Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats 338-06?

OK so by necking up the 30-06 we come up with the 338-06. My question is has this been built around the 280 case for a 338-280. Or would this just be a 338-06AI.

It would not be AI anything till you form it in an AI'ed chamber.

A 280 brass is nothing more than '06 brass . Taking 270 or 280 brass to make a 338-06 just needs more neck expanding.

OK thanks

I got to shoot a 338-06 in the AI'ed version a few times. I could dig having one.

While the shoulder is moved slightly forward it is essentially the same case as the .30-06. However to answer your question yes it has been done. If you go over to Accurate Reloading and visit the Wildcat forum you'll find a poster by the name of Ramrod340 and he has developed a whole series of cartridges called PDK's that are very similar to the .280 parent case.

That isn't exactly true...

the 280 brass needs to be trimmed back some...

I got a good deal on a couple of bags of Win 280 brass.. it wouldn't chamber in my 338/06, until I trimmed it back some...
it was brand new, never been fired brass....

I instead used the rest of it, to make Nickle 7 x 57 brass.. size it and trim it... and every 7 x 57 shooter I know sees it and asked where did I get Nickle 7mm Mauser brass at????

I just gave a basic anwser.

So what's a little trimming ? Still nothing more than '06 brass.....

I've always like the looks of nickled brass. It stays clean and shinney for a long time.

More needless complication of an already rather pointless round, why bother? The original .338-06 was and has always been a "baztard child" of a couple of old British rounds, the excellent .318 Westley-Richards, being the most well known.

It has "OK" ballistics, as does it's .358" bore, cousin, the venerable .35 Whelen, but, both British and, especially German cartridges developed a bit earlier were and are superior and are now easily available.

In fact, the American silght re-work of the British .338" belted round, the .33 BSA, which is the outstanding .338WM, is ubiquitous and superior to about anything, given good bullets,for general North American big game uses.

I see no real value in the .338-06 and only sentimental value in the Whelen, in fact, I think that my .30-06 200 NP loads will equal any effect of either on North American game and then one is not burdened with a lot of case forming and other such work.

When, we get serious about it all, especially here in BC or some parts of Alberta, the Canadian "Territories" and Alaska, I think that the best by far option is just a good .338WM, loaded with 250 NPs or SAFs.

YMMV, and this is all about fun, anyway, but, I have, after severe culling of my collection, six .338WM and four 9.3x62 custom rifles, and NO .338-06 or Whelens. In fact, with almost a half century of packing rifles all over BC, etc, IF I were, God forbid, restricted to only ONE, it would be a fullhouse custom by Martini, on either a Dakota 76 action or a Brno ZG-47 and in .338WM. NO question.

Kutenai says it about as well as it can be said. If you want a 338 bullet then get the Win. It will easily give 338-06 performance and much more without resorting to excessive pressures. Otherwise get a 30-06 and use either 200-220 grain bullets with modern powders and load to "270 pressures". Actually with TTSX or E-Tips the 180's in the 30-06 will handle anything for which you would chose a 338-06. If more is needed, then you need more case capacity as well.

A 280 AI has a bit more case capacity than the 06 AI. Thus a 338-280 Ackley Improved would beat a 338-06 Ackley Improved by a small margin.

The 338-06 is pretty practical wildcat; easily formed and performs reasonably well. However; while a 338 Winchester can be loaded to be just like a 338/06, the reverse isn't true. By the way, headspace is longer on the 280 by around fifty thou. This would make little or no difference but most wildcats are developed with less advantage than this. GD

Hart barrels IIRC chambers in the 338-280....

I had them do a straight 338-06, no regrets, slung 200 BTs at 2910, 225s at 2670. All else equal, I think a 338 225gr would thump game a tad harder than a 200gr '06, but that said, not sure any '06 200 NP victims vitally hit are around to discuss.

I like the round, the straight -06.

Sorry but this is baloney. I ran calculations when shopping a 338 using Hodgdon load data back when I was shopping. My method was to find the fastest load for identical projectiles and compare velocity gained for the extra propellant charge. I found overall approx 5% increase compared to a 15% propellant weight increase.

Take the 210 NPT for example. Top in the WM is 78 @ 2895 while the 06 is 62 @ 2753. That's a 142 fps increase for 16 gr of powder, or 5% velocity increase for 26% charge increase.

I guess my initial recollection was a little off and one might argue that results will be different with bigger bullets and they will be but not much.

I love the 338-06, personally. I think the numbers demonstrate why.

I have an 30-06 AI, but I'm with you on the nickel plated brass. But I have always been reluctant about fire-forming my nice nickel brass, in fear of the plating chipping or flaking off. And especially now, with any kind of brass being hard to seek out. But you seem to have worked some nickel plated brass, I assume with no kind of flaking? Would you think with me fire-forming the 06 nickel, it would chip of flake?

Baloney??? You RAN some numbers and now tell us that our rifles and loads are somehow mere sandwich meat? Well, you are wrong here and my rifles will SAFELY average 3000+ fps.210NP, around 2900 fps-225HIL and a tiny bit slower for the NP AND 2800 fps-250 NP, SGK and HIL....and they do this consistenly with a few different powders.

SHOW ME 2800 from a .338-06, without leaving ejector marks on the caseheads or a consistent 2650 from 250s, and I will be VERY surprised.

I don't care about personal preferences,or, what cartridge anyone chooses, but, the .338WM IS ...much more...when properly loaded than the .338-06 can or ever will be.

Last I knew we weren't talking about YOUR rifles; we were comparing cartridges.

Will you suggest a better way to do so?

I don't find it wise to expect to be able to safely exceed Hodgdon info even though I know some rifles here and there may be able to do so, just as there may be some that may not reach their published maximums.

Anecdotal evidence is... Well... Just that...

My issue w/ nickel plated brass is I find it easier to anneal plain, and when necking up (I used 270 for my 338) it is particularly important.

When, you actually HAVE a .338WM and have handloaded for even one rifle so chambered and also used a few chronographs over a few decades to measure your velocities, then, perhaps you will see that my ...anecdotal evidence... is really factual data collected over the 45+ years I have used my 13 different rifles chambered in .338WM. as well as having direct "hands-on" experience with dozens more.

You can make any and all snide comments that you wish to, however, real, personal experience trumps collecting numbers from various sources and then calling other's comments ...baloney....

In fact, several current gun writers, with some serious experience with the .338WM have published results exactly like those that several of my friends and I have obtained; one that comes to mind is Brian Pearce, of "Rifle" and "Handloader" mags. and his articles containing his results and concomittant opinions are avaulable through these magazines.

The FACT is that, based on a lot of shooting and testing, the .338WM is as the other gentleman said, MUCH more than a .338-06. I suggest that you try one to learn from experience and this may help you to see that you are in error on this point.

I've certainly never argued that my 338-06 was the equivalent of a 338WM. However, if the -06, or the 338 Fed for that matter, puts two .338 Cal bullet holes in an animal with each shot I'm not sure what the actual benefits of the WM would be. Potential for greater range no doubt, but the benefit does not extend where I would shoot anyway. For elk and smaller, it can't make them more dead.