I am thinking of taking a .308 win Model 70 feather weight and rebarreling to a .338 federal to give that cartridge a try. Opinions???

I don't want to change your mind but have you considered the 358W ?(I like the idea of loading up heavier bullets if needed).
The only thing is,I don't know whether your Featherweight stock has enough meat in the forend for a 358W barrel.

Barnes TSX's would be my choice(Starting loads/testers) for both calibres.They would dig very deep,especially 225gner's(250gn RN SN Woodleigh also being nice.These work in the 358W ).
But I can't see the TSX 225's(338) working in the 338Fed,as the long bullet might encroach into powder space?If it did gel I might consider one myself(As I will be building an Ultralight on the 308W based case this year.With the 358W my preference at present).

Hope I didn't confuse you,just another option .

Cheers mate,
Tez .

PS-Another bloke(Con) on this forum has built himself a 375-08.Not much testing as yet but it sure looks like a winner IMO.The 375 projectiles has a huge range,without being overly long(270 & 300gner's)

THIS PIC(And quotes) COMPLIMENTS OF CON.

From left="375-08 with 270gr Hornady,300gr RN Hornady,sharp shouldered case is a 375-284 (the exit plan if the 375-08 falls short),The long one is the 375H&H and far right is a 44-08 which is too much of a headache. I'm hoping the 375-08 does in the vicinity of 2300-2400fps with the Woodleigh 235gr".

quote:

Originally posted by ledvm:
I am thinking of taking a .308 win Model 70 feather weight and rebarreling to a .338 federal to give that cartridge a try. Opinions???

There's no reason it won't work for you but what are you trying to achieve.

The .308 is a fairly powerful round as-is!

tez338...

since you do not sway away from wildcats... how about doing the 375 ruger short???

if you need the .470 boltface you could do a rebate and have one helova potent petite package!

Logic says it already is a 308. Just buy a 338 F and now you have two rifles! Whats wrong with that.

Kimber has or will have the 338 F. out soon.

It would make a wonderful rifle in either .338 Fed or the .358 Win. Another option is to rebore your original barrel. It's less exspencive and no stock alterations.
Here's one web site that can give you some information. There are other folks that offer this service, this just happens to be the one I had handy..Do a search.

http://www.cutrifle.com/reboring.html

ledvm, Pacnor built a 358 Win on a Classic Featherweight for me last summer and I truly love it. They cut the new barrel to the factory contour so that it dropped right into the stock without any modification. To give the barrel a little extra meat at the muzzle they didn't continue the taper after the barrel left the front of the stock. Lou

Savage 99,

I have not gotten over my last Kimber (.308 talked about in another post) yet. Great looking, feeling, and functioning rifle. But it just won't shoot less than 1 1/2 inches. OK for some but not for me.

Have considered rebarreling it to .338 Fed just for that reason.

To me an accurate rifle is like a good looking woman, just can't keep my hands off of them. And a mediocre shooting rifle is like a fat woman that is a good cook. They're handy to have around but usually don't handle them unless I'm in a pinch!

ledvm,

I have had my share of goin ons with Kimbers also but since I have a more than adequate battery of wood and blue their Montana version is the path of least resistance for me to get something weather resistant thats light and has a decent stock.

So I have spent a lot of time on two of them and lucked out on the other two. Now I have four good shooting Kimbers.

In the past I sold off rifles that I could not get to shoot well even after doing the bedding, triggers, scopes loads etc. Now I suppose one could say a bad barrel is forever but a barrel can be made bad with a defective crown.

Now I think that I know how to rip a new crown. It's sort of like swimming. A little scary at first and then its natural.

I usually mention that when one already has a rifle that shoots to just leave it be and get another one. Don't mind me.

Maybe a Ruger Hawkeye in 338 Fed. would interest you.

There is a compromise when the bore gets larger to have enough meat on it in terms of barrel wall thickness. All of my 358's have .560 muzzle diameters and I can only hope that they shoot 1.5 moa the next time around.

I am holding my six pound Kimber 308 with the Diatal close to me. No 338 Fed. dressed up in a M70 with heels and hose is going to tempt me.

Savage 99,
What kind of bases are on that Kimber???

Weaver style made by Warne and drilled out by me to 8-40.

I have another set of the same bases on a 6-48 threaded 84M Classic. I can't find any more made by anyone.

Today I would use the Talley LW mounts until someone makes some Weavers. I have a set of said Talleys on a 8400 and they are ok but not field detachable.

Why not a set of detachable Talley's.

I have the steel Talleys both detachable and fixed.

I don't like them for their looks or the fact that they cut up scope tubes, irons are not visible over the too high bases, are open on the top, overpriced, rough finished, not well designed and worst of all don't fit all of my other rifles.

I switch scopes and most of my rings are Weaver compatible. I now have a set of the new Talley aluminum Lightweight rings on a 8400 and they are indeed light, rust resistant, strong enough, good looking and not all that expensive either.

At this point that Talley Lightweight may be the best game in town for a Kimber as I still can't find more Weaver style bases for them.

If I were you I would give Kimber another chance. Since your interested in the 338 F. buy one but stick with it and between Kimber and persistance it will be the best lightweight you could own.

I am in the midst of having my Rem700VS 308 re-barreled to the 338Fed. I'm going with a 26" stainless barrel teflon coated, 1:10 twist from Lilja. Same contour also. It should technically be a little lighter, but I like heavier rifles. Have you heard or have any experience with this round's accuracy as a wildcat?