AIA .338 Fed

If you will excuse me the AIA is a darn fine rifle as is but it's your rifle and even though many shooters consider them to be collectible because of their relative rarity in North America you can do as you wish.

The AIA rifle is only as accurate as the bedding allows and the competence of the shooter.

There is no reason I can see why the AIA shouldn't be acceptable for the 338 Federal. The strength inherent in the AIA isn't in the overbuilt receiver, it is in the metals used in the bolt as well which is identical to its parent design other than it has been manufactured from supposedly stronger steel.

Lots of controversy concerning those rifles. How much of it can be believed as real is another question. IMHO a lot of it was just sour grapes on the part of distributors and the untimely illness of the Australian company's CEO. Big issues with the US importer over non payment and subsequently the rifles ended up in Canada. Beautifully made and very accurate. I had one in 7.62x39 as well as the 7.62x51 and loved both of them. They were HEAVY and robust which made control on the bench much easier.

I saw one that had been converted to 6mmRemington. The cartridges barely fit into the magazine and the bullets had to be seated quite deep. Not a big deal, lots of room in the case for powder. The 243Win would have been my choice but it wasn't my choice to make. The 338-08 or 338 Federal has been around for a long time and quite frankly you need a fast powder to wring the full potential out of the cartridge. Couldn't you find a lighter/less desirable/less expensive rifle to convert?????

My 338-08 is made on a surplus 98 action. It does everything it was designed to do well. Much handier in the bush than an AIA rifle.
 
Rebarreled or rebored?
Usually one looks at the rated pressures to see if the lugs/bolt can handle it, if you were going to a larger cartridge you may have to consider barrel wall thickness at some point, though not an issue in your case.
Have a look at rated pressure of the two rounds and you'll get your answer, which is actually posted above anyway.

I had a Jungle Carbine rebarreled to 45-70 once, and recently an ought six rebored
 
Rebarreled or rebored?
Usually one looks at the rated pressures to see if the lugs/bolt can handle it, if you were going to a larger cartridge you may have to consider barrel wall thickness at some point, though not an issue in your case.
Have a look at rated pressure of the two rounds and you'll get your answer, which is actually posted above anyway.

I had a Jungle Carbine rebarreled to 45-70 once, and recently an ought six rebored


The likelihood of there being pressure issues with the 338 Federal are almost nil.
 
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