I see Ruger, Sako and Tikka dropped the round from their offerings. Only Kimber is producing factory rifles. I guess at the end of day it's much more of a reloader's round.

Federal should have partnered with Ruger or Savage instead of Sako on it's release because it looks like they gave up after 4 years.

I have my Hawkeye in the Federal and about 700 Hot Cors so I guess it really should bother me.

Many say it was a cartridge we didn't need. I would not mind having one though.

Absolutly love my tikka .338 fed, more people should've gave it a chance.

quote:

Originally posted by Jim S..:
Absolutly love my tikka .338 fed, more people should've gave it a chance.

With so many cartridges that overlap in terms of performance and application, the market isn't big enough to supprt them all. Doesn't matter if the cartridge is great or not. Being offered in a limited number of rifles doesn't help either.

I understand what your saying completely I wondered the same thing when it came out but I figured what the hell I'll try it out anyways, I have 13 different rifle calibers this is the only one that friends hunting along side me said "I sure would like to get me one of them" I thought that was kinda odd because they hunt with .308's and .06's, Anyways it's been the perfect medicine for everything I've pulled the trigger on with it.

quote:

Originally posted by z1r:

quote:

Originally posted by Jim S..:
Absolutly love my tikka .338 fed, more people should've gave it a chance.

With so many cartridges that overlap in terms of performance and application, the market isn't big enough to supprt them all. Doesn't matter if the cartridge is great or not. Being offered in a limited number of rifles doesn't help either.

quote:

Originally posted by scottfromdallas:
I see Sako and Tikka dropped the round from their offerings.

I don't see that neither Sako nor Tikka would've dropped it - nor the ammo.

Pity it would've been had they done so.

- Lars/Finland

The .338 Fed is a fine mid-range game cartridge. Unfoutunately, we have a surplus of fine mid-range game cartridges so it started slow and tapered off. It's not the first nor will it be the last such cartridge to do so.

Living in Alaska and owning an AR-10; I thought long and hard about buying an Armalite barrel and building an upper. Never did. Came close twice...

Should have been a .338/284 that would have made the power offering feasible. Not really anything the .338Fed can do that a .308win with proper bullet couldn't do as well, at least not in a SA or mag-length loading situation.

A .338/284 in long-action would enable seating the high BC bullets which are the main reason to shoot a .338.

The .358win is a better option than the .338fed because bullets are stubbier if your goal is kinetic energy. A 250gr bullet can be seated w/o protrusion into case body. Not so with anything much heavier than 200gr in the federal.

I agree, between the two, 338 fed and 358 win, we'd all be better off with keeping the 358 win and seeing it grow in popularity.

I have: 17HMR (bolt and lever), 22LR (semi-auto and single shot), 223 (one bolt, 2 semi-auto), 243 (bolt), 7mm Mag (bolt), 300 RUM, 308 (3 bolt, 1 semi-auto), 8x57 (on the way), 375 H&H, and two big bores on the way (416 and 458)

358 Win bolt (or semi-auto) is going to be next.

The 338 Federal is a joke! You have to load it hotter than hell & with compressed loads to get it to perform.

quote:

Originally posted by Schauckis:

quote:

Originally posted by scottfromdallas:
I see Sako and Tikka dropped the round from their offerings.

I don't see that neither Sako nor Tikka would've dropped it - nor the ammo.

Pity it would've been had they done so.

- Lars/Finland

I checked the US website and it's gone.

quote:

Originally posted by D Humbarger:
The 338 Federal is a joke! You have to load it hotter than hell & with compressed loads to get it to perform.

Uh, no you don't. You do need to compress loads but who cares if the pressure is under 60k PSI. I can get 2600 fps with 200 grain bullets keeping it under 60K.

quote:

Originally posted by scottfromdallas:

quote:

Originally posted by D Humbarger:
The 338 Federal is a joke! You have to load it hotter than hell & with compressed loads to get it to perform.

Uh, no you don't. You do need to compress loads but who cares if the pressure is under 60k PSI. I can get 2600 fps with 200 grain bullets keeping it under 60K.

At 60K W/compressed loads of VV N550, the good ol' 8X57IS will best that by OVER 100fps W/200gr Partitions.

And with better BC & SD to boot.

I am in a glass is 1/2 full mood today and thinking about this post. Accepting the premise that the 338 federal is fading away, was this really a failure? Maybe yes, or maybe its a kind of success?

A significant number of guns were built and sold to presumably satisfied customers. They should be satisfied, it is a very small change on 308. Money was made and the industry was supported. The guns will remain in circulation and useful for years with ammo either available or formed from 308 cases.

I would have though this makes more sense on the 06 case, but seems to work nicely ... those who got one might just be lucky.

