I'm just wondering, after shooting 4 of the Nosler Premiums with the 210 Partition through the chronograph, what is so great about the 338 Win. Mag? A 30-06 with 180's or 200's would be just as good. Why would anybody want to shoot a 338 with the extra recoil with pathetic velocities like this: 2776.0 2746.0 2749.0 2742.0 ????

The temp was around 70 if that matters. Rifle was my dad's Win. Model 70 Supergrade. He's using this rifle for moose this year, but he will be using the Nosler Partition 250's. Just wondering what you guys think about those velocities. Seem real low to me.

yeah you're right those ballistics don't sound very good, but there's not alot of advantages to the 338 Win Mag until you get up to a 225 grain or 250 grain bullet. But I also use alot of 180 and 200 bullets around home for White-tail hunting. Because the 338 Win Mag in the Savage Weather Warrior has been the most accurate rifle I have ever owned.

I agree, the 338 is at its best with the heavier bullets, but the rather slow velocity with the 210's I tried today, makes me think the 250's will also be slower than I would expect out of the 338 Win. Mag. Not that a couple hundred fps makes a big difference. Is it necessary to reload to get the full potential out of the 338? I expected factory loads would be loaded up close to max, but apparently they are not.

I'd have to disagree with the 338 Mag is better with the heavier bullets. The 210 grain partition does a fantastic job.

I think the key question, is instead of "why a 338 Magnum" instead should be, :" why buy store ammo when you can handload??"

Personally, instead of being disappointed in those velocities,
it makes me do several things.

1. Go in my gun safe and give my 338/06 a hug.

2. Go and get my several boxes of 338 Mag/210 Partition Federal Ammo that I must have bought 10 yrs ago, and set them aside to disassemble and reassemble with powder from one of my reload manuals indicating where I can pump that velocity up about 300 fps or so.

3. Thank Wash Hunter, for bringing that to my attention.

4. Keep on running my mouth about "Do we really Need magnums?" NO offense to those who shoot them, and if it does offend you, then I rephrase the question to " does Seafire really need a magnum?"


Lat year a buddy wanted me to load him up some 300 Win Mag ammo, with 180 grain partitions and this is at the 11 the hour before Elk season.

I told him to go down and get some Remington 300 Win Mag ammo with 150 grain SPs in them at Bi Mart. ( there is more IMR 4350 in a 150 grain load compared to the 180 grain factory load.)

I don't always recommend this, but I have tested it before, and know it is safe.

So I disassemble the 20 rounds and reloaded the cases with the 180 grain Partitions he picked up.

The velocity was 3100 fps just like I have tested before doing this.

Before the screamers come out, I DON'T RECOMMEND THIS TO ANYONE. It was in a pinch, and I had tested it before, so I was comfortable with it.

We shot a couple of rounds at the range before he left, just to chronograph it and to adjust his scope.

But planning ahead eliminates a lot of things like this.

Cheers and good shooting
seafire

Buy him a couple of boxes of Federal 225-grain HE, or 250-grain HE. I tested both at the range, with ambient temp. of 55 degrees, and at an altitude of 480' above sea level. The 225 grainers produced 2900 fps, and the 250 grainer 2770 fps. I used one 250-grain HE to kill a moose at 250 yards the same year.

But I also reload, and get around 2830 fps with 230-grain FS bullets. With 275-grain A-Frame bullets, I stopped at 2600 fps, but that was over maximum. I use RL-19 for the lighter bullets, and RL-22 for the heavy ones. RL-25 may be even better when using 250 to 300-grain bullets.

You can easily hit 2900fps w/ handloads. Beside, have you chrono. factory 06 ammo lately? You'll probably find those 180grs going about 2600fps form a 22" bbl. I can get 2700fps easily deom my .338-06.

fredj338,
What! 2600fps from factory 30/06 with a 180gr Mate, I chronographed factory PMC 300 Winchester Magnums (180gr) at that a few years ago, and quickly deflated the ego of one shooter.
Con

As everyone else has said the 338 Win Mag shines when handloaded. My favorite for whitetails, black bear, hogs, and coyotes is a suitable amount of REL 22 under a Hornaday 225 Spire Point for 2900 fps. The bullet holds together well enough to drop these animals quickly with little meat damage and is extremely accurate (.600" at 100 yards) in my Savage 116. When I go playing out west the Nosler Partiton in 250 is my bullet of choice, slightly less velocity and accuracy, ~2800 fps and .75", but better penitration. The 338 is a heavyweight '06 with essentially the same trajectory, and that is a good thing.

