This rifle will sit between my 338 federal--which I'm not crazy about--and my 338 Lapua magnum
What don’t you like about the .338 Federal? Just curious, I’m waiting on a barrel nut to finish up my .338 Federal AR10 build. I’ve never shot one, and don’t know anybody who has one.
Was going to build a .358 Win AR, to go with my bolt gun, but decided that since I already had a .358, I wanted something different, and the .338 Federal caught my eye. Reviews and ballistics seemed decent, and I didn’t have one, so I went with it.
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The answer to 1984 is 1776
Essentially it does everything the 35 whelen does--but slightly better, so why not? I already know the whelen as a great cartridge, so I really look forward to exploring the 338-06.Wait....
You wax poetic about the 35 Whelen, then state your building a 338-06 A Square?
The other thing that I don't especially care for about the 338 fed is that it has what I consider a sharp "outsize" felt recoil--not that it's especially heavy or intolerable, it's just a surprisingly "snappy" kick IMO for a 308 based case cartridge which makes balancing the shot in a lighter weight rifle a bit of a challenge. It's not a cartridge I get excited about firing.
I also have a 358 win--that one I like better, it's a bit of a thumper but more of a "push" hit than a sharp snappy kick IMO. But the 358 bullet in the 180 to 225 gr range--like the gameking or similar bullet-- is IMO more adept in the confines of the 308 case and is also a pretty reliable expander at the ranges it's reasonably designed for--say out to 300 yds, but starts to seriously rainbow after that. Carries a wallop of energy too. I'm sure you'll be fine with the fed--just need to be aware that careful bullet selection for the job is more important (again, just my opinion).Funny you should mention that, it’s almost exactly what one of my brothers (Frankenmauser) says about shooting my Ruger Hawkeye in .358 Win.
Thanks for your input on the .338. I knew going into it I would run into bullet selection issues, and that it would also suffer the low case capacity the .358 does, but I got a free lower and had to do something with it, and the .338 Federal was enough of an oddball/non-mainstream cartridge to interest me. I’ve got some other big boomers for longer range/more serious hunting (.270, ‘06, .375) that if it doesn’t turn into a good hunting rifle, I’m ok with it.
Sorry to stray off subject, but thanks again for the info.
The only custom barrel's that I've ever bought that were stamped with the cartridge were from X-Caliber.Didn't read the fine print on when I bought the barrel--for some reason (which escapes me) it has no barrel stamping which is required by law--so I have to do that myself when the rifle is assembled.
That's odd, all the prefits that were "finalized" with chamber reamed etc that I've bought were always stamped, maybe because they were intended to be resold by other vendors? I'm going to engrave it myself; and I'm not especially worried about ruining the astronomical resale value of an axis-based rifle.Pre-fit barrels that I've ever bought from Shaw, McGowen, Shilen, etc. had any cartridge stamping on them.