Have had a love affair with this one for many years and it just will not go away. Does anybody have any experimence with it? A .338-06/ 8mm-06 is sooooooo much cheaper and no animal will ever feel the difference, but you know how it is.......

/

Been making bullets for it for more than ten years. We have two customers who use them.

Tried to buy one several years ago in Bulawayo but the guy decided not to sell. Have wanted one for years. Closest I've gotten is the Westley Richards single square bridge action on one of my 375's. It's marked on the left side of front ring W.R-318 with Accelerated Express under. I assume the action was originally a 318 by Westley Richards. If it wasn't such a nice 375 I would consider converting it to a 318.

quote:

Originally posted by Bent Fossdal:
Have had a love affair with this one for many years and it just will not go away. Does anybody have any experimence with it? A .338-06/ 8mm-06 is sooooooo much cheaper and no animal will ever feel the difference, but you know how it is.......

I have two. Carried this one on the few days I made it into the woods for deer this year.
Woodleighs are still available in 250 grain. I absolutely love these rifles. This one is a detachable barrel at the action. My other is a detachable stock version. They both shoot better than me and have all the knock-down of most anything here and I am sure most PG in Africa.
Frank

quote:

This one is a detachable barrel at the action

Was it made by some guy up in Scotland by chance? Fraiser if memory serves me correctly.

I used my Vickers .318 Exp. with Woodleigh 250 gr. softs last Oct. for plainsgame on my Buff hunt in Tanzania. I took a nice Red Hartebeest with one shot at 150 yds, My Zebra took two shots and my wife shot an Impala with one shot at 120 yds. Complete pass-thru penetration on all. I loved the .318 from all the stories I had read on its all around capabilities in Africa, and bought one fifteen years ago. Both it and my Rodda 400J double were built in the twenties and I was honored to take them and use them on Safari like they should be! After my wife used it, she adopted it as her own, so now I am going to build an English style rifle similar to my Ex-Vickers using a LW barrel. Its a great old cartridge, full of history, that performs all out of proportion to its paper ballistics. I have used an old favorite 8/06 on deer and bear, and built a couple of 338/06's for friends and I think that both are great rounds, but the old .318 has my heart, and you will most likely be the only owner of one that you know. I get a kick when folks ask me about it at the range, most have never heard of it. Just a great old cartridge! Lee.

How about any suggested loads, mine's a Westley Richards, barrel takedown, claw mounts, bolt peep, with all the provinance from day 1. I've got Woodleigh bullets and Barnes originals. ~Arctic~

Frank,

That is off the scale COOL!!

Alf,

I have some of those Hornady's as well. Would you mind sharing your loads?

Thanks,
Telly

I don't know about the others, but I ended up using 49.0 gr. of R-15 with the woodleigh 250's for around 2380 f.p.s.
Now that many manuals have 338/06 data, you can use it , starting on the low side of course.

quote:

Originally posted by Frank Martinez:

quote:

Originally posted by Bent Fossdal:
Have had a love affair with this one for many years and it just will not go away. Does anybody have any experimence with it? A .338-06/ 8mm-06 is sooooooo much cheaper and no animal will ever feel the difference, but you know how it is.......

I have two. Carried this one on the few days I made it into the woods for deer this year.
Woodleighs are still available in 250 grain. I absolutely love these rifles. This one is a detachable barrel at the action. My other is a detachable stock version. They both shoot better than me and have all the knock-down of most anything here and I am sure most PG in Africa.
Frank

damn frank, that is an awesome gun ya got there

Mine is by Greener. The exit holes are awesome and whatever you shoot with it, there will be an exit hole. Mine has rolled pigs on two continents and blew the brains out of a bushbuck. Great cartridge!

/

quote:

And now federal are claiming a new found " astounding" performance on a 338-08? really? where were they all these years ????? with their collective heads up the magnum mania ass?

Bent

How about an 8X64S? Ammo is available from Sellier & Bellot and Brenneke

Degol used to make bullets for 318 W&R, 207-250 grains.

Cheers
/JOHAN

Or how about a 8x60S, nearly exactly the same case dimensions like the .318WR - yes, interchangables cases - and with the heavy 220 and 250grs Woodleighs something like the "Poorman`s .318WR" ?

Johan and Monastery, The dream of a .318WR is not rational thoughts, just an urge. My 8x57 serves me all I want and has never let me down - but the .318WR has such a ring to it, it is hard to neglect.

Alf,
Thanks for imput, do you by any chanse have a picture of your rifles?

If you enjoy 8mm rifles, here is one for you.
An 8x60Magnum
Enjoy
Frank

.

quote:

Wow It has taken the American shooting public a very, very long time to catch on to what really works in the hunting field..

