Hi folks, new to the forums but have been reloading for about 10 years. Loads of great info on this 338 Federal thread.

I have a Sako 85 Hunter in 338 Federal. I also had a 338 Fed Encore barrel, but I just sent it off to be rechambered to 338 WM.

I love the idea of a 338 Federal. I also have several 308s, a 243 and a 7mm-08. I'd have a 260 Rem also, but I have a 6.5x55 already that I really enjoy.

My 338 Federal Encore barrel wouldn't shoot at all for me. Tried a couple Federal factory loads - the 200g TBT and the 200g Fusions. Nothing better than 2" and was getting bent fore end screws and all kinds of other issues. I'm pretty sure those TBT loads are hot - no flattened primers but the recoil and report were noticeably different than the 200g Fusions.

Still, I loved the idea of the 338 Fed and I had all the reloading kit, so I found a great deal on the Sako. The Sako also came with 6 boxes of factory ammo, much of which isn't available today. I tried it all and wasn't impressed. The closest to acceptable accuracy was the Federal 185g TSX. So, I bought a box of 185g TSXs and started monkeying around with loads. Here's what I tried:

Federal once fired nickel 338 Fed cases, trimmed to 2.005" and using CCI LR primers:
50.0g CFE 223 @ 2.82"
46.0g XBR8208 @ 2.82"
46.0g XBR8208 @ 2.78"
46.0g RL15 @ 2.82"

I wasn't all that worried about the speed, I was just looking for a load that shot close to MOA and figured I could really dial it in with seating. The CFE223 load shot just under 1", so all good. I loaded up some more and took it out to chrony, it came in right around 2550 with a std dev of about 20fps, which I found acceptable. The CFE does seem really dirty however - carbon fouling, not copper. I sent a note to Hodgdon and they said it sounded like the powder was thoroughly burning, but my speed was exactly what they would have guessed with my loads. I shot an 85 lb hog about a month ago with this load - she was facing me. Hit her just above the ear, exited behind the shoulder, re-entered in front of the ham and re-exited behind the ham. Apparently she wasn't standing straight. All at about 110 yards. Those TSXs are very tough bullets.

Now I have some TAC and I'm going to try that with the 185g TTSXs and some 200g Accubonds. I see that the Western manual lists Fed 215 primers - I think someone on here said that Western told them it was a typo. I sent a note to Western and they said it was accurate - use magnum primers. So I suppose I'll try both.

After all this, I'm wondering if the 338 Federal isn't much more finicky than other calibers? It's certainly taken the most time and effort for me to get something dialed in than any of the other dozen calibers I load for.