Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles If a 338 Federal performs nearly the same as a 30-06, why not get the 06

Haven't owned a .30-'06 in about 30 years...but I have owned a pile of really interesting rifles...

Including a .338 Federal...

Dennis

While the 30-06 is a highly respected cartridge there comes a point where boring enters the picture and even if another new cartridge does practically the same thing I buy into the "new" and want to hunt and reload for it........understand this is ME but I suspect others are the same way. I have 1% of the likes of Muledeer but that is my take on the subject!!!

Because everybody and their brudder too for the most part, has a 30-06!!!

I like cartridges and the rifles chambered for them, which are either not the most popular, or are controversial, that can offend people with too much noise, which are also under-estimated or assumed they won`t last.

One will have none of the above when using the `ol `06!!! A great cartridge,,,,but very bland!!!

Oh! "Whatcha shootin there?" "A 30-06!"

That`ll be about the end of that conversation!!!

the 338 federal was a brain fart and the answer to a question noone asked. its not zippy enough to shoot very flat, and with the advent of accurate mono metal bullets IMO the 338 bore is no longer needed at all. a TSX bullet fired from the big 30's will get it done just fine.

Other than your sneer at the .338 Fed and lack of understnding about it's usefulness, your statements are pretty much right. They are also thoroughly irrelevant, as all anyone needs to use hunting is a functional cartridge -- not what someone or the other thinks is "the very best". What everyone else in the universe thinks about the .338 Fed, or any other cartridge, is wholly unconnected to my viewpoint, as I utterly need no help nor advice from them.

Since I absolutely will not have a big .30, no one's opinion of it is meaningful to me, and I pay it no attention.

That's why we have a very wide selection of cartridges, and why anyone knocking good ones puzzles me. It's not like me having a .338 Fed affects anyone else, nor is it anyone else's business what I use.

Dennis

Welcome to the Internet, Dennis.

Why run a 338F over an '06? Because it'll run in a M7 or Kimber 84 action. Really. I'd run it for the power-to-size ratio of the rifle itself.

I'd run a 338F, in fact I almost did, because it'd pair nicely with my other oddball, the .325 WSM. Oh well, my .358 will have to fill the eyebrow-raiser, short action, thumper niche in my safe. Which it does with aplomb.

By the way, let me add I'm seriously in love with my '06 right now and have been since I bought it 10 years ago. Great cartridge.

Lots of those...

From the other side of the pond, in frog's country: i can't hunt with a 30-06 (used it in Canada an other Euro countries),it's not a 7x64 or 7Rm or 300WM/WSM every body use, 338 can go in a real short action, don't loose much punch or velocity from a short barrel, hit almost as hard (with heavy bullets handloads) as the 9,3x62 at short range, has much less recoil than 9,3, is flat enough with AB or 160 TTSX to 300 meters, can be handloaded cheaply and easily with bullets from 160 to 250grs with good efficiency with french spherical(Ramshot)powders or Vihtavuory, has more factory loadind than the 358 ( also a great caliber)
Dream of a semi auto like BAR, Benelli, HK or Merkel in 338 Fed would be great to hunt wild boar in driven hunts
Will go to modify a BLR 243 in 338 to have it in lever gun.
Must admit we're not a lot of to use it but it's encreasing slowly.

Why have one? Because it works and no 30-06 is as light as a Kimber 84.



Dead Elk

Because it you get a .30-06 you won't "need" anything else.

OK, that's not really true, but it comes close. And it is true for a lot of other cartridges. Like a .45-70 with heavy hardcast for Colorado's backyard rhino...

While I'm not THAT in love with my '06 again lately, I will admit that it has me a little horned up.

(guess I couldn't be THAT in love with it if I tried, short of medical intervention of some sort <g>)

Jeff, don't take it wrong... I wasn't entirely picking on you.

Seems like there's been a lot of these penis measuring threads lately.


I get more horned up over RIFLES these days, then pick a caliber. The Little Sky's still give me a chubby, and I'd like to add one in 223 for cheap practice and a good all 'orunder varmint gun. I'm not about to get into a 223 Vs 204 thread either. Owning more than a few AR15's and having a Dillon set up for the caliber makes the 223 an easy pick... No tape measure or sausages required...

That joker is hung lke me LOL.