Originally Posted by
gjersy
Thanks for the info guys. I'm pretty much set on the AR .338 fed, I already have a 6.5 Creedmoor DPMS, and will get an upper or another complete gun. I read a couple articles on the .338 fed's abilities as a White-Tail woods gun and was impressed. I do reload as bullets are costly. My main White-Tail gun (long open shots) for the last 15yrs is a Browning non boss .300 RUM with 200gr pills, so the semi auto .338 fed isn't to much for recoil, for me, each to there own in that debate. I agree the quick follow up shot on a drive will be nice as my current drive gun is a bolt 12 gauge 3" slug. Superhunt54 why do you think the .338 fed is WAY to much cartridge for White-Tail? Anyway i was wondering if any of you guys have used the .338 fed on White-Tails? Thanks.
You already answered part of your own question gjersy, Followup shots. While no the .338fed isn't that harsh, it does in fact have a fairly good wallop and every rifle I have fired chambered in that round (several) had a pretty dang high "rise" so followup shots are going to be difficult.
As far as my feelings on the .338 being "too much gun" for whitetail, for shots that you know are more than likely going to be 100 or so yards or less, you don't need that much cartridge. As I said, I have one and know full well the capabilities of the cartridge and they are wonderful to say the least. But there is a HUGE problem of people over gunning themselves for whitetail. I'm not saying you are one of these people, but there are way to many people out there that think bigger is better and they can take lower percentage shots thinking that some all powerful magnum will make up for a poor shot.
You asked for opinions from people with experience with that particular cartridge. Mine is, while yes it is a fantastic cartridge, it isn't the greatest for close in drive hunts for whitetail.