As I await the delivery of my left handed stainless Ruger to rebarrel to 338 Win Mag I might as well ask this question:
I am thinking of a #3 contour, 24 inches, and having Pac Mar rebarrel it.
Comments positive or negative are always appreciated before I spend almost $500.
I already ordered the McMillan stock for it.

Snow- i am not up on Pacnors weight numbers but here are my thoughts anyway.

I've done quite a bit with 340's so we're are close in rounds and in size of the tube hole.

I'd go with a 338 cut to 23" and have it come in between .65 and .67 at the muzzle.

Personally I dig a rig that is a fair bit tube heavy so I would also keep that in mine.

The Mickey is a good solid albeit a bit heavy handle for my likings. But, nevertheless it is a good choice.

AS for tubes I would go with a 4.5 weight Schneider,as I an about convinced that he makes the best 33 tubes around.

Although I hear positive things about Pac-Nor. Its just that if it were my money I'd be going with one of the best tubes for sure.

Just my thoughts

Mark D

Does the 33 tubes that Schneider makes have a left hand twist? I know some of the barrels made by Schneider are left twist. I'm thinking of re-barreling my 338 but I think I'll go with a Lilja. I know for a fact that Lilja barrels in 33 shoot!! Dan poped a rock chuck at over 1500yards using one of his 33 barrels.

A #3 from Pac measures at .625 at the muzzle and #4 measures .650.
Keep the ideas coming.
Would the pac nor #3 be considered to light?

snow-are those dia's at 24" or what ?

Thanks

Mark D

Contour measurements seem to be pretty standard across the board from different companies. I think at about 26-27

quote:

Originally posted by Mark Dobrenski:
snow-are those dia's at 24" or what ?

Thanks

Mark D

Here something to look at. Look like PacNor measurement for muzzle is at 28".

PacNor

Actually I would not agree that contour measurements are about the same. I would figure out what I want for a tube dia. at the muzzle and go from there.

If they are one mea at 27 or 28 or whatever they are gonna be a fair bit different down in the 22-25 range as well.

Mark D

What would you folks suggest to keep the rifle weight at no more than 8 pounds? I will be installing the action on a Mcmillan stock which weighs 34 ounces and adding a 12 ounces scope.

No.2ish barrel contour, 23". 8 pounds may be tough to do , all-up and ready to hunt. I'd add a 2.5x8 Leupold scope to save a touch of weight.

I'd also suggest that you speak with Chuck Nelson and Brad from this forum- they'll have a lot of great info to share with you.

Cheers,
CL

You will not get your rifle as you describe it in under close to 9 lbs. A .338 Mag. at 8 lbs. would be far too muzzlelight and would kick like hell with severe muzzle rise per shot; this is not what you want on a rifle that you may use where Grizzlies are found.

My lightest .338 is my Dakota 76 at about 8.5 lbs. all up and one of my P-64 70s with Brown Precision stock is about the same. This is as light as I want a .338-250 bullet combo to be and I am not very recoil sensitive. You need a 23" bbl. with a .640 MD as your minimum and .670 doesn't hurt. If, you need a lighter rifle, go to a smaller bore.

I feel the Ruger .338 win mag barrel contour is about spot on for a .338 win mag.

My FN 338 has a muzzle OD of .630 24" the stock weighs about 27oz, steel bottom metal, and with a Lupy 1.75-6x in S&Ks it goes 7 3/4 all up.

Mines .635 at 23" Mod. 70 Classic w/Mcmillan featherweight stock and 2.5x8 Leup. Warne rings 8 1/4 lbs.

Kutenay,
My Cusom shop Rem 700 375 H&H weighs under 8 scoped. recoil while up there, is manageable. A similar weight 338 would be a walk in the park for me after this.

I have a 338-06 M70 barrel SHilen #3 that is 0.610 at 25" and it is 44 oz exactly.

If you went 24" and no longer shank than neccesary (~1.5" ahead of the receiver) then you would be right around your 8# mark unloaded or slung.

My 338-06 has a #3 and it is 8-1/4 loaded and slung and it balances neutral. A #4 would be muzzle heavy and a #2 would be muzzle light. I would use balance rather than overall weight to choose the contour and lenght

A PACNOR #3 blank should be a standard 28" with a .625" muzzle when finished at 26".

The factory mkII 338WM is also an approximate #3 w/ an approx. .625" muzzle at 24" finished length.

Shilen ran their computer program for me showing you could safely make a #3 contour (as long as it was finished no more than 22") in .416 caliber to duplicate the mkII 338WM contour but rechamber/caliber to 416Taylor. This would be light in contour.

Based on this, I'd say a #3 contour is not lightweight for a mkII 338WM and should duplicate the weight of an over the counter Ruger.

Thank you Gary.