If anything’s worth doing, I guess it’s worth doing “all out,” so if you’re necroposting with a thread drift, might as well dig deep! Haven’t seen Sheridan around in a while now, kinda stings on a Sunday morning, and old Cut Throat - man, that takes me back!!!

I’m personally a big fan of the 338 Fed, but it came to market too late; it’s a hunting cartridge which came about after hunting culture was already severely in decline, and it really had no market driver to become a top selling cartridge like the 6.5 Creedmoor - it’s simply a niche cartridge. However, I don’t think I would really say it is on its way out, as it’s far too simple to create, and folks who want one have few hurdles. It might not be a popular factory rifle offering, but it never really was. For gas guns, it’s an AR-10 cartridge in an AR-15 world, so it really wasn’t ever going to stand atop any mountain with dominion. But it slides into a class of niche cartridges which will continue to prosper, drawing batch runs from different makers, and popular low-cost conversions throughout the foreseeable future. It’s effectively the 35 Whelen of our time - very very few manufacturers offered .35 Whelen chambered rifles over the last 30 years+, but anyone wanting one didn’t have to look very far or work very hard.

Brass, bullets, dies, and barrels are and will remain readily plentiful for the .338 Fed. Personally, in the AR-10/LFAR platform, the .338 Fed remains one of the only 3-4 cartridges I find interesting, falling behind the 6 and 6.5 creeds and 7-08. I’ve no use for a 308win AR-10, when a 6 creed or a .338 Fed can be owned.

I know a couple clutches of northern deer and bear hunters in a couple states who highly recommend the 338 Fed, younger-ish guys with enough social influence (not to be confused with social media influence) among local hunters, so I can attest, there are pockets of popularity in which the 338 Fed in an 18” gas gun is viewed equivalently today to the Eastern/Appalachian trends of 30-50 years ago with leverguns in 35 Rem. I’ve made good money in the last ~5-8 years mailing 338 Fed uppers into the frigid wasteland of the Great Lakes region.

For a low budget or turn-key bolt gun shooter, a nut-style drop in barrel chambered in 338 Fed can be bought from McGowen for Savage, Ruger, Remington, and a handful of others for about $450, and installed and headspaced in minutes by anyone with a bench vise. Can’t complain about that.