Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Good 338 Federal loads

Thanks for all the info. I just got my ruger m77 in 338 federal . Ive always shot 358 win in the past but was impressed with ballistics of the 338 fed.
Its great to have lots of real experience and info to help and not waste time and powder. Heres to a great hunting season for all the Campfire crew!

Thanks for all of the great info new here but not new to the shooting sports. I just built a 338 fed and had planned on using 8208 and 180 an bullets for whitetails in Wisconsin. I was curious about pressure issues. I started with the mid book load 44 gr but the test load was way hot. Backed down to 42 but it is still pretty hot and all are 2"" or more. Trying AA2495 today but thought I'd ask if anyone else has experienced this. I've not had these issues in the past to this degree. Gun is a Borden alpine action, Krieger 10 twist barrel 25", trigger tech, March 2.5-25, manners eh. Thanks in advance for any information you can provide.

Something fishy there. I’ve run 48+ 8208 with 180 Accubonds, 180 BTs, and 180 Woodleighs in multiple 338 FEDs with no issue. I run ~47 with a 200 NorthFork. Can you try some factory ammo to confirm there are no issues? Check powder scale? Bullets aren’t seated into the lands? Just tossing ideas out there.
I have not tried 2495.

Edit: finding accuracy with the 180 AB has been unusually difficult for me. Finally found something that seems to work well using Benchmark. ~2775 FPS IIRC.

I even have a chamber gage made when chambering the barrel. So I insured that there was about .020" jump. Tried 43 gr if AA2495 today with 180 ab and that is also fairly warm but shot better. Just seeing these loads posted by so many made me wonder. Thanks for your response, I really appreciate it.

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Talon which brand of brass and primers are you using? I got to 48 with Federal 338 brass with 210M and BR2 primers and 180gr. 47grains with 185 TTSX as well no pressure signs at all.

Good luck and shoot straight y'all

I have loaded the 180 accubond up to 48.5 of 8208 with no pressure. The 180 accubond is one of the more accurate bullets in my rifle.

New Starline. Now using reformed Lapua. Anyone had a hot lot of 8208? I have an 8# keg open but may have to buy a 1# to see if it is my keg.

I checked the weight of my FC 338 federal brass and it is heavier than my 308 Lapua brass 175 grains vs 172. That does not help explain your pressure issue .

How are you interpreting the pressure signs?

I find myself wanting a .338 Federal for some reason. I don’t know why.

XP-100, 15" barrel, .338 Federal--great combination!

Primer flow and case stretch. I will be doing some more testing next week. Deer season where I live. Kinda bummed cause I missed this season.

I’d like to shoot a camel!

Talon 2, if sizing up from .308 brass, you could be getting "doughnuts" forming ( pulling brass from the shoulder up into the bottom of the neck). Had this problem myself when Fed stamped brass was unavailable. Not a problem with stubbier bullets like 200g Speer and Woodleighs, but longer 200g Accubonds etc. can certainly cause a pressure spike.
Good luck with it.
Jack.

Thanks Jack I have an adjustable reamer set to remove anything as for the doughnut. I have not seen the pressure signs with the Norma or Lapua. I have looked at the Starline as well but do not see an issue on the new cases. Some with 42 gr of 8208 grew in length by .030" after a single foreign. I'm feeding them from a magazine and jumping .020" I'm puzzled by the loads posted all over but I'll figure it out. Hopefully whatever I find will help someone else if they run into trouble.

My son took his Bison with a 338 Federal 210 partition at 250 yards. No problem with penetration. It doesn't matter what gun you use, they don't drop right away so a couple shots are always encouraged.

Can't let a good reference thread die. With the 338 Federal trending elsewhere on the fire, I was inspired to go to the range and fire a few groups.

The rifle is an old Rem 722 with makeover, rebored and chambered in the 338 Fed by JES. The barrel length is now 22 inches. Velocities were recorded with a Labradar.

For hunting I use the (formerly) cheap Federal Fusion 200gr factory ammo. I haven’t yet found a load with the combined accuracy and velocity of that stuff.


