasted 7,000 to 8,000 rounds with Lapua lock base B408 factory ammunition before showing impermissible accuracy decay. The Finnish Army's consistent accuracy requirement for these rifles is less than one MOA at 1,000 m. If this requirement is not met the TRG-42 gets a new barrel. This is normal practice for active high-performance precision rifle operators who regard barrels as expendable items. The continuous use of very powerful handloads (which results in higher muzzle velocities) results in much quicker throat erosion reducing the TRG-42 barrel's accuracy life to 1,500 to 2,000 rounds. Like every other comparable large magnum rifle cartridge, the .338 Lapua Magnum presents a stout recoil. An appropriate fitting stock and an effective muzzle brake helps to reduce recoil-induced problems, enabling the operator to fire more rounds before getting too uncomfortable to shoot accurately. Good factory loads, multiple projectile weights and factory special application ammunition are all available.In 1990, the US military Adjutant General's Office issued a legal opinion holding that the Sierra MatchKing bullet (and similar bullets of other manufacturers), despite being a hollow point design, is not designed specifically to cause greater damage or suffering in a human target, and in fact normally does not create a wound readily distinguishable from wounds caused by conventional full metal jacket bullets, and is therefore in their opinion legal under the Hague Convention for use in war.
Due to its growing civilian popularity, several high-quality tactical and match (semi) custom bolt actions designed for the .338 Lapua Magnum are becoming available. These (semi) custom bolt-actions are used with other high-grade rifle and sighting components to build custom sporting and target rifles.
Users
The .338 Lapua Magnum cartridge is in law enforcement or military service use with:
: RENEA – Sako TRG-42 : Blaser Tactical 2 : Austrian Armed Forces Jagdkommando – Steyr 08A2 : Bangladesh Armed Forces – Accuracy International AWM and Pindad SPR : Canadian Forces – C14 Timberwolf Medium Range Sniper Weapon System (MRSWS) : Chilean Army – APR338 and PGM 338 Barrett Model 98B : People's Liberation Army Ground Force – QBU-202 (military designation for the 8.6×70mm CS/LR35 rifle) : TAP. : National Guard-Accuracy International Arctic Warfare — Sako TRG-42 : Military of Denmark – Sako TRG-42 : Military of Estonia reconnaissance units and special forces — Sako TRG-42. : Finnish Defence Forces – Sako TRG-42 : French Army, GIGN and Commandement des Opérations Spéciales – PGM 338, Sako TRG-42, AWM .338 : Police and military - Accuracy International AWM and Sako TRG series, as well as Satevari MSWP. Domestic analogue .338 GBM produced by STC Delta : – Haenel RS9 designated as G29 in service with the special forces; replacing the G22, Erma SR-100, AMP Technical Services DSR-1, GOL Sniper Magnum : Anti-Terrorist Unit EKAM – Sako TRG-41 : Hungarian Police Security Service (Rendészeti Biztonsági Szolgálat) - Unique-Alpine TPG-1 (Taktische Prazisions Gewehr-1) : Kopassus – Accuracy International AWM .338 : Irish Army – Accuracy International AWM .338 : Infantry - H-S Precision Pro Series 2000 HTR Special forces — McMillan Tac-338 and PGM 338, YAMAM – Barrett MRAD : Sako TRG-42 : Lithuanian Armed Forces – Accuracy International AXMC : Pasukan Gerakan Khas – Accuracy International AWM —Accuracy International AX338 : Dutch military – Accuracy International AWM and AXMC, Sako TRG-41 : New Zealand Defence Force – Barrett MRAD : GROM – Accuracy International AWM, 1 Pułk Specjalny KomandosówSnipers foto — Accuracy International AWM – Accuracy International AXMC : Alpha Group, FSO and SOBR – Accuracy International AWM, ORSIS T-5000M : Special Brigade – Sako TRG-42. : PGM 338 : Military of Slovenia – PGM 338 : GOE – Sako TRG-41 : Sako TRG-42 : Accuracy International AWM : Sako TRG-42 : Used by the army snipers: the Netherlands donated Accuracy International AWM rifles to Ukraine in 2022. : British military – Accuracy International AWM .338L115A3 Long Range Rifle. British Army. : US Navy Special Warfare – McMillan Tac-338
The .338 Lapua Magnum has been designated a "cartridge of interest" by the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA). It is being considered to replace the .300 Winchester Magnum and the .50 BMG for anti-personnel long-range service in the U.S. military. On June 17, 2008, the U.S. government issued a market survey to support a requirement for a precision sniper rifle (PRS) to possibly replace the then-fielded bolt-action SOF Sniper Syst's0126.