Ray,

That about sums it up, and well I might add!

Actually I like Kalifornia, just not what it's become!

read it and weap, or at least tear up. gracing the cover of "gun world" is the...yup, the 338-06! with GREAT FOR BIG GAME! leader. it is a great article eight pages worth and discusses in detail all the good verry little bad and no ugly on the caliber (well maybe the mention of the cross eyed weatherby) please someone with a scanner post it

gunworld august 2005 cover and spread.

Ok, can we stop all the .338-06 praising, I'm getting nauseous already.

Ray, you have definetly hit that nail on the head.

My gunsafe, has TWO 338 Win Mags in it, and ONE 338/06 that I had rebored out of a 270....

When I go elk hunting, the 338 Mags stay in the gunsafe, and the 338/06 goes to the field...

I could care less if it is available in factory ammo or not....I handload....

Those 338 Mags don't give me anything I can see more than the 338/06 gives me... plus I like the 2 extra bullets in the magazine...

Sure someone can give me all of this stuff about footlbs and faster velocity, but in the real world, if you care about those arguments a 338 mag gives me about 10 to 15 more yards of all the "extra mag benefits" and that is about it!

I don't own a Whelen, and don't have the need for it, owning the 338/06... but I see it as a more practical cartridge for most shooters than a Mag...

But for the guy that wants the Magnums, have at it.... You can rib my 338/06 all ya want....
I'll smile and just let my 338/06 do what it does anyway....

Why do I keep the two 338 Mags? It is just against my religion to get rid of an accurate rifle....The Browning A Bolt is an accurate as a varmint rifle, and the Model 70 is just plain Pretty... So I range shoot them when I get the mood....

But in the field at Elk season, they stay home and the 338/06 goes....'huntin'

cheers
seafire

seafire, please share your loads with us

quote:

Originally posted by boom stick:
seafire, please share your loads with us

Well, what works best for me in the 338/06 has been H 380...Actually I look at 35 Whelan data and just work up.... I get more velocity than other claim they can match , but It is not arguing over 50 to 100 fps that matters and accuracy is excellent with all bullet weights from 200 to 275 grain in my rifle....

H 380:
I use 65 grains with a 200 grain bullet..
225 grain bullet: 63 grains
250 grains: 62.5 grains....

W 748:
63 grains with a 200 grain bullet
62.5 grains for a 225 grain bullet
60 grains for a 250 grain bullet

My second favorite load is 50 grains of IMR 4064... If one looks in the reload manuals, like Sierra's, and Hornady's 50 grains of 4064 will give an MV of 2500 fps with a 200 grain bullet and the same thing pretty much with a 250 grain bullet....So one does not have to do much scope adjustment if any at all with the 50 grains of 4064 load, regardless of bullet weight....

Thirdly I use a lot of is SR 4759... I load this to duplicate the old 33 Winchester velocities...
I use this powder with a 200 grain SP Hornady or Ballistic Tip.... also will load some of the 5 or so boxes I got of the discontinued 200 grain FN meant for the 33 Winchester....MV is 2350 or so...the load is 35 grains or so..

but work up on each of these!....

My rifle is a Model 70 with a 24 inch barrel... it is all factory, with a bored out 270 barrel...
2 x7 Leupold shotgun scope mounted on it....

cheers
seafire

great info, thanks a bunch

what is the hottest and fastest you have gone in your loads? any luck with the lower weights?

HERE ARE SOME OF THE GREATEST HITS FROM THE ARTICLE

gunworld aug 2005:

"great on big game"
"excelent choice for most big game worldwide"
"similar to the 318 westley richards"
"300 ft lbs diff from the 338 win mag"
"suitable for any north american game"
"moose and grizzley wouldnt be safe"
"favored comparably with 9.3x62" finn aagard
"highly efficient"
"easy to assemble accurate loads"
"338 win mag needlessly powerful for most game and nasty on the shooter even from heavy rifles"
"gets the job done without too much weight, barrel length burnt powder or recoil"

quote:

W 748:
63 grains with a 200 grain bullet
62.5 grains for a 225 grain bullet
60 grains for a 250 grain bullet

Seafire, is that a typo, 63gr, really ?

Bringing this topic up again.

with the 338-06, how many fps do you lose per inch of barrel if cut down?

If one gets 2500fps with a 250 grain from a 22" barrel, what could I get from a 28"?

