Mojo,
I traded for the .338-284 several years ago. I convinced the dealer that he would never sell such a wildcat to anyone but a hard core reloader like me. I traded a lesser grade Alpha Arms .270 for this Alpha Arms Alaskan in .338-284, even swap. The Alpha was the brain child of Homer Koon, of Ranger Arms Magnum and Omega III rifle fame. The Alpha's were produced in the Dallas area from '83-'87. Reportedly, Mr. Koon used Douglas air guage barrels and designed a "V" block bedding setup where the round action sat in aluminum blocks behind and ahead of the mag. box. The tang and trigger assembly floated behind the rear block with no screw. The bolt lugs lock into a barrel extension machined into the barrel blank, not unlike a shotgun with barrel extension. So there's no practical way this gun could ever be rebarreled, as no one would have the jigs and machinery to mill the barrel to receive the bolt lugs. Good news, it shoots as is and the stainless barrel in such a caliber will never be shot out.
Best loads out of a number of combinations are:
180 gr. Accubond, 53 gr. RL-15, 3/8" group at 100 yds.
160 gr. TTSX, 57 gr. Varget, 5/8"
200 gr. Combined Technology, 53 gr. Varget, 3/4"
185 gr. TSX, 54 gr. Varget, 7/8"
Combined Technology bullet is essentially a black Ballistic Tip. I didn't chrono. The 160 gr. load should be pushing 3,000, the others on down to around 2,850 for the 200 gr. from 22" bbl. Easy shooting gun, no pressure signs. It's a short action which seems to work well with this ctg.
With my 6.5-284, I used a standard length action so I could load Bergers and other bullets longer. That doesn't seem to be an issue with the .338-284, at least with the bullets I've tried. Haven't tried bullets over 200 gr. as I'm not bear hunting.
DF