9.3x62 = .366 X 30-06
318 WR = .330 x 30-06 Once hailed as Africa's most popular cartridge..... just a pity most of the old rifles had their bores eroded by shitty primers

Some, perhaps. But I seem to recall that the .333 OKH was/is about the same round. The bullet is only .003" bigger around than the .318's slug.....

Frank! Do you think there's enough sight leaves on that 8X60?

quote:

Originally posted by Monastery-Forester:
Or how about a 8x60S, nearly exactly the same case dimensions like the .318WR - yes, interchangables cases - and with the heavy 220 and 250grs Woodleighs something like the "Poorman`s .318WR" ?

This is indeed very interesting! One might even claim that the 8X60S chamber was made by using a .318 reamer to open up an 8X57S chamber after the Treaty of Versailles prohibited German civilians from owning 8X57 caliber rifles. Here I had always believed that the 8X60S was a German designed solution to this problem, but maybe not, eh?? After all, there's only .007" difference in bullet diameter between the two!

Some time agoe, there was an article in the german hunting magazine "Jagen Weltweit" about the .318WR. There I found the link to the 8x60S and the similuarity is very big, nearly exactly the same!
The 8x60S is a child of the Versailles-contract, but the inspiration may be the same.

quote:

Frank! Do you think there's enough sight leaves on that 8X60?

There are a bunch! The ladder sight scales at 1200 METERS.

I nearly died laughing when I saw that. It was either built for a true nimrod or an outright liar. I can barely see 1200 meters any longer much less aim with it. I tried it once and couldn't even see where the bullets were hitting on the hillside.
I especially enjoy how the barrel tapers into the octagonal sides.


Alf, Your Gibbs is terrific. The sight guard is very nearly identical to another on one of my rifles.
I really wish riflemakers today would continue with the more delicate sling posts integral to the rifle barrels. I find them much more appealing than the barrel band.
I have never seen a laddersight on one of their islands. It does not appear in my catalogs. Are you able to tell me when your rifle was built?
It is a variation I am unaware of. Very interesting.


I really like the 8x60. I would really like to find more brass and or dies specific to the Magnum or with the Magnum headstamp if there ever were such.
FRank

.

Alf, please don`t understand wrong, I think, that there is the possibility, that german gunsmiths looked to the .318WR when developping the 8x60S.
I`m also quite sure that Mr. Brenneke looked a bit to the .30/06 when developping the 8x64S - although Carcano don`t believe it.

ALF that gibbs looks real nice has the look of a rigby lightweight,....paul

/

Thanks to ALF and Martinez for pick's and input! This thread became more interesting than i thought!

ALF, please explain, what is a "Gerrie"?

/

If you have an 8x57 then why not build a 8x68S?

CEWE,
I did not say I needed one!

It is more of a lovestory!

That's what it is, a love story.
Boha

Bent: I have a safe full of guns (and I´ll be buying my second soon)...do I need them?

No.

Do I NEED them?

Yes!

Lovely rifles indeed! And if I had the resources, I'd own and hunt with them. But since I don't , I'll take my much-maligned plebean magnums that just seem to work. jorge

The 318 was also chambered in Westley Richards doubles - my between the wars t model regulates with the 250gn Woodleigh at 2350fps. ullets aren't a great problem as you can swage down 338 bullets or paper patch .318 diam bullets.

One trick I've found with my double is to form cases from 270Win rather than 30-06 as the neck thickness is closer to the original.

mike

quote:

Frank! Do you think there's enough sight leaves on that 8X60?

There are a bunch! The ladder sight scales at 1200 METERS.

I nearly died laughing when I saw that. It was either built for a true nimrod or an outright liar. I can barely see 1200 meters any longer much less aim with it. I tried it once and couldn't even see where the bullets were hitting on the hillside.
[/QUOTE]
The 1200 mtr sight is not for shooting at game.
It is a volley sight.
I have my grandfathers Army and Navy in 303 Brit which he had built whilst serving in the Army it has a 1200 yards volley sight. It was not uncommon for an officer to join in the action with his sporting rifle. Volley fire was employed, when called for, to encourage the opposition to keep their heads down. A man with his head behind a rock tends not to shoot back or advance on your position.
There is not much call for them in urban warfare but in more open terrain a volley sight can be put to good use.
Thats what Gramps told me.

I hope this is not a repeat, but I didn't notice it in this threadanywhere...

If you need .330" diameter bullets, Graf's stocks them in 205 gr. weight. They are listed under the 8 m/m offerings as they are primarily carried for shooters of the 8x56-R cartridges, which also use .330" bullets.

quote:

8x60S.
I`m also quite sure that Mr. Brenneke looked a bit to the .30/06 when developping the 8x64S - although Carcano don`t believe it.

Ha ha!

I agree to Carcano. Mr. Brenneke did not have to look for a 3006!

He had a better base the 8x57IS!