Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Is the 338 Federal popular in Africa?

is the 338 federal popular in Africa?

No. Though it would work well for most plains game it is totally unknown over there.

RS

It certainly should be.

I would say no. However, after playing around with mine, my PH really liked it. They tend to prefer heavy and slow premium bullets. I was shooting 160 TTSXs. They worked fantastic. The PH said he’d load 225 A-Frames at about 2400-2500 and think it was perfect.

like I've wrote before on this forum about the 338 Federal: After 100 years of lengthening and shortening and necking down and necking up we managed to reinvent the 8x57. A 200 gr. bullet at 2500 fps of about the same diameter. Of course it will work.

Of my trips to Africa, I've never seen a 338 Federal.....it's as if you remove the .30-06 from Africa and the .375 H&H, you're disarmed an entire continent.

There are others of course, but cartridge proliferation doesn't seem to have affected an entire continent like it has here.

Maybe those Africans are more practical (smarter ?) than us.
How many cartridges between 27 and 35 do we need that move a 150gr to 180gr bullet 2700 to 2900 fps?


6.x55, 7x57
8x57, 30-06.

By 1906 we had the bases covered in medium game hunting.
And, with the exception of the 6.5 vs '06, they overlap considerably.

If you listed all the cartridges that basically duplicate those war horses with similar bullet weights,
you have listed most of the game rounds introduced in the last 100 years. Including some magnums.

In my experience, no. That said, I would expect it to perform decently on PG animals of Kudu size and below at moderate ranges providing you are loading it with a well constructed bullet and placing your shots in the so called "deadly triangle".

Don't expect to be able to find any .338 Federal should yours be lost or should you run out of cartridges.

I think it has more to do with less discretionary income and the fact that most of the guns and ammo are of imported nature. While here in the States, we make the stuff and well we can buy it also at prices those in Europe or Africa can just dream about! Then there is that other elephant in the room, guns are much more controlled in those places than here. That is also an issue governing what may or may not be popular. I have a 338 Winchester Mag, I see no real reason to buy a 338 Federal. Heck for my current hunting needs, a 7 x 57 or 6.5 x 55 I have both is more than enough.

No it is not. Africans are practical and see no need to constantly reinvent the wheel.

...... if not for the 30-06.

Practical? What could be more? From 243 Win to 358 Win with every 308 based cartridge in between formed from the SAME dimension brass and conservative on powder all the while getting the job done seems like nothing BUT practical.

The .308 rules in Africa. The .30-06 lags way behind there.

For hunting? LEGAL hunting that is. I know there are lots of poachers using surplus military rifles, but thought that the .30-06 was still the primary hunting round used for safaris and by PHs.

The most practical thing for most Africans to do is to not sell the rifle they are currently using (and familiar with) to start over with a perfectly fine but otherwise non-differentiated cartridge.

For those just starting out...well, let's just say that .338 Federal rifles aren't exactly filling the shelves. Not to mention the ammo.

Just my $0.02 as always!


Tim

Maybe a case that holds a little more powder than the .308 would be favored in Africa? For example, there is the .338 Sabi, which according to this specs sounds very interesting:
http://www.sabirifles.co.za/338sabi.htm

Shown here:
http://www.sabirifles.co.za/mediumborerifles.htm

The three PHs I know a 7x57, 308 and 30-06 respectively as their primary plains game rifles.

In the Eastern Cape, the 270 Win is very popular.

Yes, practical. African usually don’t have the money to spend on very expensive reloading equipment and hard to find components. And they are not interested in one more cartridges that duplicates others ballistically. And try to find factory ammo in .338 Federal. That’s a joke. In 14 Safaris in 7 African countries I have never seen any plains game camp rifles in ANYTHING other than 30-06, .270, 7x57, or .308. Practical indeed. Americans have a love affair with making something new that “improves “ on something that already exists and works just fine. African don’t.....

It isn't popular for all the reasons stated above. On our Africa trip a few years ago, the three of us had a .35 Whelen, a .338-06 and a .358 Win. They all worked just fine on all the plains game we shot, including blue wildebeest, hartebeest, zebra, kudu, nyala, waterbuck, etc. One shot kills all. 225 gr partitions in all.