Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles .338 Federal....denied!

I've been really excited about putting together a .338 Federal, and sent a 700 .243 off to JES last month. I've been stockpiling clearance 185's from Midway, and slowly resizing brass. My plan was to get it to the range this month, and work up a load over the cooler months.

Well, the USPS fairy dropped me off a package this week...so I was stoked. But, the excitement was short lived. Seems the rebore from .243 to .338 Federal didn't meet JES standards, so he punched it out to .358 Winchester and refunded my money.

I can't say enough good about JES, I think that was a solid way to handle the issue. Of course, I have zero interest in a .358 Winchester...so the search for another donor 700 begins. The only reason I finally committed to the .338 was the clearance bullets off Midway.

Regardless, I'm debating on also having a Handi Rifle .243 rebored, but want to talk with JES first before I send anything else to Oregon.

Damn. That stinks. I’m glad you shared that experience. I think the thoughtful thing to do on JES’ part would be to call you about the situation rather than sending you a rebore you didn’t ask for. I’m not trying to talk bad about JES, but thats one hell of a surprise. Sorry if didn’t work out for you. At least he gave you your money back. I’m sure in that business things do happen.

I was a little surprised as well, but not sure what other option there was (short of a complete rebarrel).

You are right, but some sort of report on a situation like that would be a nice courtesy. So you’re no going to keep the 358?

They just picked a different cartridge without asking?

I'm kinda stunned it got rebored to something else without a phone call?

My 9.3 is scheduled for delivery on Monday. The check got cashed... so I'm assuming that's what will be in the box...

What are you gonna do with the 358?

Basically, yes.

I should probably be a little more aggravated about the situation, but I understand stuff happens. That being said, in a short action 700 I am not sure there is any other option above a .338 Federal other than .358 Win.

As far as the .358 goes, I'm just not a fan of the cartridge. I had one years ago in a Browning BLR, and it's just not my preferred round. Plus, reasonably priced hunting bullets in .35 cal are simply unobtainable right now...whereas, I have literally over 1k .338 bullets sitting on the bench ready to load.

Also, what was the issue that allowed 358 but not 338? Usually wouldn't he either chop barrel length or go down in cartridge diameter?

The lack of the phone call seems really odd to me. That’s the kind of thing people do when they screw up and don’t want to fess up to it.

Again, I don’t know what happened and don’t want to talk bad about a good business. That’s just a strange way to go about business.

.338RCM

The fed would be great too! Let us know how it goes!

Maybe a crooked chamber or something that he could clean up with a bigger reamer, etc?

I would've assumed without a call he'd just send back the 243 minus shipping. But I bet someone here would take a 358 in a heartbeat, which might make swapping for or buying another donor easier. So maybe some silver lining.

I get you. I want to say that old Larry needs to send you a thank you card. I imagine you helped sell a few thousand of those bullets.

I'm confused. You sent your barreled action to JES to be rebored/rechambered to 338 FED and they took it upon themselves to rebore/rechamber it to 358 WIN without first speaking to you about the change order? So, they made a mistake and refunded your payment in fulll without an explanation? I have a box full of 700 take-off barrels if you want to try again.

Wouldn't RCM require bolt face work too?

This is the message I received with the rifle:

"The .338 bore didn't look good to me, so I made it into .358 Win. She seems to shoot fine. I know this isn't what you wanted, so I am returning your money".

Like I said, I am a little aggravated....but it's really not that big of a deal. I know .358's are fairly popular, so it shouldn't be difficult to get rid of....and I have no hesitation in sending him another rifle.

I may consider that option, what all do you have in a short action .473 bolt face?

Sounds like he didn't care for the condition of the bore after he punched it to .338.

I assume the only choice was to leave a schitty bore or clean it up to something else and hope that bore diameter worked out.

I guess I would rather have it as he did it as opposed to a bad rebore job.

Lookimg like it's time to find another barrel or sell the rifle and buy another to be rebored.

Yes...and lack of cheap brass is an absolute deal breaker.

I want to reiterate that this thread is IN NO WAY MEANT TO BASH JES. Could this whole thing have been handled a little better? Sure....but at this point I am 100% satisfied.