Some time ago I decided that the 338 Federal was the perfect round for the lower 48, for me at least. I found an extremely talented riflesmith here in West Virginia. His name is Steve Cale, I'll post his info at the end of this post.

I had a Ruger action laying around I had traded for and I took it to Steve. My goal was to have an accurate rifle capable of shooting the crows out of my food plots and putting a black bear rug in front of my fireplace. I told Steve it would be treated very rough spending lots of time on an ATV being bounced around our mountains here. I think Steve out did himself.

Here is a list of what Steve did to the Ruger :

Hart barrel, contoured to the Ruger action, 1-10 twist, #3 contour, 24"...

Bedded a Bansner stock.....

Custom non-slip finish on stock.....

Timney Trigger with added tuning.....

Recoil pad.......

Smoothed action....

Custom crown...

Matte finish.....









It seems to like factory Federal Accubond 180gn ammo !
























This is Steves unique bedding process. As you can see its floated out to the last couple of inches then its bedded again, it really works !!










I put a Leupold VX III 3.5 x 10 Boone & Crockett retical on it.

As you can see it shoots pretty damn good. But there was a break in period. The very first group went well over 2 inches. these are shots 158 to 163. It took that long for the barrel to break in, but thats exactly what Steve said would happen. I am proud of the fact that we can build fine rifles right here in West Virginia. Steve Cale can be reached at 304-757-6465, Mon-Fri. I have found my everyday working rifle.

The cost was a little over $3000.00 One of the perks of living in a small town is everyone knows me and what I do. So I took the rifle into the post office and loaded with 4 180gn Accubonds it weighed in at exactly 8 lbs.

I have no idea how well it can really shoot as thats about as good as I can shoot anything. I am sure there is a handload that will do better.

That well do nice should put a lot of varmints and game down.

Beautiful rifle. Can you elaborate on the stock finish?

Thanks!

30378, Steve sprays on his own special texture mix, as you can see its got something in it for texture, it feels just like it looks, rough but its tough as hell. I tried to scratch it with a quarter and it never left a mark. Steve can explain it better than I can...............JJ

I think a buddy of mine had to take out a second mortgage to pay for all the work he had Steve do. I've never seen one of his synthetic stocked rifles, but he does great things to wood too.

Looks to me like he built you one very nice rifle.

oh man... another ruger?
what did i start with making customs on them!!

nice rifle!

quote:

Originally posted by JJ_Miller:
So I took the rifle into the post office and loaded with 4 180gn Accubonds it weighed in at exactly 8 lbs.

You took a loaded rifle into a post office?



Very nice rifle! I have a Ruger with a Hart barrel also. My oldest, but probably most sentimental rifle.

Leftie MK II, M77, 270, #1 Hart. I know exactly what you mean about break in. Of every custom barrel I have, the Hart took the longest by far to break in but it shot great from the get go.

Very nice looking rifle. I love the stock.

Oh yea, who says a Ruger can't shoot? Mine have always shot well.

Very cool rifle. I love the cal. too. I've got a ruger frontier model in a 338 federal. It is also extremely accurste even with the short barrel. The 338 fed has all the killing power necessary for anything in the states, has little recoil, and is accurate as anyone could want out to 250. Good luck blooding it. It should be a good time.

I LUV IT. Sweet cal choice

VERY nice rifle indeed, would love to know how a 22" Hawkeye Ruger 338F would do. I would think well if bedded right, and the trigger was 'tweaked', may get one yet. It or a Tikka.

Very nicely done, hope mine will shoot that well.

Well it drew its first blood this weekend. After spending 2 days strapped to my ATV being rode like hell I shot a racoon off the top of one of my feeders at approx. 90 yards. The rifle held its zero. Never touched the feeder and kinds separtated the'coon into 2 parts, wow!, those accubonds make an ugly hole.

Its passed the first test as a varmit ( for West Virginia ) gun. Now I need to try it on something bigger. I see a boar hunt in the future.............................JJ