308 WIN has to be the best SHORT-ACTION NON-MAGNUM round. But for powerful nonmagnum short actions, I'd look at the .338 Federal or the .358 WIN. That is, jump up in bullet diameter a little bit.....

Thanks for the info. Love having all this knowledge just a stones throw away!

I didn't know the .338 Federal was a short action.

Thanks

Tom

Mybasisof comparison on these cartridgesis that the 06 will push the next heavier bullet at the same velocity. For example 308 150Grain= 30-06 165 Grain or 308 180 grain = 200 grain 30-06. When compared by velocity the two seem close but when Kinetic energy is compared the gap is considerable. Take for example the 180 grain 308 at 2700 vs the 06 at 2900 mentioned earlier. That equates to a 444 LBS/KE difference.The 06 delivers the same terminal performance at about 100 yards that the 308 has at the muzzle. In fact the heavier bullets tend to have a BC advantage which will allow the 06 to carry that KE downrange more efficiently. The 308 is a nice efficient round but the 15+ grain powder advantage of the 06 is considerable especially when handloading and the pressures run equal.

Well, when you put it in perspective, 150-200fps is a big deal. Thats the difference between a 300win mag and a 300ultra mag. thats the difference between a 30-06 and a 300win mag.

Good point, Scott...

Depending on the bullets you are using there is about 200 ft/s for the 06. The bullet I use in my .308 is the 150 Barnes TSX and I get MUCH better accuracy than any other bullet I have used bar none. I have also taken a deer with my 30-06 same weight bullet but a leaded bullet and the deer went about 50yds, the buck I took this year with the Barnes bullet went 2 feet straight down. As far as max loads I don't usually shoot max loads (unless) they are the most accurate load for my rifle, the difference between max loads and factory loads depends on the factory specs but, I would venture to guess that NO factory loads it ammo at the max load do to the fact that someone who had a weak action could get hurt from exceeding pressure limits of their weapon.
John

I found this article on the 338 Federal. Interesting cartridge. Any idea how they get the additional power if all it is a necked up .308?

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Federal Case

The pre-production loads chronographed by the author actually exceeded Federal's claimed velocity with no pressure signs. By Greg Rodriguez

Bigger, better, faster, more. Based on the number of new magnum cartridges that have come along in the last decade, those are the qualities most American hunters and shooters crave. But for those of us who have little need for more magnum cartridges, be they short, super short, ultra or mega-flavored, the new .338 Federal was a pleasant surprise.

The .338 Federal may be the first cartridge to wear the Federal name, but to me, it is more notable for bucking the current trend toward fire-breathing mega-magnums than for its "first" status.

Like the similar wildcat .338-08, the .338 Federal is based on a .308 Winchester case blown out to accept .338-caliber bullets. In fact, cases can be formed quite easily from .308 Winchester brass. However, thanks to slight changes in case dimensions (Federal cautions against using .338 Federal ammo in .338-08 rifles) and powder and loading technology, Federal was able to give this fine old wildcat a performance boost.

Factory loads drive a 210-grain Nosler Partition at 2,630 fps, a 185-grain Triple Shock at 2,760 fps and a 180-grain AccuBond at 2,830 fps. While these numbers may not seem too impressive when compared to some of the new magnum cartridges, the .338 Federal was not designed to compete with them.

Federal is marketing its .338 as a cartridge that offers plenty of power without punishing recoil. That is a fair assessment. After all, the .338 Federal 180-grain AccuBond load delivers 140 fps more velocity and 405 more foot-pounds of muzzle energy than the equivalent .30-06 load, yet it has .6 foot-pounds less free recoil when fired from a 71/2-pound gun.

Your shoulder probably won't notice the difference, but the unfortunate animal on the receiving end of the bullet is going to be pretty impressed with the extra frontal area and energy.