Pretty hard to call owning a .338fed as "serendipitous". The case is what it is, able to handle only short and relatively light bullets in the .338 realm, and still function from a short-action magazine length.

I own a .338-06, and three other .338 magnums. Sold off two 35 Whelens, one an AI. The Whelen or better .358/284 is a perfect rifle for anyone owning a .357mag. Like the bullet choices well enough, but only one real decent high-BC bullet going, and no match bullets.

All about the bullet selection, but the federal can't use the bullets that give advantage over the .30cal.

Gonna shoot 160, 175, or 185gr bullets in a Federal? Makes more sense to load those weights in the .308Win. Sierra, Berger, Hornady, Nosler all have high BC .308 bullets for the .308win. Gonna go short-action, then the .30/284 is maybe a potential.

Not like you'll find .338 Federal on the shelf just anywhere. I am sure for woods hunting and hogs etc it is a great round; but there is the .358 and load that with 250gr flat point or roundnose and you have a better brush-buster. Load the .358 with a 170gr Sierra Silhouette or Gold Dot and you have velocity plus kinetic advantage of .020" more area.

I am just glad I thought two or three times everytime the fever got me going on this. I load a 180gr Speer Grand Slam in .308win for my woods walking. Not much that 18rds of those won't handle whether moose or large brown bear...

I would not woods-wander around my home without an AR, or anything smaller than a .30-06 with 180 or 200gr loads.

Not much reason to own a .338 federal if you already have a .308, and ammunition is way too expensive to choose the federal over other more proven rounds.

Cartridges like the 358 Win and 338 fed fill a particular niche quite nicley. Unfortunatley it is a small market niche.

If these rounds would have been developed back in the 1920's or 30's before magnum mania took hold they would have spread like wildfire. But alas, no-one wants a 200 yd cartridge thesedays and that is how they are being portrayed, even though it is not so.

I just ordered the new Sako;

http://www.sako.fi/sako85models.php?black_bear

quote:

Originally posted by bobby van der Putten:
I just ordered the new Sako;

http://www.sako.fi/sako85models.php?black_bear

Looks like they are still offering it overseas but then again Sako has some really nice product lines they don't import to the US. I'm never seen a "black bear" model, it looks really cool. Good luck with it!

quote:

338 Federal Fading away

For it's size, it's a very impressive cartridge but in all seriousness, I'll not mourn it's passing.

For those that like it, it's still a standard....dies and chamber reamers....and easy to form so it'll be around for ever. As a 250-300 yard elk cartridge, it's a hard one to beat.....but then all the elk I ever see seem to be 300-500 yards......and the .338 Federal really wanted to be made from the .284 case.

I only wish the .338 Federal was available when the M-99 Savage and the M-88 and M-100 Winchester was flying high.....they would have flown a bit higher.....but timing seems to have been it's nemesis!

I don't have a 338 Federal as my .358 does everything I want.

But, why trash the .338 Federal, just because you don't want one. As has been said forever, none of us in North America need anything more than a 12 gauge, a .22 and a .30-06.

Need has nothing to do with it. Lots of cartridges are superfluous, but they sure are fun!!!

quote:

Originally posted by aklester:
Living in Alaska and owning an AR-10; I thought long and hard about buying an Armalite barrel and building an upper. Never did. Came close twice...

Should have been a .338/284 that would have made the power offering feasible. Not really anything the .338Fed can do that a .308win with proper bullet couldn't do as well, at least not in a SA or mag-length loading situation.

A .338/284 in long-action would enable seating the high BC bullets which are the main reason to shoot a .338.

The .358win is a better option than the .338fed because bullets are stubbier if your goal is kinetic energy. A 250gr bullet can be seated w/o protrusion into case body. Not so with anything much heavier than 200gr in the federal.

If I were going to build an AR10 I wouldn't have even considered a 338Federal.

That application (in alaska) simply cries out for a 358Win,

AD

http://www.sako.fi/pdf/datatab...oRiflesDatatable.pdf

15 variants of sako85 .338F.

I had heard that Federal was going to bring out empty brass in this caliber about a year ago. Apparently the economy killed it as much as anything else.

It really amazes me what this economy has killed off in the last few years.

I own one and I do agree that the 338/284 would be a much better approach as it would lend a lot more versatility.

quote:

Originally posted by Nordic2:
http://www.sako.fi/pdf/datatab...oRiflesDatatable.pdf

15 variants of sako85 .338F.

Then they must have only killed it off in the states. Sako is imported by Beretta here in the US and Beretta lists no 338 Federal offerings.

Maybe it's gaining ground overseas.

