I have a 338-06 built on a S&W "C" (Husqvarna 8000/9000 action) with a 23" barrel that I really like. It shoots 210 grain Partitions really well and I think that I'd feel well armed for anything from antelope through grizzlies with this rifle/cartridge/bullet combination.
Since a 338-06 isn't a target or varmint cartridge, I think that the small gain in case capacity and the advantage of less trimming of the AI version is probably not very significant to most people. I've owned my 338-06 for over 10 years and have yet to fire the 500th round through it. The original set of 100 Winchester/Olin cases is still in use and the only time that they were trimmed was after the 1st time they were fired.
I built this rifle, along with its twin in 256 Newton, so that I could hunt North America armed with S&W firearms; revolver, rifle, and shotgun. For some reason I thought that it would be fun/interesting/cool to do that, but now it doesn't seem so fun/interesting/cool to do so. I was thinking in terms of a S&W 624 in 44 Special, S&W Cs in 22-250, 256 Newton, 30-06, and 338-06, and a S&W 1000 in 12 Gauge.
Jeff
