Chopped .338?

Cut my 700 Remington to 20 inches. When I was up north was my go to rifle. With a 1.5 to 4.5 scopechief. It put down some big bears and far away moose.
 
It’s good to hear that my plan to chop one of .338’s will work, it’s a stainless laminate Hawkeye, I will cut in to 20” and try the fixed Leopold 2.5x that has been sitting on my shelf new in the box for two years, should make a good timber rifle.
I have a feeling my rifle smith will try to council me out of doing it, but if I saw it off at 20.5” then the discussion will go away, he will just have to clean up my hack job.
 
I have a .338 win mag with a 21 inch magnum contour custom barrel. Doesn't feel muzzle light in the least and handles nice in the woods. I have read that the .338 is much like the .30/06 in regard to chopping the barrel back. Not much loss in performance but major gain in portablility.
 
guntech said:
but considerable less velocity... I thought the idea behind huge case capacity was to get the highest velocities...?
Click to expand...
I will take light and short with a few less fps over long and heavy every time. I will let you know if any animals survive to complain about the slower bullet.

It's a factory rifle after all and Desert tech doesn't seem to have a problem finding like minded people to buy them.
 
Brian46 said:
I will take light and short with a few less fps over long and heavy every time. I will let you know if any animals survive to complain about the slower bullet.

It's a factory rifle after all and Desert tech doesn't seem to have a problem finding like minded people to buy them.
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Why the huge case though? Light and short I understand. The huge case in light and short I don't.

And it's more than a few fps... more like 250 fps loss over a 26 inch barrel... less than 338-06 velocities.

https://rifleshooter.com/2017/03/338-lapua-magnum-barrel-length-versus-muzzle-velocity-30-17-inches/
 
Just throwing it out there but it’s probably not as easy with a medium bore like this. What I learned about cutting airgun barrels was to do it 1-2 inches at a time to find the sweet spot you like. Easier to stop before you go too far.
My 20” 338 wm is a factory Savage brush hunter so no cutting was done
 
Think large weight 308 with 338wm. In full length barrels your pushing 250's like a 308 pushes 165's. Really though, if your cutting 4" and losing minimum 30ft/sec a inch, it's become a 3006 pushing a 240 at 2350, a 35 Whelen, or even a 358 federal. I have a friend with the ruger guide 308, what a blast and fireball, even from a much smaller case.

My pet rifle would be a Rem 760 carbine in 35 Whelen, full house bear stompers.....or 357 mag pistol bullets loaded for blacktail.
 
guntech said:
Why the huge case though? Light and short I understand. The huge case in light and short I don't.

And it's more than a few fps... more like 250 fps loss over a 26 inch barrel... less than 338-06 velocities.

https://rifleshooter.com/2017/03/338-lapua-magnum-barrel-length-versus-muzzle-velocity-30-17-inches/
Click to expand...

If you already have the rifle, why spend the $$ for another, in another caliber?
####z and giggles? After all not everyone wants the same boring thing.
And cuz you can. I went for a 14inch 300wm for these reasons, plus I found out I can manipulate the big cartridges better in the cold, which is when I do most of my shooting, and happened to have a ton of ammo already in that caliber.
 
I cut my Vanguard 338wm down to 22" with a 1-4x and it is way more portable. With scope, it comes in at 9# and I wouldn't want it any lighter than that!
 
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