Serious Question- 338 Federal
- Thread starter WhelanLad
- Start date
no no no,
not looking for any 'more' power than the Whelan, although looking for around that power in a Lighter kit!
that is proberly the bottom dollar of it.
my Whelens too heavy to lug around hills and I wanna walk big hills, I will proberly go into the 150gr Woodleigh for the 7mm08, as Kim has been flawless of late!
The Tikka T3 as we know, is light enough for good hiking. the 338 fed with use of 308 brass makes sense to me? an as the fed is almost obsolete here its reasonably cheap..
I do reload but generally speaking I don't want a Magnum! I sold the 30WSM as it was too much, used the 270w for same, The whelen is a stalking gun , apart from the Buffalo trip.. too heavy to do to much now days with being Spoilt by Lightweight Kimber!
can up size or down size 308 brass for the 7mm or the 338! both use 2208! one just packs a bit stronger punch under 150m, an the other starts to shine at 200-300m
now does it make sense?
cheers good fellows
WL
not looking for any 'more' power than the Whelan, although looking for around that power in a Lighter kit!
that is proberly the bottom dollar of it.
my Whelens too heavy to lug around hills and I wanna walk big hills, I will proberly go into the 150gr Woodleigh for the 7mm08, as Kim has been flawless of late!
The Tikka T3 as we know, is light enough for good hiking. the 338 fed with use of 308 brass makes sense to me? an as the fed is almost obsolete here its reasonably cheap..
I do reload but generally speaking I don't want a Magnum! I sold the 30WSM as it was too much, used the 270w for same, The whelen is a stalking gun , apart from the Buffalo trip.. too heavy to do to much now days with being Spoilt by Lightweight Kimber!
can up size or down size 308 brass for the 7mm or the 338! both use 2208! one just packs a bit stronger punch under 150m, an the other starts to shine at 200-300m
now does it make sense?
cheers good fellows
WL
it kind of works for me as if I can sell the 270 for cash, and trade the whelen in to the gun store I can walk out with the fed t3, otherwise I consign the whelen for a while/private sale and sell 270 at some stage for profit.
WL
WL
Would it not be possible to get a lighter stock, shorten and flute the barrel on the .35 whelan and put a light weight scope like a leupold fixed 4x and have a rifle you could find live with weight wise? I'm not sure I am familiar with you .35 whelan, what make, model and barrel length is it?
I guess I'm just not a fan of the .338 federal, don't get me wrong I considered one really closely until I realized almost every .338 bullet on the market is meant to excel at .338 Win Mag and .340 Weatherby velocities or faster. I'm sure the .338 federal can do well inside 300 yards with bullets around 200 grains, but so can the .308 with no need to neck up brass and possibly better penetration. Now .358 Winchester I like a lot as well as the 8x57 , not sure why, all three are pretty similar. Perhaps the .338 federal is to me what the .270 is to C-fbmi.
I guess I'm just not a fan of the .338 federal, don't get me wrong I considered one really closely until I realized almost every .338 bullet on the market is meant to excel at .338 Win Mag and .340 Weatherby velocities or faster. I'm sure the .338 federal can do well inside 300 yards with bullets around 200 grains, but so can the .308 with no need to neck up brass and possibly better penetration. Now .358 Winchester I like a lot as well as the 8x57 , not sure why, all three are pretty similar. Perhaps the .338 federal is to me what the .270 is to C-fbmi.
- Location
- Lumby Town!!
I love mid bores more then most....My everyday go to gun is a 35 Wh. Also love Wagner and it's ###y cousin the 74r. Also have the 338 Fed...why, dummo, I just think it's cool, and I like that light package it comes in (Kimber). But I really would't want one in a T3, just 'cause it's a long action and that defeats the purpose for me anyway. If I was living in a place that didn't have 338 Fed components Id be looking to stock up on it...otherwise I'd buy the same gun (Kimber) in 308. But I'm sure you could find a set of dies for the Fed and just use 308 brass...lighter 338 bullets aren't that hard to find so really, it shouldn't be that big a deal...I really like the 185 TTSX at 2800fps
Sorry Whelan, my rambling doesn't help you much.....if I really wanted the 338 Fed, I'd wait for one to show up in the right gun (short action). For a T3 with more thump find one in the Wagner, or 338 WM and reload it down a little bit to take the edge off....
Sorry Whelan, my rambling doesn't help you much.....if I really wanted the 338 Fed, I'd wait for one to show up in the right gun (short action). For a T3 with more thump find one in the Wagner, or 338 WM and reload it down a little bit to take the edge off....
Why are you guys laughing?
I am being serious,I do make sure of that, You see I might be selling the 270 and have the 35 Whelen for sale too, but if the sale goes ahead of the 270 I will trade the Whelen in on a Tikka t3 in 338 Federal, which is currently scoped but can negotiate a deal without..
Has anyone used them?
I'm trying to get some sort of idea of how a 225gr would go out of the 338 federal case (308w) what would real life velocity be in the range of, out of a tikka, so is that 24? or 22 inch.. proberly the latter.