Robert,

If you are still looking for that brass, MidSouth has it for $20 a bag. I bought a couple bags.

http://www.midsouthshooterssup...33%33%38%20%46%45%44

Apparently Federal is going to bring out brass in the fall. Midway is listing it as available for backorder with a September date. I ordered some for my Fed!
It always amuses me that all the detractors have never tried the cartidge and the people that own one love it. I have used mine with 210 Partitions on big whitetails and it hammers them with little recoil. I think it is ideal for deer and black bear here in the northeast.

I am headed to South Africa in July. When I spoke to the PH on whether to bring this or bring the 30-06, he was far more interested in what weight bullet I was going to shoot than the difference in the two calibers.

One thing the 338Fed has going for it is simply that you can't over terminal velocity the slug when you hit something with it.

:-)

RobertD

The 338 Federal is a hunters round.
.
Not a collectors round.
.
A hunters round.
.
Not great to disect on a forum, it just works.
.
A hunters round.
.
A friend had a 308 necked up to 338 built on a Model 7 when the Model 7 first came out.
.
He has a LOT of custom rifles. From the likes of Buhmiller and such.
.
He is a hunter and gun writer.
.
He thought the 338 Fed was a good idea.
.
Most hunters do.................

You know, the more I think about it, the idea of a 284 Win necked up to 338 would have been a much better idea than the 308 necked up. I think Federal missed the boat on that idea.

I bought two SAKO's cheap in the 338 Federal and was going to rebarrel them. Should of never hunted with them. They work great out to 250 to 300 yards and they both will keep their barrels. The round is not super fast, not a mag and is simple to load. It is mild recoil for the amount of force it delivers. Graf and Son, Midwayusa, etc. now have unprimed brass from Federal available.I do think it is fading very fast, but so have many good calibers. They have to market something new and improved to sell more guns.
I have hunted for over forty years,in large calibers and large game I have only shot one time at over 200 yards. I have alot bigger and smaller guns, but don't sell the .338 Federal short till you have used one.

Gun Broker has a Sako 85 Hunter in 338 Federal NIB for starting bid of 825.00 with 0 bids.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Aucti....aspx?Item=215311864

quote:

Originally posted by icemanls2:
Gun Broker has a Sako 85 Hunter in 338 Federal NIB for starting bid of 825.00 with 0 bids.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Aucti....aspx?Item=215311864

When Sako slashed their pricing for the 338 Federal on the Hunter from $1200 to $800, they created one of the best bargains around. I had already purchased my Ruger or I would have jumped on one of these. Looks like this is the last of them.

quote:

338 Federal Fading away

I just looked in the safe and mine's still there, and it won't be going away, except with me hunting.

Cartridge fashion has never appealed to me. Along with the Fed, I've got a 300SAUM, another very good, but orphaned cartridge, and I'm building a 6.5x57 and a 7x64. I've got dies and plenty of brass for all of them, so the popularity factor doesn't enter the equation for me.

Actually, the only real problem with an orphaned cartridge is finding ammo when you are in the bush with it. As one poster put it on this forum, if you walk into a store selling ammo and they don't have 30-06 on the shelf, you are probably not on this planet.

But any hunt in which you drive to get there, then the most obscure wildcat is a good choice!

I would have honestly much rather seen some manufacturer other than A square or Weatherby offer factory rifles and ammunition in .338-06. As a non-magnum "step up" rifle cartridge from standard deer calibers, the .338-06 is pretty close to ideal IMO. It's a genuine 300+ yard rifle with 250 grain bullets and it doesn't kick the bejeezus out of you in a relatively light rifle.

I don't really know if the .338-06 would have fared any better than the .338 Federal did though.

quote:

Originally posted by kjjm4:
I don't really know if the .338-06 would have fared any better than the .338 Federal did though.

Well I plan to build one in the near future on an old Mauser action.

GWB

quote:

Originally posted by Donald Nelson:

quote:

Originally posted by kjjm4:
I don't really know if the .338-06 would have fared any better than the .338 Federal did though.

Well I plan to build one in the near future on an old Mauser action.

Good plan if you long throat it for the heavier bullets. roger

[QUOTE]Originally posted by kjjm4:
I would have honestly much rather seen some manufacturer other than A square or Weatherby offer factory rifles and ammunition in .338-06. As a non-magnum "step up" rifle cartridge from standard deer calibers, the .338-06 is pretty close to ideal IMO. It's a genuine 300+ yard rifle with 250 grain bullets and it doesn't kick the bejeezus out of you in a relatively light rifle.
QUOTE]



My thoughts exactly. Got one in the works right now and should have it back in the next couple weeks.

I agree, another reason why the 284Win/338 would have been a better package choice. The real problem with my 338 Federal is simply that a 338 barrel is not a lightweight. The bigger the bore, the more steel in a lightweight contour. There is a very noticeable difference between a lightweight 308 and a 338 Federal.

Frankly, when I carry a heavier rifle, I really want to see more "boom" out there in the field.

RobertD