This page in is the process of being populated but over time will range from small arms ammunition developments, as currently seen below, to larger ammunition and other types of ordnance and military equipment.
.338 Lapua Magnum – “Generation II” is an ongoing development program initiated by Caina Longbranch in Canada since 1993 based on the premise that while the foundations of this caliber are sound, the cartridge has not been exploited to its full potential which is considered to be 2000 meters in a combination of both accuracy and penetration. For the first time the 338 Lapua Magnum would truly represent maximum effective range in a Magnum sniping/hunting rifle configuration of a practical field weight.
Optimal potential while using the standard 338 Lapua cartridge case is achieved by seating the optimal projectile out to the longest practical length regardless of rifle action size. The foundation of ballistic engineering dictates that the projectile is the most important component and that the firearm is only a “delivery system”. The whole package must be designed and built around accurately delivering the optimal projectile to the longest effective range rather than what can be fit in an existing action originally intended for another caliber. Shoving a projectile back in the cartridge case to fit an existing action is considered not only to be remarkably inefficient but creates needlessly high chamber pressures and is fundamentally flawed as “backwards engineering”in reducing the true long range ballistic potential of this cartridge.
To accomplish this basic premise the optimal projectile at the time being the 300-grain Sierra Match King with a BC of .768 was seated out to the optimal length (OAL cartridge length: 3.98 inches + or – .01) so that the beginning of the projectile boat tail coincides with the case neck junction of the cartridge case. In doing this, maximum case capacity is maintained for extreme range while also having full projectile and cartridge case-mouth retention.
Since 2007 better next generation projectiles have been developed and are in the process of being finalized with improved ballistic tips while maintaining the optimal 300-grain weight but with significantly higher ballistic coefficients. This will be followed by hunting projectiles for the large & growing civilian hunting market and the finalization of current developement work on the 300 gr Armour Piercing Incendiary (API) and Armour Piercing (AP) projectiles for the military anti-material market. The API projectile has been developed around final developments of the extreme range match projectile, combined with the new projectiles armour piercing capability and increased incendiary payload over the smaller 250gr API projectiles currently on the market from “first generation” developments.
Achieving extreme range accurately with this cartridge is a combination of projectile, barrel and propellant development for an overall package or program. New projectiles beyond the Sierra are anticipated to have a seated cartridge length of 4.18 or 4.2 inches. With the Sierra projectile the optimal barrel twist was recorded in testing at 1:10 twist however subsequent testing by shooters and barrel makers through out the community determined the Sierra’s “sweet spot” is around 1:9.3 twist. With the new projectile’s longer length it’s anticipated the twist required to stabilize these projectiles of the same weight will be in the neighborhood of 1:9 or 1:8.5, necessitating rifling such as the proven 5-R rifling to reduce drag and increase barrel life.
Remington Arms was one of the first to recognize the potential of .338 Lapua Magnum – “Generation II” with the longer action length of the MSR rifle. In March of 2008 at the IWA Trade Show a member of Remington asked and received permission to take a picture of our extreme range projectile. We offer at cost ($195.00 each plus shipping) to support rifle development high quality roughing & finishing chamber reamers with rotating pilot heads to properly seat for the first time in over 20 years the Sierra 300gr #9300 Match King (For our Gen 1.5 “Sierra chamber” print and the C.I.P. print for comparison, click here). As soon as time permits, due to the number of ongoing projects and programs, we expect to offer both the roughing and finishing chamber reamers for the 300gr extreme range projectile as well
At the same time, propellant is under development to achieve these extreme ranges of 2000 meters and beyond. It is anticipated that the successful propellant will be one that produces a pressure plateau rather than a pressure curve through out its burn time coupled with propellant grains that may be engineered with increased surface area. The development continues.
Special offer for anyone who would like to participate in .338 Lapua Magnum Ammunition development offered below at the base of this page.
The next practical NATO / International Service Rifle Cartridge
After many years we believe that we have managed to “distill” the last 60 plus years down to the “sweet spot”, in the long standing, and seemingly circular debate about the ideal rifle cartridge, roughly between the current 5.56 x 45mm and others such as 7.62 x 51mm. This technical and tactical debate as raged since about the middle of World War II.
We have now narrowed it down to two variations and now need to finalize one or both of these two finalists. Not only is the cartridge important, but so is both projectile and propellant development as central factors. Please keep in mind that this is not just a incremental improvement over 5.56 x 45, but rather a generational one in terms of effective range, penetration, accuracy at longer range and lethality which is also important in its civilian role for hunting medium size game such as deer. While we have a right to own firearms and hunt, we also have an equal obligation to do it safety and take down game humanely.
Due to the seemingly endless debate in military circles, in our own time we plan to introduce one or both of them on the commercial market for marksmanship and hunting and if military organizations want to look at or consider them then they can do this in their own time, or not. It simply doesn’t make technical or economic sense for our companies to be tied only to one market or another. Please keep in mind that 5.56 x 45 NATO is also known as .223 Remington and 7.62 x 51 NATO is also known as .308 Winchester. We find that in ordnance / ammunition engineering working in both markets is the best way to advance the true technical potential of a cartridge, making an effective, accurate, controllable service rifle cartridge. Equally, we anticipate that it will also serve as a very pleasant to shoot, accurate, long range service rifle cartridge to support long standing tradition of service rifle and civilian marksmanship programs going back hundreds of years as a safe, responsible sport. This in addition to competitive service rifle biathlon and fast paced action shooting to hone the fine balance between marksmanship and physical conditioning. At some point this may even develop into an Olympic shooting event?.
The range of anticipated projectiles includes, FMJ ball, match or long range match, tracer and/or dim tracer, AP. API, sub-sonic and possibly APIT. In hunting a number of soft points will be available. Some of these projectiles are already off the drawing board. A disintegrating metallic link will also be available in the light machine gun role.
In our ammunition development programs there is something of value or both military organizations and civilian marksmanship as well as sport shooting and hunting alike.