I have a short Remington action and HS Precision barrel that are in need of a barrel. I was thinking of a .308 Win necked up to .338. I'm sure there has to be somebody out there shooting one...any information would be helpful. This one will be primarily a black bear/elk gun. BTW, I already own a .358 Winchester, since I know that somebody will suggest that as an alternative. Thanks.

338x376 steyr or 338x284 for the short action.

a 338xx308 is less of a caliber than an 8x57, for velocity

jeffe

If you like the 358, there's no reason not to go 338-08. Very similar rounds, of course.

I considered the .338/.284 but have had feeding problems with .25/.284 in another Remington. The gunsmtih was able to correct it, but I really don't need that hassle again. Velocity is really not the ultimate goal...big bullet and reliablity are more important to me. Anybody out there actually own a .338-08?

Hey, so no I have no experience whatsoever with this cartridge, but you may want to think more on the 284 case if you aren't dead set. The stepdown from the end of the body down to .257" than to .338", so your feeding issues may not be as great. Ask Winchester why they invented they didn't do a 6.5 WSM, or why they invented the CRPF action.
If you're into wildcats, I'd get a load of 9.3x64 cases (basically the mother of the 284) and use that for your 'cat. You'll have to open your boltface, but that's all of $20 or so. The rebated rim on the 284 can be a source of feeding issue.
If you were to go this route, you may find yourself picking up your 358 much less frequently....

I would think that 9.3X64 cases would have to be shortened considerably to fit a the short Remington action that I have. Feeding in the .25/.284 was made difficult by the wide shoulder. The rim wasn't a big deal. I'm still really considering a .338 based on the .284, which would duplicate a .338-06. I was wondering if anybody had actually loaded and shot a .338-08 to see what velocities they were able to get.

Sorry if I wasn't clear. Yes, trim the x64 down to 308W length. I've heard some say that the rebated rim can lead to feeding issues, why I mentioned.
Sounds like no one here has a 338-08, but you shouldn't get any surprises after looking at 308 performance and 358 performance. It should push the 358-weight bullets just a little slower. Maybe 250/2200, 200/2500 from a 24" bbl?

The difficulty is actually in the bullet selection which you will find are made to preform for a much more powerful cartridge. I don't think with the possible exception of the 210 grain Nosler BT that performance would satisfy.

Those are the velocities that I would think are possible too. I hadn't really thought about the bullet expansion issue, but it seems that most big game bullets will expand at velocities as low as 1600-1700 fps. Considering the toughness of the game I want to point it at, less expansion and more penetration might be better anyhow...don't really know for sure. Maybe I would be better off necking up a .300 short ultra mag??

So, er, uh, you know that would be even wider than the 284 case, right?
Besides, there's lots of non-premium bullets that would be up to the task: hornady, speer, not to mention Rem and Win bulk stuff. And then there's cast. If it had the throat for it (2.8" COL, I mean) it would be fun to thump 250g FN's out of it.

Yes, I know that case is wider than a .284, but I can buy an action designed to feed it too (Iguess its to late for that now though!). Truthfully, the chances I would go that route would be about slim to absolutely never...I think the whole "wissem" and alphabet soup magnum thing is about as uninteresting as it gets. I really haven't decided what I want this gun to be. I'm not going to accomplich anything with a .338-08 that I can't already do with the guns I already own, not that that matters. So, maybe I'll start another thread looking for ideas, who knows?