A shout out to those who use it. How do you like the caliber? What do you compare it to? I'm looking for something between 25/06 and 458 wm for general moose an bear hunting and have decided I need a short action bolt gun. I have a 300 Wm in the works and hope to add a 35 Whelen eventually
338 federal
- Thread starter brybenn
- Start date
- Location
- Jameson, SK
Not many use it. It came out in about 2008, and then faded. Savage released a bunch of bolt actions in it at SHOT 2016.
I started a thread about it back in Jan after doing a bunch of reading. Carverk has a MH upper coming in it.
It seems to me to be a very efficient .308 based cartridge. Lots of energy, not huge recoil. Does well out to 3-400 yards. I'd use it for anything that won't try and eat me.
Hard to find brass for, but can neck up .308's..
I started a thread about it back in Jan after doing a bunch of reading. Carverk has a MH upper coming in it.
It seems to me to be a very efficient .308 based cartridge. Lots of energy, not huge recoil. Does well out to 3-400 yards. I'd use it for anything that won't try and eat me.
Hard to find brass for, but can neck up .308's..
- Location
- Jameson, SK
Some even feel it's close to a .300WSM or .338WM
Hey BB, have you given any thought to a 325 WSM..........far superior cartridge to the 338 Fed, short action and a good in between for the gap you are looking to fill. Gobs of good bullets in weights from 150-220gns.........Several very nice rifles available in it as well, mine is a Win Ftrwt..........
hifiwasabi
Regular
- Location
- I live in a giant bucket.
I think it's an underrated and overly criticized, useful hunting round.
The standard argument is that it won't do anything the .308 or .358 won't do better, but the same can be said of the arguments .308 vs 30-06 or 30-06 vs .300 winmag. It doesn't matter if you get hit by a Mini doing 100 or a Kenworth doing 50, you're taking a dirt nap.
My Remington 76 will be (eventually) retubed to the Fed and given a steady diet of 210 grain partitions and 200 grain fusions which will be more than adequate for anything in Ontario. I say go for it, variety is the spice of life.
The standard argument is that it won't do anything the .308 or .358 won't do better, but the same can be said of the arguments .308 vs 30-06 or 30-06 vs .300 winmag. It doesn't matter if you get hit by a Mini doing 100 or a Kenworth doing 50, you're taking a dirt nap.
My Remington 76 will be (eventually) retubed to the Fed and given a steady diet of 210 grain partitions and 200 grain fusions which will be more than adequate for anything in Ontario. I say go for it, variety is the spice of life.
If there was more ammo availability and could be found in modern scout rifle styles it would be the perfect scout rifle caliber IMO, it seems to deliver velocity and energy similar to the 30-06 and in a short action, most of the rifles chambered for WSM's only carry two of the fat little rounds in them, I like the idea of a 5 round drop magazine style rifle that is compatible with larger capacity AR or similar mags (leave a 10 round mag in your backpack in case you loose a mag or need more and your ammo won't rattle around).
Rouget and Steyr should have made their scout rifles in this caliber as well.
Rouget and Steyr should have made their scout rifles in this caliber as well.
Potato boy
Regular
- Location
- North of the mountain
I have the 35 whelen built on a custom Mauser action with a Maclelland barrel, a Ruger no1 in 9.3X74r, and an excellent 338 federal built by ATRS with a carbon one barrel. All three will do about the same on game up to moose size, I would not hesitate to use either for grizzly or polar bear and have. If you hand load for the 338 fed,try Lever Revolution powder, in my rifle with 225 grain accubonds it matches the 338-06 velocity and will kill any game out to 400 on this continent, nothing else is required. This is not a hot rod load, it is listed on their site, my rifle comes to within 20fps+ of their spec. I like it so much, the 35 and 9.3 will eventually be sold off if my kids don't grab EM' first. LOL
I have a 338 fed. easy to load for and easy on the shoulder. I haven't hunted with it yet but have used my 338 06 a lot with success. the 338 fed is not far behind my 338 06 in speed. anything I do in the 338 06 can be done with the fed. sorta like 308/30 06. I'm using a 200grn in both. a lot of promise with ramshot tac powder so far.
