Federal Cartridge won the competitive bid to produce the Mk 248 Mod 1 round and, despite some requests, Black Hills is not planning to offer this load commercially because it exceeds SAAMI standards for overall length and maximum chamber pressure. The first Remington XM2010 sniper rifles and Mk 248 Mod 1 cartridges were delivered to U.S. forces in Afghanistan in January 2011. Thus far, feedback has been excellent.

.338 Lapua Mag. Sniping Ammunition
The .338 Lapua Mag. has seen limited service with U.S. Special Operations snipers since 1993, and was adopted by the British Army in 2007 for its new L115A1 sniper rifle. British sniper Craig Harrison used this combination of rifle and cartridge for his world record sniper kill in 2009, taking out several Taliban at 2,707 yds. in Afghanistan. Typically weighing about 20 lbs., .338 Lapua Mag.-chambered rifles offer less weight and bulk than those in .50 BMG, but still pack considerable terminal energy, especially against materiel targets and barriers. The U.S. Army’s new 220-gr., .300 Win. Mag. load performs nearly as effectively as the .338 Lapua Mag.’s 250-gr. round.

Because there is no “standard” U.S. or NATO .338 Lapua Mag. load, I test-fired a variety of American and European ammunition for accuracy and terminal effect, which included: Finnish Lapua 250-gr. and 300-gr. Match; Swiss RUAG 250-gr. ball, and 250- and 300-gr. Match loads, along with a glass-penetrating cartridge and 260-gr. armor-piercing round; U.S.-made Black Hills 250-gr. and 300-gr. Match loads; and Hornady 250-gr. and 278-gr. ammunition.

All of the 250-gr. loads consistently printed five-shot groups of less than one m.o.a. when fired in my Savage 110BA rifle, with its 1:9-inch rate-of-twist; the 300-gr. groups opened noticeably, suggesting they prefer a different twist-rate. Of particular note, I fired all five RUAG loads at one target as individual shots; except for the ball round, they grouped less than one m.o.a., meaning a single zero could serve these four different loads.

Testing for barrier penetration, all 11 loads breached a sandbag wall at 400 yds. Reflecting their tremendous kinetic energy, when fired at 90 degrees all of the 250-gr. match bullets—which are open-tipped lead-alloy-core projectiles—punctured 0.4 inches of soft steel at 300 yds. And the RUAG AP round’s tungsten-carbide core readily punched through a 1.4-inch steel plate at 100 yds.

Whether fired for accuracy or for terminal effect, the .338 Lapua Mag. rounds performed impressively; although not destined to be the U.S. Army’s new sniper cartridge, it was this 250-gr. load that set the standard for the .300 Win. Mag, Mk 248 Mod 1 load. With the U.S. Marine Corps looking for a new sniper rifle of its own, the .300 Win. Mag. quite likely is in their snipers’ future, too.