I honestly thought I'd never own a .338-06 Nothing really against it, just never saw the need for one. Well, it looks like I'll own one soon. I recently acquired a beautiful mauser barrel from an earlier time. It's half round, half octagon with a full length integral rib and front sight. It went to the gunsmith's about two weeks ago to be installed on a neat little M98 action I've had stashed away for some time that I've waiting for something special to do with. The smith tells me the bore on the barrel is shot and a re-bore will be necessary. My first instinct said 8X64, but he say's no go, not a big enough jump for the rebore and muzzle dia is only .550, a little light for a 9.3 so a .338 was about the only bore left. I guess I could do a .338WM but that would require a lot of action work and again, this rifle will be very light. The .338-06 just seemed like a natural choice. I never thought I could ever justify owning one, but there you have it. We'll have to wait and see.

Terry

Nortman I have a 27 in 338-06 and all I can ring out of a 250 gr bullet is 2450.

p dog: hmm.. depressing. I was hoping 2600+fps

Improve it, stick it in a 28" barrel, and get 2700fps. Guess I have to give up that now

Nortman,
I'm thinking you should be able to gain roughly 30-50fps per inch.
So conservatively, I would think you could get 2680fps. Unless you have a slow barrel.

TC1,
I think you will really enjoy your 338-06. Load it up mild or hot with 180gr bullets and you should have a great deer rifle for the thick stuff where you live.

I had someone calqulate on quick-load. 2700 fps with 250grain in a 28" barrel. Psi was 65.000

So, if one Improved it, you should get 2650 in a 28" barrel at safe pressure say 62.000, and you would be 85% of a 338 Lapua Magnum, shooting 250 grains at 2950 fps.

And burning 30 grains less powder.

I don't have a 338-06, but do have a 338 win mag. I would think that the biggest obstacle you would have with the 250 gr bullet and velocity is getting enough powder in the case. I know when I loaded 250 gr TSX in my 338 win mag, it was very compressed and I only got 2750 fps. That was with RL22 and IMR7828.

Those 250 gr 338 bullets are loooooong!

quote:

Those 250 gr 338 bullets are loooooong!

I concur.

The Barnes 210gr TSX that I shoot are as long the 250gr Speer GS and just a tad shorter than the Speer 275gr semi spitzers I have.

Those TSX's are long bullets. But I feel the performance is worth it.

I think a 250gr TSX in a 338WM will tackle anything, except elephant/rhino, that one would ever need to kill.

TC1, I was lead by the nose to the .338-06 and felt that was the logical choice. My Mod.70 had a bulge towards the end or so my gunsmith said- I could not see it but that did not mean it was not there. So last fall off to PacNor. I too see the debates offered here in this thread. Some are just .338 mag fans - period. I have 2 in my home and always room for something that can use the same bullet. 2400-2500 fps is still good with 250 and perhaps heavier? North Forks could be the ideal big game bullet.

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:
Nortman I have a 27 in 338-06 and all I can ring out of a 250 gr bullet is 2450.

PD:

With a load of 50 grains of IMR 4064, Sierra's manual lists an MV of 2500... and their recommendatons goes higher than that with this powder.....

cheers
seafire

quote:

Originally posted by Nortman:
Bringing this topic up again.

with the 338-06, how many fps do you lose per inch of barrel if cut down?

If one gets 2500fps with a 250 grain from a 22" barrel, what could I get from a 28"?

IMO about 15-20'/sec is what you'll get per inch of barrel.

I seriously doubt that you'll see more.

Everyone to their own here but 28" barrel is about 6" too much.

My 23" shot 200 @ 2909
215 @ 2790
225's @2670

used 4320 in mine, cannot remember, have to look up but possibly 4064 with 200's.

never shot 250's

If building another, it would be 21-23", .675-.700 muzzle dia.

Like Ray used to like to say, there is no doubt the .338 WM will do all the .338-06 will do and more. that's fine, if you really need the slight extra that the ,338 WM provides. For most of us, it is a non-issue.

Terry, you lucky devil. Any chance you want to part with that barrel rather than go through all the trouble of reboring, lol? I have a neat little guild gun that originally had an octagonal bbl. It was replaced with an '03 springfield bbl. I'd like to restore it someday. Otherwise, I'll have to recontour a LW 9.3x62 bbl I have. Who you thinking of having it rebored by?

quote:

Originally posted by TC1:
I honestly thought I'd never own a .338-06 Nothing really against it, just never saw the need for one. Well, it looks like I'll own one soon. I recently acquired a beautiful mauser barrel from an earlier time. It's half round, half octagon with a full length integral rib and front sight. It went to the gunsmith's about two weeks ago to be installed on a neat little M98 action I've had stashed away for some time that I've waiting for something special to do with. The smith tells me the bore on the barrel is shot and a re-bore will be necessary. My first instinct said 8X64, but he say's no go, not a big enough jump for the rebore and muzzle dia is only .550, a little light for a 9.3 so a .338 was about the only bore left. I guess I could do a .338WM but that would require a lot of action work and again, this rifle will be very light. The .338-06 just seemed like a natural choice. I never thought I could ever justify owning one, but there you have it. We'll have to wait and see.

