Originally Posted by outahere
I have the 338-06 Imp on a model 70 classic. It feeds very smoothly so, at least in my rifle, compromised feeding is not an issue.

The supposed hassel of fireforming is another complete non-issue ... you do practice with your rifle, do you not? Two birds with one stone and all that.

There is probably less case stretching with the improved version but that really is another yawner. If you are too lazy to trim every few firings, you are probably too lazy to handload well.

If you find yourself in a situation where you have to use standard factory 338-06 ammo (good luck finding it) than go ahead and use it. The accuracy in my rifle suffers not at all when fireforming and velocity loss is negligable. The worst that will happen is you will end up with more fireformed brass.

You will realize a velocity gain of maybe 35 to 40 fps if you do not lean on things too hard. This is a negligable gain in the real world but it does seem to fall under the category of "free lunch".

The only issue of consequence is, I believe, having a gunsmith who is competent enough to see that your rifle feeds propery.

Do what ever you want and sleep easy after the fact - there is no wrong choice between the two. In either case you will end up with an easy to load, easy to shoot and extremely potent big game getter.



Nice old thread. I agree with this ^^^^^^.
Doing it on a Mauser will cause some feed issues either way and mag box length issues either way. Both can be over come.

Some is Good---More is Better----Too Much is Just Right