My Model 70 338 WM with a Brown Precision stock, a barrel shortened to 22 inches, and a Leup 2.5 x 8 weighs 7 lbs, 13 oz, unloaded with no sling. It does have a Decelerator pad. It's not much fun from the bench, trigger guard hits my finger, but it's managable and has been a lucky rifle in the field. Just use a scope with enough eye relief and maybe mount it a bit forward.
Now that is a great rig, for me I see absolutely no need to have a 338 in anything over 8 lbs. You have a pic of that bad boy?
Dober
Back in the 80's when we were 338-Hooppee,friends and I built 4-5 338's,and the recipe was really simple....a pre 64 or Rem 700 action,23" Krieger barrel and Brown Precision stocks(also a McMillan in there as well).These all came in about 8-8.25 pounds with mounts and 4X Leupolds.
They were surprisingly easy to shoot considering the horsepower,and very accurate,too, with mostly 210 or 225 gr bullets....250's had a higher "crunch" factor on the recoil end.
An 8 pound 338 is a good thing and pretty manageable.
