I'm thinking of having a 338-06 made and have a few questions about reloading for it.

1. After 30-06 brass is resized, do you also have to fire form to get accurate loads?

2. Can Lake City brass be re-sized? I know it is thicker and was wondering if this would cause any problems.

3. Any other coniderations?

Thanks

Great caliber. I used surplus 06 ammo for a bit and just ran them through my full length .338 sizer die. I am currantly using remington 06 brass.

JAB, your loads will be more accurate w/ once fired (fireformed brass). This is usually true for other factory rounds, .280, .30-06, etc. I haven't used Lake City brass, but any 06 brass will work fine. Military brass may be thicker & have a smaller cap. You might want to check case volumn before going to max. loads.
This is a great caliber. I have hunted & loaded a bunch w/ mine. For me, the 210grNP seems to be made for the .338-06. It has a SD close to the .308/180gr & can be started @ the same 2750fps. I would go w/ a 23"bbl. & finish the rifle about 8-8 1/4#.
When you buy dies, make sure you have a tapered expander for forming cases.

[ 09-08-2003, 02:19: Message edited by: fredj338 ]

I'm .338-06 fan #3 right behind my friend Fred. I did one on a current CRF M70 about three years ago. Used it in South Africa on plains game then took a nice 6x6 bull with it here at home.

I use REDDING dies and the tapered expander plug seems to work pretty well. I have used all sorts of brass with no problems. I do NOT load close to MAX though. As previously mentioned if you use GI brass go carefully as it may be thicker than commercial.

The 210 NP may be pretty perfect for this cartridge as Fred mentioned. I initially used 250's then fell back to 225 NP's and they seem to be a nice compromise for me.

A VERY easy wildcat to feed and care for.

FN in MT

I second Fred and Frank's observations on the 338/06. It is the Opitimy of what the '06 case is capable of. I use Winchester Brass for mine, as I can get the most volume in it. I do load mine up there, but the load is not over pressured. My power of preference is H 380, which you only see in some manuals for 250 grain bullets.

While I think the 210 Partition is the Opitimy for the best "All Around" bullet in the 338/06, any 338 bullet performs well in them. I shoot mine a lot, so I go the econo route, with Hornady 225s and 250s, and Speer 200 grains ( available alot locally).

The only thing a Magnum will do in this bore is give you and extra 30 yards of range, and add about 30 to 35 % or more, more recoil to do it.

Give me the 338/06 over any of the other 338 Mags. I also choose it over a 300 Mag any day.

I use Mil bras for mine. I shoot 250 horadays at 2450. might not be the fastest it but they pust through most any thing.

I have a .338-06 AI. What I do is to buy Remington 35 Whelen brass, which gets necked down to .338 when I run it through my full-length sizer die. I find this to be an easy way to create brass for the .338-06.

I do not touch the rifling with the bullet when fireforming. Instead, I use a different technique to get correct headspace. When I run the 35 Whelen brass through the full length sizing die to neck it down to .338, I adjust the die so that the neck is reduced in size only about 3/4 of the way down. The remaining 1/4 of the neck stays at .35 caliber. I find that the cartridge can still chamber in my bolt action rifle when formed this way. The 35 caliber portion of the neck is a tight fit in the chamber, of course. What this does is to center the cartridge in the .338-06 AI chamber, and hold the case head tightly it against the bolt face. That ensures the correct headspace when the cartrdge is formed. I don't know for sure whether there is any advantage in doing this when fireforming brass to the chamber in the "standard" .338-06, though.

[ 09-09-2003, 03:24: Message edited by: BigBrass ]

Guys: I am also building a rifle soon on the Montana action with a Pac-Nor Supermatch #3 contour 1-10" twist. It will be a 338-06 as i am getting away from the " Improved " types. I also have a new appreciation for round nose bullets and wanted to know if anyone has used the Hornady #3330 250gr. round nose or the Speer #2411 275gr. Semi Spitzer and how did they perform. I bought quite a few of each at a closeout a while back fully expecting to use them when the rifle got built. Very effective looking slugs! Swede96.

Swede:

OL Buddy, not many of us round nose fans out there. However, I can attest to the effectiveness of the 250 grain RN Hornady.

I have also used the 275 grain Speer. Then Speer quit making it. Happens every time I start using ANYTHING.

Actually a lot of those 275 grain Speer bullets really suck tho. I bet you have a batch of them that will not do what you want them to do. If I were in your shoes, I would sell some of them cheap to a guy named Seafire out in Oregon.

After doing that, I am sure that the remaining 275 grainers will work wonders for you. With a BC of 566 and 275 grains it is a flat shooting bullet, and will penetrate like nobody's tomorrow.

Of course anything that works they quit selling so they can turn their manufacturing efforts to cater to the "TRENDY BULLET" crowd that thinks if their bullet is more expensive, it will perform better.

If you hand load it ( which I think you will have to do), my best performer with the 250 RN Hornady is 60 grains of H 380. In my 24 inch barrel Winchester Model 70, it chronographs pretty consistently at 2650fps. H 380 was the most accurate of any powders that I tried. Close second was IMR 4064, followed by RL 15.

Good luck. & Welcome to the highly astute and gentlemanly 338/06 fraternity.

So for a guy who doesnt know too much. In order to make 338-06 brass all that is necessary is to obtain 06 brass and run it through a full length 338 die? i always thought the 338-06 was cool, and saw weatherby chambers its now. But i think i would custon make one before the weatherby.

You're correct John you can neck up w/ a tapered expander, most die sets come this way, or neck 35 Welen brass down. Either way works fine.
The .338-06 is a great cart. for NA hunting from deer to moose. You can use 200gr bullets @ 2800fps for deer & 250gr @ 2500fps for bears, moose & elk. My favorite is the 210grNP @ 2750fps for everything. The only real drawback is that Weatherby is the only factory choice for ammo, but it is good ammo. For now you'll need to handload.

I was at a store today. They had Weatherby ammo in 338/06 for $40.00 per box of 20.

They also had a sale on Hornady bullets, $2.00 of per box. So a box of 225 grainers was $17.95 for a hundred.

And we know how cheap 30/06 brass is if you don't have a ton of it on hand already.

So a little fast math on the calculator, and it should answer why we handload!

Thanks for the reply felllas