The lightweight rifle will be used for in close work to 200m Max, and be a big brother to the 7mm08, replacing the Whelen.
the other realistic thing about this is use of 180gr projies and most likely AR2208/ Varget thru the whole range, long Action T3 will allow me to seat out as far as throat allows..
How does it realistically stack up against the 35 Whelen? 358win? & handloaded RCM?
Thanks lads
cheers
Whelanlad I don't believe it is fair to compare a cartridge like the 358 Win that is loaded to a max pressure of about 50 K (re chambering in lever actions) to a cartridge that is loaded to a much higher pressure. The 338 Fed and the 358 Win are both necked up 308's. If you load both in a strong bolt action to equal pressures the 358 will always have a slightly higher muzzle vel. Looking in the Nosler # 6 manual you will see the 358 will push a 225 gr bullet to the same muzzle vel as the 338 fed pushes a 200 gr bullet. The 338 Fed will have muzzle energy about 2800 ft/lbs compared to the 358's 225 gr bullet having about 3100 Ft/lbs. Not a huge difference. However that same 225 gr 35 cal bullet can easily be pushed 2800 fps in a 35 Whelan for close to 3900 ft/lbs. That is a considerable difference! I certainly wouldn't trade a good 35 Whelan for a 338 Fed. As Doublegun suggested the best thing to do with a 338 Fed in a long action is to re-chamber it to a 338-06 Improved. The std 338-06 will not clean up the 338 fed chamber but the improved version will. A good 35 Whelan with a 225 TSX or Accubond bullet shoots flat and hits hard.
- Location
- Jameson, SK
From my reading, no experience, the .338fed makes very good use of the .308 base cartridge.
I wish I had jumped on one in the modern hunter.
A short cartridge, in a T3 superlite, would be great IMO.....and, if you're in AUS mr waters could make you a 10rd Mag for the t3.
.338fed dies are available here in Canada. X-reload has em.
Brass is completely absent. You'll need to neck up .308, which is no big deal.
GGG
I wish I had jumped on one in the modern hunter.
A short cartridge, in a T3 superlite, would be great IMO.....and, if you're in AUS mr waters could make you a 10rd Mag for the t3.
.338fed dies are available here in Canada. X-reload has em.
Brass is completely absent. You'll need to neck up .308, which is no big deal.
GGG
hey hows this for a Burn,
my rem700 sps 270 and hawkeye 35wln was apparently worth only $900 combined... $450-$500 per rifle.. from the gun store hour half down the road...
on better news though I got the T3 338Federal down to $750 bare with no rings.
I think I am sold on it.
in even better news I can Score a Kimber montana barrel in 308 for $100... so I guna do that
WL
my rem700 sps 270 and hawkeye 35wln was apparently worth only $900 combined... $450-$500 per rifle.. from the gun store hour half down the road...
on better news though I got the T3 338Federal down to $750 bare with no rings.
I think I am sold on it.
in even better news I can Score a Kimber montana barrel in 308 for $100... so I guna do that
WL
Good post thanks mate, interesting a gunnut at the store who will sell the Kimber barrel, also mentioned it would be best to re chamber for $150-200 into 338-06 in that Tikka.. some sort of technical issue meant the Ackley version was called for, which would lead me to Dies...... 338-06 AI Die set....where on earth?
its a top idea though!
I'm starting to like that idea, but I have a feeling the 338 Federal on the 308 case is enough powder for my needs.... that is all
WL
but with use of a 30-06 magazine my "long action " t3 federal can now have projectiles seated out further, that is assuming my throats long enough to utilise the extra space.
I see a few pros and cons but fair few seem moot in my veiw.
WL
I don't believe it to be easy to lighten up Rugers...the metal is the heavy part, once you start machining rifles in Aus you start throwin pretty big chips away... $$
the McMillan stock may be, but would it lighten it up a KG?
WL
Yeah, it's strange, the 338 FED seems like a good all round gun, but it also seems like a niche gun, in that I mean it may not shoot out to as far as some of the common competitors and carry as much energy, the larger bullet diameter should increase knock down factor but may be less desirable on the hides of sheep and goats, so if the rifle its to be shot from is a light weight hiking mountain rifle, then what are you actually using it for?
All round or niche?
Selling a rem 700 SPS in .270 towards a tikka is a great idea......
Adding an m77 In 35 Whelen and only coming out $250 to the good while getting a Tikka in .338 fed, not so much......
If you really want to be ahead, get a .338 win mag....... Then you are on to something....... Otherwise, keep the Whelen and trade the Remington 270 in for a bag of brass
Adding an m77 In 35 Whelen and only coming out $250 to the good while getting a Tikka in .338 fed, not so much......
If you really want to be ahead, get a .338 win mag....... Then you are on to something....... Otherwise, keep the Whelen and trade the Remington 270 in for a bag of brass
I had my MH out today and started comparing it to my Winchester Low Wall and my T/C prohunter and realise I like the rifle but not for hunting in BC
I mite be selling the MH and MV and upper as a set seeing how the serial numbers will be both be #29 and the only one off two uppers in 338 fed
but im holding off till I get the MV
yeah mate, Scoped with a Burris 3-9x40 it is right on 3.990 KGs, add a sling. its a 4 kilo rifle!
unacceptable!