I got to play with a .338 Federal for several months prior to its introduction. In fact, it was so new that no rifles were available, so I had to use one of Federal's test guns - a Hart-barreled Sako 75. This rifle proved to be exceptionally accurate, but because my ammunition consisted of pre-production samples and the rifle wore a custom barrel, I elected to leave out the accuracy and velocity numbers in the interest of fairness. I will say, however, that Federal's velocity claims appear to be spot-on, if not a bit conservative.

My first opportunity to hunt with the .338 Federal came on a Texas whitetail hunt. A rancher friend knows I always have some new gun or load to test, so he invited me out to take some does and cull bucks. I took my first deer with the .338 Federal while still-hunting a dry creek bed the first morning. I caught the fat 4-year-old spike sniffing along behind a couple of does.

A single 185-grain Barnes Triple Shock through the near shoulder from 86 yards dropped the frisky animal on the spot. A postmortem revealed a tremendous wound channel and a large exit wound in the off ham. I hoped the quartering presentation might result in a recovered bullet, but that Triple Shock showed no sign of slowing down.

My friend is a big fan of midrange medium-bore cartridges like the .35 Whelen, so the .338 Federal really tickled his fancy. After experiencing the rifle's manageable recoil on the range and witnessing the lightning-quick kill on that spike, he offered to "do me a favor" and take over test-driving the .338 Federal for the rest of the day.


The first cartridge to bear Federal's name, the .338 Federal hits hard but without rocking recoil. Since it was his ranch, I reluctantly handed over the rifle and watched Shane shoot three more whitetails with it that afternoon. The first two were no match for the cartridge. They collapsed in their tracks after taking the 185-grain Barnes bullet through both shoulders.

I asked him to take a quartering shot on the third deer, which stood facing us in a little oak motte about 90 yards away. At the shot, the buck broke into a mad dash, but we heard it crashing around in the brush a few seconds later. It took my little Jack Russell terrier less than 20 seconds to follow the ample blood trail for 80 yards to where the dead deer lay.

Sitting around the campfire that evening, my friend opined that the .338 Federal loaded with a 210-grain Partition at 2,630 fps would do the job on everything he hunts except Cape buffalo. I agreed and vowed to return for some more testing when I received a quantity of that load.

My next opportunity to test the new cartridge came on a South Texas hog hunt. A full moon made hogs difficult to come by during daylight hours, but I managed to shoot two fine boars. The first, a 150-pound eatin'-sized porker, ran less than 20 yards after taking the 185-grain Triple Shock through both shoulders.

The second, a toothy 220-pound boar, dropped in its tracks when I drove a Triple Shock through its rib cage and out the off shoulder as it trotted through the brush. I would have found that bullet eight out of 10 times with a lesser cartridge, but once again, that 185-grain Triple Shock just kept on going.

A few weeks later, my good friend Rod Hatfield came to the Texas Hill Country from his Florida home to hunt exotics. He took several animals with his own rifle, but was kind enough to use the .338 Federal to shoot a big bison cow in the interest of science.

We caught up with the bison herd late in the day at the edge of an oak motte. Using a small cedar thicket for cover, we stalked to within 90 yards of the animals. I found the biggest cow in my binocular, while Rod stuck the Sako's forearm in the crook of my Stoney Point shooting sticks, steadied himself and touched the trigger.

The cow was visibly rocked by the impact of the 185-grain slug. It tried to run, but could not get its feet under it. Another shot through the shoulder ensured a freezer full of delicious venison for Rod. Neither bullet exited, but passed through both shoulders and left massive wound channels.

Two days later, my friend Dave Brandenburg and his crew showed up for an exotic hunt. Around the campfire the first night, I told Dave about the .338 Federal. He seemed interested in the round, so I offered to let him use it. Dave got to work right away, taking a fat white-tailed doe the first morning and an ibex ram that afternoon.


The .338 Federal is a fine addition to the family of .308-based cartridges (left to right): .243 Win; .260 Rem; 7mm-08 Rem; .308 Win; and .338 Federal. I was not surprised when the white-tailed doe dropped instantly, but I was amazed at how quickly the .338 Federal downed the ibex. Ibex are not big, but they are hardy. I've only seen a few ibex drop at the shot, but Dave's went down as if struck by lightning, despite the fact that the quartering shot only took out the near shoulder.

