Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats My .338 Edge

Earlier this year, I was presented a killer deal on a long range rifle. I wasn't looking for anything like this at the time, but I sure am having fun shooting it!

A .338 Edge is a .300 RUM, necked up to .338 caliber. This wildcat reclaims the extra case length Remington gave away with their introduction of the .338 RUM. Like I said, this wasn't something I was necessarily looking for in a rifle caliber, but I am happy with the purchase. The rifle was in unfired condition when I bought it, and I paid less for this rifle than I would have for a new Kimber Montana.

I am not a fan of muzzle brakes, because of the noise, but I can't argue with the brake's performance. Recoil is surprisingly mild with this big thunder-boomer, and it's actually FUN to shoot. Don't worry, I have no plans to brake any of my other rifles.

I haven't done a lot of load development, but so far RL-22 & 25 w/ 225gr NAB's have given me great accuracy and velocity. I am anxious to get my hands on the 250gr NAB's, that are supposed to come out next year, and I'll probably try the 300gr SMK's as well.

Specs:
Trued Rem 700 ss action w/ factory bottom metal
#5, fluted Shilen Super Match bbl - finished at 26", plus the brake
McMillan "Remington Sporter" stock
Nikon 2.5-10x Monarch in Talley LW's
Gray-Tan firing pin assy
Tuned Factory trigger
Total weight 8#, 10oz

Slick-looking outfit.How far have you shot with it?Is it really any faster than what you'd get with the 338 RUM?

Nice Looking Rig. The .338 Edge is the Hammer of Thor on critters.


Checkout Shawn Carlock's, one of the progenitors of the .338 Edge, website. Click on the videos link and see the big gun in action.

.338 EDGE

Here's an article on the .338 Edge:

.338 Edge Article

Dan-

I'm still very jealous of that deal. You really stole it. I would have jumped on it if I had the extra money at the time. Try Retumbo, I had great luck with retumbo in the 338 RUM. That is just a mean long range rifle. If you want to get rid of it let me know...

Thanks. The longest range we have near town goes out to 300 yards, and I've only had the chance to shoot there once so far. I will certainly spend more time there this winter.

The Edge is faster than the RUM, but I haven't really wound it up yet. Loading data is a bit limited, so I am proceding cautiously. Getting 3200 fps with the 225 NAB wasn't difficult, and I feel there's room for even more speed.

Currently, the rifle is sighted 1" high at 100 yards, and only hits 5" low at 300 yards. That's pretty cool.

I know. I felt bad giving so little for the rifle, but he called ME and made the offer. I had already turned him down earlier in the week, because I really didn't have the money for another rifle at the time...I had just bought a LVSF. When he called and dropped the price, though, I FOUND the money. It was too good of a deal!

To be honest, I wasn't really planning on keeping it. I thought I would shoot it a bit and pedal it fairly quickly. I was really after the extras that came with it - Mickey stock, Jewel trigger, and Leupy glass. I swapped the stock with my .338-06, and put the trigger and glass on my .223.

Josh, do I know you from ODD? Did I get the .338 RUM dies from you? If so, I really dig your new .458 Lott. We'll have to get to the range sometime and shoot.

Yeah, I sold you those rum dies and we talked about that edge deal. Still jealous though. I'd have FOUND the money too if I thought that good a deal was available.

Dan-nice rig, I've done quite a bit of work with various big 33's and they're very nice to work with.

Your gun will top out at 9 lbs all up (sling and rounds added) and that is a very user friendly weight for a big 33. You could easily toss the mzl brake and the rifle would be quite user friendly yet. And heck of a lot more user friendly on the old ears.

I gotta say I like it.

Dober

Very nice Rifle, Dan.
I like that McMillan stock, I want that same one for my 300RUM LSS.

Enjoy!

Boy that should reach out and touch them.

Sweet lookin' rig! I'd love to have one, but I had already bought a 338 RUM before I heard of the Edge. My RUM shoots the 225 gr AB under an inch at 200 yds at 3050 fps out of a 26" ported barrel, so figure 24" effective barrel length. I'm not about to mess with it!

I'm not so sure about it being user friendly without the brake like dober said, but I do agree on the noise level aspect. I for one am not a big fan of recoil, especially from prone off a rest like that rifle should be shot for long range precision. It probably wouldn't be too friendly on your eyebrow or shoulder from that position. Standing, no big deal.

I think it's an absolute thunder stick, but Elmer Keith might have only considered it appropriate for cow elk - broadside - up close - using premium bullets.

But then, elk were a lot tougher in Elmer's day.

Been thinking of coverting my 300 RUM to the Edge. Nice looking rig. Different config for this type.

I have a threaded cap that replaces the muzzle brake, should I decide to hunt with this rifle. I have shot it without the brake.....a guy just HAS to try it, right? It's not as much fun to shoot w/o the brake, but it's still better than my 6-1/2# .375 H&H.

And, yes, removing the brake does change the point of impact.

The bedding should be cured by this weekend, so I am going to drag it to the range and see how it does with the McMillan stock & new scope. My expectations are rather high.

Man, I wouldn't remove that brake.

I had a 700 XCR in .338 RUM for a short while. Only thing I ever owned that exceeded my tolerance. The recoil on the shoulder was not bad, but I simply could not work a scope/base setup that would keep the scope from clocking me in the forehead. I scootched it forwards, backwards, higher, lower, no difference. Never drew blood, but after two - three _solid_ whacks on the noggin I start to flinch. The final shot I fired from it was from leaning up against a post with my left hand with the gun rested over my left arm. Hit the 8" wide, 6" tall plate at 300 yards but the scope hit me in the head so hard I had to go straight to the chiropractor, knocked my atlas joint out and went from happy as a clam to migraine-type crawl-n-puke headache in about 2 seconds flat.

Maybe it's just me, I crawl a stock real bad. Or maybe the R3 pad is too squishy and lets the gun come back too far. But I just couldn't get far enough away from the scope.

Got rid of that gun ... or, gettin' rid of it, consignment. Earnest money has been paid, it's going to happen and it won't be any too soon for me.

Love the external ballistics of the .338 RUM, and the Edge would be a bit better yet, but like Clint said, a man's gotta know his limitations.

Tom

Tom-I am a big time member of the stock crawler club. My best fix for it is Magnaport. I get smacked between the running lights a couple of times a year. It does have a perpencity to challenge one's ability to concentrate for sure.

Along with stock crawling I also hold a rifle very freely.

Magnaporting will sort out this problem of mzl jump without the caustic noise of a brake.

Keep those darn brakes for cars!

Dober

Sounds like we shoot a lot alike. It's fine with small varmint cartridges in modestly heavy rifles, otherwise it's a good way to get smacked.

I've shot a few digger squirrels with .338 and .375 H&H, even shot one with a .458 (though it doesn't make as good a story if I say "but it was with a light cast bullet load") and I've been tapped a few times. That .338 RUM was a whole new world of "I don't like this."

Buddy of mine just had an "edge" built. I got a brief email from him a couple days back saying it'd been blooded, but I think his other regular hunting buddy was runnin' the trigger. Cool! I haven't seen the gun yet, guess I oughta do something about that!

If you put a 4oz mercury recoil reducer in the butt stock it will help even more,it will also help balance a rifle if you have a long heavy barrel.I would keep the break on it,heck with magna porting a barrel,the Gentry muzzle breaks have an 11% forward angle on the holes,pushes noise forward away from hunter.All 12 of my rifles have a Gentry break on it,yes I do wear electonic ear muffs all the time.