HighDesertWolf

just curious what all of yours take is on this up and coming cartridge. Ive been debating on getting either a 300 wsm or 300 win mag for my next big game rifle. after deciding i was pretty dead set on the 300 win mag, then I see this 338 federal in an article where it was used to take a grizzly bear. Im curious to hear anyones opinions and especially firsthand experinces on game.

ELKampMaster

Many seem excited about it.
I'll pass.

James B

Folks who liked the 358 Winchester will love this one as it has some higher SD bullets than the 35 caliber. Its limitation wikll be Range. It will do about the same thing as the 338 Win Mag but at quite a bit shorter range. Its heavy bullet will put it above the 308 and 30-06 but its main purpose will be a close range woods type rifle. It should have good energy out to 200 yatrds. You probably won't here much first hand knowledge yet as its pretty new. It will never be able to quite match the older 338-06.

I would expect it will find a home in the Browning BLR. I would love to see it in the 7600 Remington as well. Without much trouble it could be chambered in the Marlin Guide gun like the 356 and 307 Winchesters were.

BrutalAttack

Well it's pretty simple physics you take a case that usually launches a 150-180 gr .308 bullet and make is spit out a .338 caliber 180-210 gr bullet. That means you'll get a faster drop off in velocity and energy than the smaller projectile.

Federals catalog shows the current offerings in the .338 don't offer any performance gain over a .308 after 300 yards and very little performance gain over the high energy.308 load inside 300 yards.

The .300 win magor WSM spanks it pretty good at almost all aspects.

salty

I actually have the article from American Rifleman in front of me and here are the ballistics for the new 338

with a 200 yard zero

338 federal is 8.94"low
358 win is 13.66" low
308 is 9.37" low
*magazine claims a 200 grain federal silvertip bullet was used for all testing

308 with 200 grain shoots @ 2571 FPS (generous handload)

358 win shoots @ 2490 FPS with 200 grain silvertips

338 with a 180 grain accubond has a muzzle velocity of 2830 FPS.

the 338 with a 200 yard zero using the 180 grain accubond is 1.8" high at 100 yards and 8.2" low at 300

I wouldn't exactly limit the 338 as a close range round with these ballistics.. Especially since the numbers outperform the mighty 308

BrutalAttack

There is no factory load for the .308 using a 200 grain bullet.

For one thing:given two bullets of an equal weight, a .338 caliber bullet and a .308 caliber bullet, the larger diameter bullet will never fly flatter when fired from the same case so I don't know why you would even try to get away with posting that.

Why didn't you post the retained energy for them all?

I'll tell you what: I'll post my .308 load (a Federal factory load) and I'll post the best Federal factory offerings from the .338. then you can compare apples to apples.

.308 180 gr. Nosler Parition:

Velocity/Energy: Muzzle: 2740/3001 100 yards: 2551/2602 200 yards: 2270/2346 300 yards: 2196/1928 400 yards: 2030/1647 500 yards: 1871/1400

Trajectory: 300 yards: -8.1 400 yards:-23.5500 yards:-47.3


.338 Federal 185gr. Barnes Triple Shock X-Bullet

Velocity/Energy: Muzzle: 2750/3107 100 yards: 2545/2661 200 yards: 2348/2266 300 yards: 2161/1919 400 yards: 1982/1614 500 yards: 1831/1350

Trajectory: 300 yards: -8.3 400 yards: -24.0 500 yards: -48.6

I can tell you which one I'd rather have.

Note: this data comes from the current Federal catalog and they are not understating the performance of the cartridge they themselves developed. I also have contacts within Federal/Speer/ATK including several engineers and the man that develops the Speer reloading manuals.

*EDIT* Those numbers are at sea level so at elevation all numbers will be a little bit higher. But the atmospheric constant is equal for both of course.

James B

I would guess that he posted what the artical said and maybe it didn't give any further ballistics. When you get into the heavier bullets like the 200 and 210, momentum starts to enter in as well. The ballistics that he posted sounds like the same artical I read. I still think its best out to 200 yards but its listed ballistics show that 300 may be well within it power band. Its new and time will judge it as time has judged all new rounds. Only so much can be determined by ballistic figures, the rest will shake out in the field. I can see good uses for it by those of us who do not appreciate fierce recoil and that can close the distance and pass if things are not to our liking. I look forward to trying one out. Probably when the Encore makes it available. Maybe a new 28 inch Pro-Hunter barrel.

BrutalAttack

Well I think I would trust the people that developed the cartridge over some random gun writer.

My only point in this whole thing is: what is the .338 Federal doing that the .308 or any other cartridge doesn't already do?

It doesn't even offer a substantial performance gain at short ranges.

I plugged some numbers into my recoil calculator just for the hell of it. All indications show that even with the same powder grains, the .338 is going to kick substantially more than the .308 with even a 20 grain heavier bullet.

James B

308 Winchester 200 grain bullet @ 2461 fps 2690 lb ME TKO 21.7

338 fEDERAL 210 gRAIN bULLET @ 2630 FPS. mE 3224 lB. tko 26.7

BrutalAttack

That looks about in line with what I got. The difference was a little more since I used 180 gr .308 and 200 grain .338.

I don't know where this 200 gr. .308 bullet comes from. Nobody loads it.