The .338 Federal really impressed me up to this point, but I was anxious to get my hands on the 210-grain Nosler Partition load, which I believe is the optimum load for this cartridge. Unfortunately, it wasn't until the 2006 SHOT Show in February that Federal got me a few sample boxes. After rezeroing the rifle with this new load, I headed back to the Hill Country for a little more testing.

My friend Chris Sarpy drove out from New Orleans to hunt axis deer. Chris is a rifle nut, and it didn't take much convincing to get him to hunt with the new cartridge, despite the fact that he had two new guns of his own in the truck. We got on a fine axis buck near the end of day one. Though the deer stood feeding 121 yards away, it wouldn't turn broadside, so Chris decided to take a risky chest-on shot.

At the shot, the buck reared up like a wild stallion, crashed to the ground and then made a mad dash for the brush, where my tracking dog, Tuffy, found it piled up in a cedar thicket.

The 210-grain Partition entered the point of the near shoulder a bit off center and traveled the length of the buck's body before exiting the off ham. The amount of destruction in that 4-foot-long wound channel was incredible. I was shocked that the buck managed to run at all, much less over a hundred yards, but in the end, his will to survive was no match for the cartridge.

Based on its performance on game, I had confidence in the .338 Federal, but ever the ballistics nut, I decided to test it in The Bullet Test Tube (www.thebullettesttube.com). This innovative bullet-testing medium allows shooters to see how their favorite bullet stacks up in terms of expansion, penetration and weight retention. I shot The Tube with the 210-grain Nosler Partition load. It penetrated 17 inches and exhibited great expansion and weight retention.

The .338 Federal certainly has enough muscle to get the job done on any North American game animal, but that doesn't mean much if it is incapable of delivering its payload accurately. My test rifle was very accurate, but I do not feel it is fair to use the accuracy figures because it is a custom-built rifle with a match barrel. Nevertheless, based on preliminary reports from friends who have recently received the new Sako 85 and my experiences with the rest of the .308-based cartridge family, the .338 Federal should prove to be an accurate cartridge.

Overall, I really like the new load. It is powerful enough to tackle almost anything I am likely to hunt, yet does so without a great deal of muzzle blast or recoil. Throw in the fact that it will fit in a short action, and it's easy to see why savvy handloaders have been raving about the .338-08 for so long.

If you are in the market for a gun that can handle everything in North America without beating you up in the process, consider the .338 Federal.

Greg Rodriguez
GunHunter Magazine - August 2006

They are changing the neck but NOT the shoulder angle so the pressure doesn't drop off and that is what gives the .308 it power. The tighter angle of the neck and the shorter cartridge gives the .308 nearly the same power as the 30-06 with as much as 6 grs. less powder to reach the same Muzzle velocity and energy, also the length of the barrel that the round is being shot thru creates different pressures. My .308 has a 27" barrel and did what the .338 did in this article at the same distance with a 150Gr. barnes TSX bullet and I didn't blow out both shoulders and ruin a lot of meat.....

Stat the 338 Federal is probably the most practical round released in this recent wave of new cartridges IMHO. My hunting buddy has one in the Kimber Montana and the entire package weights about 5 3/4 lbs. The rifle costs around $1,000 and is 5.2 lbs, that is as light as many of the custom mountain rifles costing a lot more. The recoil does get your attention with the 210 grain partitions but it would be great carrying around elk hunting that is for sure. Do not pick one up or will likely be out $1,000!!! It is a good shooter to.

I handload both and with some compression.....

My .308, 180s run 2,740 FPS and my .30-06s with 180s run 2,800 FPS........and my .30-06 has 2" longer barrel!

I'm totally surprised that the .308 stands so well against the .30-06 but in my rifles the difference is moot at best