Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Is the 338 federal dead?

do a search, several campfire members are huge fans of the cartridge

I'm the guy Shooter refers to - he re-barreled a Kimber Montana for me. I really like the cartridge as a woods gun - everything from deer to elk. If you want flat shooting, look at the ballistics of a 160 TTSX - 3000+ ft/sec. It will never be confused with a flat shooter but it shoots big heavy bullets at adequate velocity to offer excellent penetration out to 3-400 yards depending on bullet. There are rounds that shoot flatter, hit harder, have a bigger/smaller hole - but the 338 Fed can shoot a 210 Partition at 2600 ft/sec, come in a short rifle, and offer a level of recoil that is acceptable in a lightweight rifle. Before someone else says it - I know a dozen other cartridges likely can say the same thing. I think as a woods deer-bear-elk cartridge and platform, its hard to beat.

It’s a hell of a little hammer on deer/pigs. I killed my buck this year with mine I was walking and the buck snorted at me, I blasted him at about 30 yards.

A Kimber montana chopped down to 17.5” wears a 1.5-5x36 Zeiss Duralyt scope. Big heavy #4 reticle. Great in close/ dense cover and in fading light.

I was at a gander mountain going under a few years ago and I bought them out of federal trophy copper 200gr. Solid copper bullets running about 2500-2550 out of my gun (guess) sighted in a little high at 100, keeps me at a dead on hold out to 250.

I would like to reload the 160gr. 338 TTSX. I bet they would be a lighter recoiling, equally as effective flatter shooting hammers

Seems it does its intended purpose quite well. If never owned one,and was thinking along the lines of others hers. A handy eastern close cover rifle,with some thump.

It’s chilling with the 6.8 SPC....

The 338 Federal is a great cartridge and will kill an elk or a deer at just about any range you can hit them properly. It's also an accurate round. All that could be said about other cartridges too. I love my .338F Kimber 84M, and it will go hunting with me whenever possible. But would I set out to have a custom gun built for it? Probably not, but if I didn't own one, I would probably try to find one to buy.

I have a Sako 85 Stainless Synthetic in 338 Federal. Mine loves the Federal 200gr Trophy Bonded Tip ammo. I echo what bwinters said about it. I haven't shot anything bigger than deer with it yet but it hammers them. Guys that badmouth the cartridge haven't used it IMO.

That 160 TTSX makes an absolute mess of elk (and Kudu, Waterbuck, Gemsbok, Impala, ...) internals. The 185 TTSX does a great job on elk too!

Shot a Muley with the 6.5 this year. It works just fine, dead deer. However, the difference in the amount of internal damage is readily apparent.

Blaspemy!!!!

I am going to have one built on a Remington model Seven action. I had one in a Savage Hog Hunter that I sold to a friend yesterday.

Compared to its parent cartridge, ohhhh yeah, it's a goner. No one with any memory of past over .30 cartridge intros expected anything else. Compared to the truly demised numbers like, say, 222 rem mag, it's really easily revived. Brass is beyond easy to form, bullet choice is excellent, and lots of load info is out there.

There is no denying the awesome blood trails you get with the Federal. I’ve got one in the Montana and the Federal brings a lot of punch to a small, lightweight package.

This is just my personal take a recoil with different loads from my 338. While you would expect the 160 to be lighter recoiling than the heavier slugs, if you load it to its potential you’re looking at around 3000fps. In a heavier rifle, this probably would be a moot point, but in my Montana, the recoil seems to be snappier with the 160’s. Maybe not as stiff, but definitely sharper, if that makes sense.

I think one thing that is peculiar to the Montana chambered in the Federal is the recoil, which seems to result in more barrel flip and less of a shove that you get with heavier rifles.

It's dead only to those with small, closed minds...I have a very nice AR-15 that shoots everything from the lightest to the heaviest 338 bullets very well...I would have a 338 Marlin levergun but for the fact the 338 was just a wildcat when I built my 356 Win and I'm TOO CHEAP to go with custom reloading dies.(I also have a 338-06 and 338 Lapua)

This is a other of those "this vs that", "no way to decide" variations on the same theme..."This" is better than "that" forms of fertilizer. The "old forms" of contention just keep rolling on and on and on with no end in sight.

The simple solution is to enjoy the shooters that you have and like and not bother with those you don't...SOMEONE ELSE will like and enjoy those.

Ain'tnothang, Bro.

Good shooting.

Sounds like a 308 load, which is not a bad thing either.

I wouldn't sell my 308s to buy a 338Federal.

I bet that combo will kill stuff twice as dead as a 200 Partition 50 fps slower at the muzzle out of a 308. Of course the 200 out of a 308 penetrates deeper, recoils less, shoots flatter, and surpasses the 338 in speed at about 200 yards. That .03" greater diameter ( about the same as 2-3 sheets of notebook paper) must really make a huge difference.

Of course the 338 kills stuff just fine. And if someone just wants to be different then have at it. It is just that virtually no one seriously believes it is any better than dozens of other cartridges. That is why it was DOA.

What was it good for that wasn't already covered by other cartridges?

That argument could be made for any CF cartridge designed in the past 60 years.

When the 338 Federal came out I was very interested, but, I have two 358 Win, one a Savage 99 and one a Ruger 77 tang safety. There was just not much day light between the Federal and the 358. It's a sweet little cartridge, but, if you have a 358, why?

It looks like Savage has six rifles listed in 338 federal. Of them, they appear to have a 20" barreled model with open sights:

https://www.savagearms.com/content?p=firearms&a=product_summary&s=57020

I read the description of the cartridge from an older nosler reloading manual from years back. A moose Hunter (former federal ammo employee)with bear problems created the original. He wanted to keep his model 88 Winchester and took off the 308 barrel. The guy claims to be in his 90s and doesn't hunt much anymore, but had decades of hunting with the cartridge.