This is my all-time favourite cartridge, I have handloaded for it for 36 yrs. and owned 12 rifles so chambered. I now own 4 Pre-64 Alaskans and a Dakota in .338 and I do shoot the Fed. H.E. which works well.

I have also chrono'd the regular Fed. Premium and it is slow, so, I handload with RE-22 and Nosler 250s for game and Hornadys for practice.If, I could only use one cartridge for ALL of my hunting, it would be a .338 Win w/o question.

I will suggest the Federal High Energy to him, but honestly the velocity isn't that important to him as chances are he won't be shooting past 100 yards. If this were my rifle I would be handloading for it, but he doesn't reload, and besides that when he bought the rifle used the guy gave him 6 boxes of Federal Premiums. This for him is a lifetime supply of ammo. If I ever get a 338 caliber rifle, I think it will be a 338/06.

I don't own a .338, but those velocities do seem pretty low for what the cartridge would do with good handloads. That being said, a 210 grain bullet at 2700+ is still a good thump. I've chrono'ed factory loads over the years in many different guns w/ less than stellar results. To name a few of the surprises: 2500 fps for 180 grain Rem out of a 22" 30-06, 2800 fps for hornady 165 btsp out of my .300 Win Mag, 2800 fps for 139 gr Hornady light mags out of a 7-08 mt. rifle, etc... I've also seen good velocities out of factory loads. I guess the moral of the story is, factory loads do not always reach quoted velocities in any cartridge.

-Lou

I would certainly try the Federal HE loadings if looking at factory ammunition. When chronographing some Federal HE 30-06 180 gr. NP's they went 2,850 FPS and produced sub MOA groupings. This is very close to Federal's listed velocities.

True Con, True. And that's why I handload, performance.

My 24" Ruger M77 averaged 2834fps with 14 rounds over the chono with the same loading when I tested it several years ago. According to the Nosler manual you can get 2900fps or even close to 3000fps with certain powders.

I'm looking at the latest Nosler manual for the 210 gr, Nosler PT. The slowest max load is with IMR-4831 and thaT ONE IS 2827 fps. The fastest is with RL-19 at 3020 FPS. Either way, that's a hell of a lot faster than Federal's ammo. I just got five boxes of that stuff (Fed. Premiun 210 Nosler ammo) for $10 a box from a guy that needed money in a hurry. No problm there as I've known him for years. I haven't shot any yet, preferring to wait a while yet to see if I'm drawing any tags for deer and elk. Maybe I ought to runa few through my .338 mag. and see what I get. My rifle has a 26" barrel so I should get a little bit more speed.
This may be off thread, but has anyone used the federal Premium .416 Rigby ammo over a chronograph? I also bought 12 boxes of that from him for $25 a box. (I know, I stole it.) Six of softs and six of solids. Guess the local jack rabbits better look out.
Paul B.

Properly handloaded, the .338 Win. Mag. will pound the .338-06 into the ground, make no mistake about it. Case capacity still counts for something!

I've never had any trouble getting between 2900 and 3000 fps. with 210 Noslers out of a .338 Win. Mag.; 2800-2900 fps. with 225s; and over 2700 fps. with 250s. You'll be lucky to get within 200 fps. (on average) of those speeds with a .338-06, and at best a .338-06 will give you about the same speeds with 210s as a .338 Win. Mag. will with 250s.

Big difference, and wishful thinking be dipped.

One of the all-time classic dumb moves is to chronograph some anemic factory load, go away disenchanted, then make the make mistaken assumption that you've seen all that that cartridge has to offer. Not kosher!