Bullet: Fed Fusion 200gr SP
Powder: Factory
Primer: Factory
Case: Fed
Velocity: 2619 (ES 27.0, SD 10.4)
Group(5): 1.08 in

Bullet: Speer 200gr SP
Powder: 52.0 2000-MR
Primer: F210
Case: Fed
Velocity: 2512 (ES 13.0, SD 2.9)
Group(5): 1.46 in

Bullet: Woodleigh 200gr PPSN
Powder: 47.0 8208XBR
Primer: F210
Case: Fed
Velocity: 2568 (ES 13.0, SD 3.3)
Group(5): .95 in

Bullet: Fed Fusion 200gr SP
Powder: 48.0 TAC
Primer: F215
Case: Fed
Velocity: 2595 (ES 18.0, SD 8.2)
Group(5): 2.25 in

Bullet: Fed Fusion 200gr SP
Powder: 48.5 TAC
Primer: F215
Case: Fed
Velocity: 2606 (ES 46.0, SD 22.4)
Group(5): 2.31 in

Bullet: Woodleigh 200gr PPSN
Powder: 48.5 TAC
Primer: WLR
Case: Fed
Velocity: 2586 (ES 6.0, SD 2.8)
Group(5): 1.15 in

There is not a lot on this thread for the shorter barrels so I thought I would add my experience with a Barrett Fieldcraft with the 18" barrel and suppressed

Factory 200 fusion - 2555 fps 1.5 moa load
Factory 210 partition - no vel recorded - 2 moa load
Factory trophy copper - 2461, 2431, 2433 - 1 moa load

Barnes 160TTSX, AA2230, Fed210M, Fed Brass 43 degrees
Grains - Velocity
50 - 2818
51 - 2863
51.5 - 2888, 2899, 2891, 2901 - 0.75 moa load
52.0 - 2928, 2941, 2921, 2938 - 1 moa load
52.5 - 2950, 2960, 2943 - stiffer bolt lift - stopped here

160TTSX, TAC, 210M
50 - 2741
51 - 2785
51.5 - 2807
52.0 - 2819
52.5 - 2855, 2850, 2842. no pressure

185TTSX , IMR 8208, 215M
47 0- 2645, 2624, 2575
47.4 - 2668, 2655, 2666, 2661 <1 moa load
47.7 - 2649, 2646, 2675
48.0 - 2699, 2685, 2697 sub moa load

Also tried some; 230 ELD-X in my Tikka that has a long bolt stop and magazine. I was hoping for a 500 yard plus rifle. COAL was 2.945
Alliant MR2000 ; Fed 210M
50.5 - 2450
51.1 - 2477
51.4 - 2479
groups were not impressive and ran short on ELD-Xs. I wonder if Leverevolution would be better? Also hope to play with the 210 SS2 in this rifle with the extended COAL possibility.

Has anyone else worked up a load with the 185 grain SP on clearance at midway?
I've tried on combo so far that is promising.
Kimber Montana with 22" barrel

185 SP, 47.5 grains of TAC, 210
2,700 fps
Needs more testing to confirm but accuracy was promising and ES were low for this and all charge weights above and below this.

I’m doing that now as well. I’m using 8208 through an 18” barrel and hope to have results this weekend. I might load a couple with tac as well. I have tried that in the past with the Barnes 185 and had better accuracy with 8208.

It's winter and time to do some load development!

Read through most of this thread in the past couple days. My rifle really likes the 210 NPT and Benchmark.

But it is winter........

I'm looking for temperature insensitive powder loads for the 160 TTSX and 185 TTSX.

185 TTSX and 8208 about 47, 48 gr at 2700 ish seems like a good load.
160 TTSX and 8208 and H322 at 2950/2975 seems like a good possibility.

Other good temp insenestive powders to consider with these 2 bullets?

BTW: I did shoot a doe last year with the Fed. 210 gr Partition at 2575 from my 23" Kimber. She didn't like it much.... a blood trail a blind hippie could follow. Love the Lilja 84m mod taper at 23" on the Kimber. Still weighs less than 7 lbs with a 20 oz NF riding on top. To me the slight added weight points/holds better than the standard Montana taper.