Terry

Terry, is this the barrel Stratton posted about? I thought about buying it with the idea of reboring to .338, but when he told me the diameter was only .550 I got cold feet. Now that you're doing it, I've changed my mind and I want that barrel!

I caught the 338-06 bug on this forum and I've had one stuck in the planning stages for a few years. Right now though it's finally moving forward. I'm piecing together a budget custom on a rusted out pre-war M70 action and a Biesen turned blank that I bought from SDH.

My idea is that if I really like the 338-06, I'll eventually build a Mannlicher stocked version with a 20" or 21" barrel on a nice Mauser action. It should make a nice light rifle for Africa or a do-everything North American rifle.

My goal is an accurate load using the 210 Nosler Partitions at 2700 fps. A few years ago, I bought a whole bunch of 217 gr Swift A-Frames on closeout. These shoot well in my 338WM and I'm hopeful they be a winner in the 338-06 also.

Thanks to all you 338-06 fanatics. I'll soon be on board the train.

Back in those innocent pre chrongraph days my relatives and I had great success using essentialy 338-06 loads in various 338win mags. The thrifty Scotsman in me rebels at paying extra money to get to where I could get by backing off a few grains of powder in a rifle I already own though.

Can't argue with MikeIravy's logic. If you own a 338WM and are happy with it, no need for a 338-06, unless you want to own one.

I can use the same approach for the new 338 Federal and my 338-06's. But I can't turn my 06 into the magnum or ultra. But then I have decided that I personally don't need that.

I have both a 30-06 and a 338-06 in the Weatherby Ultra Lightweight. The comment by someone here that accuracy in these rifles is less than desireable and the stock dimensions suck is just not true. They handle well, are very light like 5 3/4 lbs for the 30-06 and 6 1/4 for the 338-06 without scopes. Last but not least, the 30-06 is a true <MOA gun and I am just getting around to loading for the 338-06 so I will post the results here. I am confident it will shoot well and with a Krieger 24" bbl. on the mini Mark V action why should'nt it. I would rather have a 7.5 lb scoped 338-06 that shoots 225's in the 2700 fps range than a 9.5 lb 338wm shooting them at 2850 fps and 150 fps is about the average velocity difference between the two which really is not much at all. Even at 300 yards there is barely a difference in bullet drop, maybe 1.5 inches and that is not cause for a missed opportunity. So all in all the 338-06 is not quite what the 338wm is but I will take it based on the fact that you are getting 95% of the power with 20% less gun powder, the rifle can be built much lighter without getting abused, you have something different, there is no belt to give potential accuracy problems, the Weatherby brass is not cheap but its made by Norma so its good stuff and will probably last longer, and it will take the same range of game. One more thing for those that are quick to state the loaded ammo is expensive at 40/box, when did you look at the 338wm premium ammo last, as it is not exactly cheap either. To me, both of them have a place in the cartridge line-up. As I stated in the beginning, I will bet that the Weatherby 338-06 is as accurate a gun as any 338wm rifle. We will see.

Woody

woodrow
The 338-06 works great, it is just for all out gun cranks though as it doesn't do anything the 338 win mag can't do cheaper and easier. Even with loads that are not the maximum for a 338-06 I have seen a 250 grain Hornady round nose propelled completely through the chest of a bull moose at 200 yards. What more could you reasonably expect?
I wouldn't say the ultra lightweight stocks suck but they certainly don't fit me all that well.

I just wish that that CZ, Remington or Ruger would come out with an affordable production 338-06. I don't see it happening though. I personally think Remington should have come out with the 338-06 instead of the Whelen. Everyone would be shooting that instead, and it would have been a competitor to the 338WM.

Just like the 30's, it would nice to have the 338 Federal, 338-06, 338WM, and the 338 super mags. That way you can pick your own desired power level.

Brass is super easy to form out of 35 whelen or 30-06 brass. One pass and you are done.

Have had a .338-06 for about five years now after my hunting buddy talked me into it. I also have a .338 WSM wildcat (got too many rifles...the curse of not being married any longer).
Grandson has decided he's big enough for something better than his .30-30 T/C Contender carbine. Will be getting one of the new Stevens rifles in .25-06 and asked if he could have one of the Midway barrels in .338-06 for elk. His mother (my daughter) thinks I'm a bad influence on him, but has agreed to this.