AD

where did those loads come from? sounds like a starter load in a reloading book.

why shoot a 338? why, everyone has to have avarmit gun

jeffe

I picked up some 130 gr Remington Core Lokt for my .270 last October, and chronographed them. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that they lumbered along at about 2780 fps (SD 20 fps). Now, much of the attraction of the .270 for me when I purchased it some 45 years ago was that 3000+ fps from a 22 inch bbl.

I'm glad I handload ... my favorite load, which I consider slightly above "mild" and well below "hot", gives me about 2950 fps. And I've easily gotten 2800 fps with 150 gr. bullets.

Brian

Washington:
As the others have stated and more. My standard load is with Rldr-22 and a 225 gr. Northfork for 2790 fps. This is my bullet for moose & elk. This isn't a screaming load but it's accurate. If I were to go for a brownie it would be a 250 gr. Partition or a 240 gr. Northfork. The only thing not mentioned is increased energy & momentum over the '06. Personally, I wouldn't be anywhere near someone hunting the big bears if they were using an '06. If they hit the animal, they could follow it up. Increased recoil? Yup! At the range, I wear a Past recoil pad when shooting that thing & I'm not afraid to admit it. Bear in Fairbanks

Maybe a fair test would be to chronograph some 30-06, some of it is pretty slow also. Try the high energy .338s...they should reach an easy 2900 plus I would guess...

As for me I get a 10 shot average of 3005 FPS with the 210 Nosler and a cup of old surplus 4831, in my .338 and its one heck of a killer on plainsgame and elk out to about 400 yards. I also shot one completely through a dead cape buffalo broadside and it made a nickle size exit hole.

I only shoot three loads anymore, the 210 for most of my hunting, the 250 Nosler and my favorite, the 300 gr. Woodleigh for elk in the timber....They all shoot to the same POI in my gun for all practical purposes, so I can carry all 3 if the spirit moved me to do so....

Well, Bear, Allen and Ray have pretty much said anything further I would have to say about this cartridge. The Federal ammo is great, but, here in Canada it is extremely expensive. I have gone to the Nosler 250 PT. Gold Molyfree and, over 76-77 grs. of RE-22, it will easily break 2700 fps in any of my rifles and shoots sub m.o.a.

I now use this exclusively for ALL my hunting until the Grizzlies go to sleep as I solo backpack and have had enough confrontations with bears for my liking. My only other cartridge used in this type of hunting is my 9.3x74r with 286 Nosler PTs. Allen is right, there is a big difference and I want it on my side.

I never bothered with pads much until a month ago as .338 recoil does not bother me, but, they are a good idea for sighting in w/o suffering. Just as the mountains seem to be steeper, for some reason, the recoil seems to be sharper---must be a liberal plot!

My A-Bolt's 26" barrel gives me 3050 fps behind a load of IMR4350 and a 210 Partition. It also gives me groups that average .75 MOA or less!! I have never felt the need for another load (or bullet weight) after seeing what it did to the 7x6 13 yr old Arizona bull elk(estimated by the guide at 1000+ lbs) I took a few years back. It literally slammed him to the ground with a perfect lung shut. How could you ask for better performance than that?? Either that load is very slow, your barrel is too short, or your chrono is reading slow.



bowhuntr

That is sure pathetic, alright! One of the many reasons for not using factory ammo! But I'll bet if you chrono some .30/'06 or other caliber factory stuff, you'll find it just as anemic (with perhaps a few, but not many, exceptions!!)

Quote:

---

Is it necessary to reload to get the full potential out of the 338? I expected factory loads would be loaded up close to max, but apparently they are not.

---

IT IS NECESSARY TO HANDLOAD TO GET THE FULL POTENTIAL OUT OF ANY CARTRIDGE!!

Ray,
about 3 or so years ago, we chronoed some factory ammo (i was takin some fellas on their first pig hunt) and handloads.

the 3006, surprising, as well as the 300 wsm, were the only ones to hit what the websites said.... the rest, 257rob, 7rem, and, just for giggles, an acient box of 358winnie, werent withing 10% of listed.....

sad state of affairs...
and i think this why so few companies list fps on ammo
jeffe