.338 Federal - lowdown ?

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madashell

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Big .308 fan so .338 Federal makes a lot of sense. Would love a carbine in .338 Fed, think that would be an excellent combination.

How many digging this caliber ?

How'd it perform for you ?

What rifles do you have in this cal. ?

Appreciate any opinions & experiences with it.
 
Was just reading about it just last night. Seems like a great elk/moose/bear choice with lightish recoil.

Seems that it may have "come and gone" however. Seems that you can't get brass anymore, so your have to neck up .308 brass.

I am interested to here what those who know.

It's available in the modern hunter.
 
Gunneegoogoo said:
Was just reading about it just last night. Seems like a great elk/moose/bear choice with lightish recoil.

Seems that it may have "come and gone" however. Seems that you can't get brass anymore, so your have to neck up .308 brass.

I am interested to here what those who know.

It's available in the modern hunter.
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Come and gone already ? News to me, haven't researched it enough I guess ... Seems like a great no brainer cartridge to me.
 
Great cartridge, essentially duplicates a 30-06 in performance to about 300-350 yards, in a short action.

It would be a solid contender for an "all around" cartridge for 95% of hunters under 95% of hunting conditions.

I wouldn't even look at it if I wasn't a handloader though. :)
 
madashell said:
Come and gone already ? News to me, haven't researched it enough I guess ... Seems like a great no brainer cartridge to me.
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Ya. Lots of talk 2008-2011 ish, then seems that federal stopped making the brass. It's still a pretty easy brass to make with .308, but a bit of work.

Does seem to hold a lot of promise, I agree.
 
So Federal "invents" it then drops the brass ? People didn't get the potential of this round ? What am I missing ......

I reload so not a problem. The specs on it make a lot of sense to me.

Big fan of short actions so getting 30:06 power in a small package out to typical hunting ranges is a win-win. Kind of surprised this round didn't really take off.
 
madashell said:
So Federal "invents" it then drops the brass ? People didn't get the potential of this round ? What am I missing ......

I reload so not a problem. The specs on it make a lot of sense to me.

Big fan of short actions so getting 30:06 power in a small package out to typical hunting ranges is a win-win. Kind of surprised this round didn't really take off.
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Seems that way, yup. I may be missing something too.....
 
I know that Ruger made a small run but To bad Winchester or Ruger don't chamber them anymore, I would really like to have a m77 or m70 with CRF in 338 Federal.

a 200gr bullet @ 2640fps sounds pretty good performance..........really similar to the 8x57 mauser which can shoot a 200gr bullet @ 2550-2650.
 
Round last shot show Savage came out with a bunch of .338 fed rifle.

If only tikka and some other reputable companies would make some more, even if it is a rebranded .358 win.

A cool 200 grain cartrige. Does performance drop with .225's and 250's?
 
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A carbine Kimber would be about perfect imo for this round.

Good question on the 225-250's. Would like to know as well.
 
Gatehouse said:
Great cartridge, essentially duplicates a 30-06 in performance to about 300-350 yards, in a short action.

It would be a solid contender for an "all around" cartridge for 95% of hunters under 95% of hunting conditions.

I wouldn't even look at it if I wasn't a handloader though. :)
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Good post, this post reworded a bit, is also true of about 2 dozen calibers from 6.5 to .375. But rather than just picking one and calling it a day, i seem to be trying to get all 24. Herbee gunnutters
 
I have had two Feds... both Ruger M77's, a Frontier and a Hawkeye AW. Nice cartridge, we'll balanced, accurate... I liked the 200's in them. Sold both when I downsized my collection, but I have been thinking of doing another, I have a superfluous M77 Ultralight .308, that is begging for broader shoulders. Brass can still be had for it, and there are good options in .338" bullets... really nice medium game cartridge.
 
I think it will come back as savage is now selling factory guns in it in various forms. The same company that owns federal owns savage. So I guess it was a logical choice. With a 200-225 partition or sst the cartridge has a lot of potential. I'll be adding one by this fall I'm hoping. I have several other things on the go right now.
 
madashell said:
A carbine Kimber would be about perfect imo for this round.

Good question on the 225-250's. Would like to know as well.
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I had one. 5.5lb gun made one hell of a walking gun. Max bullet weight was 225 if I remember from the loading data. I loaded 200's and it was fairly accurate, you never worried about not having enough pop out to 250 or so.
 
I have 2 a Tikka and a Winchester 88 I had made, really like the cartridge. I even thinking of having ATR build me a Modern Hunter in one.
 
madashell said:
Actually I read this last night. It's a promising round, figured people would have jumped on it. For some reason I got the impression people were hot for it but guess I got my signals crossed somewhere along the way.
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You're right, they were. Seems that it lost out to economics though.

Hopefully with savage making those 5 or 6 rifles in it now it'll come back!!
 
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