Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters .338 Federal

I don't see what the big problem is. The .358 has died on the vine despite it's excellence, perhaps the .338 Federal will catch on. Ever if it dosen't it will still be a nice round for the handloader...............Essex

Consise summary EssexCounty.

As to the old gun companies one wonders if they are falling apart? Winchester and Remington have been bought/sold out and have moved production here and there maybe to get away from bad union contracts. They seem to have no continuity.

Someone at WW must have set a budget aside for some non gun, non common sense MBA's and now we have a shotgun approach to cartridge introductions. Now I like the WSM's but the WSSM's were not tested first it seems. They just come out with stuff to beat some other company to the market.

Cartridges overlap. All we really need is one big game cartridge for the 49 states and the 30-06 seems to be the popular choice. Many others would do well also. Use what you want as it's almost all good.

Well, it's a great idea, but so is the 358 Win. Since the "average shooter" is so captivated by velocity I suppose that the first loads will feature 210 or even 180 grain bullets. So they'll be faster than a 308 with the same weights. (Sort of like that new fangled caliber the 30-06.) Now we'll have a 358 Win. 350 Rem 325 WSM and a 338/08 none of which will be loaded to optimum performance level with heavy for the caliber bullets and none of which, except the 350 Rem., can match the performance of 06 based medium bores.

Sako will have the .338 Federal in three different models for '06. All will be in the new '85' action series.
The models will be the 85 Hunter, Grey Ghost and Stainless Synthetic. Currently, expected availability to dealers will be in June/July.

I hear tell that Federal will laod the 185 grain TSX at 2750 FPS.

Ought to do just fine.

BMT

I agree with you that "it will be fine."

What we tend to forget is that one thing that usually kills a cartridge is the lack of ammo or bullets for it. Weatherby had at least one loading for their ..338-06, but this ammo was extremely expensive. Now, Federal is known for producing outstanding ammo for all cartridges, and I am certain will load enough ammo for the .338-08 to keep it going.

The .338 Federal, at least to me, sounds like a great idea. I have no need for it in Alaska, but there are plenty of .308 shooters and hunters who will buy it. It should be a great cartridge for deer to elk hunters and reloaders.

The reality of the situation is that we have a continuous need for new cartridges for the industry to grow. If we all shot 30-06s then there would not be much of a market for sporting arms. The 338-08 will really not do much more than the 30-06 but that's good enough for me. I have always liked the 338 win mag but it's really too much of a good thing for shooting deer in GA but a 338 that did not kick quite as hard would not be all that bad. a 210 partition would put a nice hole in a deer and would make for a nice blood trail and where I hunt, that is critical if the deer does not go right down on the spot. I think I will build one just for the fun of it. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

That .338 Federal should be great for getting a lot of energy out of a little bit of powder. But, that does not mean it will sell. I think it will probably be very nice, but a dead duck in the marketplace. The bigger-than-.30 bores suffered a couple blows the last twenty years or so with deer hunters. First, new bullets make smaller calibers kill bigger animals better. Second, most people seemed to give up on the idea that big heavy bullets plow through the brush. Larger game hunters will still want big medium bores, but I think most of them will want a little more powder behind it.
I would not mind having a .338 Fed, but it would strictly be 'just for the hell of it' (which is one of the more popular reasons for buying a gun).

257Bob wrote:
"The reality of the situation is that we have a continuous need for new cartridges for the industry to grow"

Who exactly is 'we'?

I agree that it would be just the ticket for whitetails. A light kicker with an impressive payload. And bloodtrails are an absolute must in my book too. Besides, now that I don't have a 308 anymore, what else would I do with all that brass? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

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