338 federal

B

Boogershooter

New member
Been looking at 2 rifles at the local gun shop! The 111 long range hunter has a 26 inch barrel and the 116 bear hunter has a 23 inch barrel! Does the 338 federal really gain much by the extra couple inches of barrel? This rifle will just b for hunting at no further than 300 yards so I'm not concerned with things past 500. Any of you with much experience with the 338 federal?
 
Does the 338 Federal gain much from a 26 inch barrel over a 23 inch barrel? No, not much. Some, but not enough for me to spring for the longer barrel on a hunting rifle.

The case capacity to bore ratio means that the 338 does very well with shorter barrels.

Jimro
 
With that much bore(.338) and that sized case(.308), I don't think even the 23" is needed. The .338 Fed doesn't need/use slow burning powder so really doesn't need much barrel to burn it properly. Anything from 18 to 22" should be adequate.
 
There's no need for an extra long barrel with the 338 Federal. Since it's a short cartridge, I suspect that it's offered on Savage's short action which would be the 11 and the 16 rather than the 111 and 116 long action.

I'd recommend that you look for a different model without the muzzle brake. You don't want the noise and it's just a couple of inches of useless and expensive length.
 
Nah

My 338-06 can propel a 200 to 2810 in 22 inches. The expansion ratio of the Federal is less than that, so it would be better to have a Gunsmith open up the throat to get more velocity in a standard length barrel. That's what I did - had mine throated for 250 Noslers seated to the shoulder.
 
Here is some general info that some may like to see:

"BBL Length vs. Velocity


This is from well known maker Charlie Sisk:

For a long time I have wondered about how barrel length affected velocity. I had always been told you need a certain length barrel for certain calibers. I have read when folks compared one gun to another with different lengths but I always thought that was not an apples to apples comparision. So I did a few test myself.
All these were Shilen barrels. I used the same brass through out the whole test. All weighed to with 1 grain. Bullets were tested on the Juenke machine. Powder charges were weighed to .1 grain. The same rest, chronograph, Redding press, primers all from the same lot, bullets for the same box, same lathe, same crowning tool, same cutoff tool, and each rifle done from start to finish on the same day. Ambient temperature was the same because I shoot from inside the shop. I held the rifle the same way on the rest every time. I shot ten rounds first to break in the barrel. Then cleaned with Sweets and fired one fouling shot. Then shot five rounds and took the average. I used a midrange load fron the Nosler book, not too hot but certainly not a reduced load. Here is what I got.

22-250 Hodgdon 380 34 grains Federal GM210M Remington brass 55 grain Ballistic Tip
27” 3469 fps
26” 3451
25” 3425
24” 3407
56 fps spread from highest to lowest

270 Winchester Hodgdon 4350 54 grains Federal GM210M Winchester brass 130 grain Sierra
27” 3115 fps
26” 3093
25” 3071
24” 3054
23” 3035
22” 3027
21” 3001
114 fps spread from highest to lowest

300 Winchester mag Federal GM215M Winchester brass 74 grains of Reloder 22 180 grain Partition
27” 3055 fps
26” 3031
25” 3024
24” 3003
23” 2984
22” 2960
95 fps spread from highest to lowest

340 Weatherby Federal GM215M 250 grain Sierra 81 grains Reloder 22 Wby brass
27” 2837 fps
26” 2817
25” 2809
24” 2791
23” 2777
22” 2755
21” 2731
106 fps spread from highest to lowestBBL Length vs. Velocity"


http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f19/barrel-length-300-win-mag-62018/index3.html
 
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