Could anyone give me some info on this caliber? Is reloading components (brass, dies, etc.) hard to find? Also I have heard that the recoil is not as bad as other .30 cailber magnums. This caliber sounds very interesting to me as I am considering building a rifle.

It's simple a 338win mag necked down to 30cal. The dies shouldn't be hard to find, use 338 brass. But then that cartridge is about the same as a 308 norma mag, You might want to consider it too.

After the .338 Winchester Mag came out in the mid 50's we all waited for Wincester to come out with the .30 version. All we had was the .300 H&H Mag and the .300 Weatherby and it seemed like a sure thing that we would have a standard length .30 mag. Back then Winchester was a big deal, they were owned by Olin and John Olin the owner was a real sportsman.

Then Norma beat Wincheser to the punch with the .308 Norma mag which is really a .30-.338. By then a number of target shooters were already using custom made .30-.338's at long range.

Then Winchester came out with the .300 Win. Mag for the same lenght actions and they had far more marketing ability than Norma so the Winchester version won out.

Case capacity is close to the 300 H&H so starting loads for the H&H will get you going. I loaded for a 30/338 for a while. The specs for the case show the case length to be greater than the 2.5" of the .338 Win Mag case. I followed spec by sizing and shortening 300 Win Mag cases until I finally got a box of Norma 308 Norma cases and found that they measured 2.5". Used Norma cases when I could get them, Win .338 cases necked down when I could not. There is a gunsmith in Twin Falls Idaho who has done a lot of development on loads for this case. Maybe some one can remember the name of the shop.

Check out http://www.qual-cart.com
We offer NEW manufactured .30-338 cases WITH the .30-338 WIN MAG headstamp.

RCBS offers dies

Data is available from several sources.

The 30-338 is the medium bore magnum that I shoot. It is extremely well balanced, and capable of extreme accuracy in well set up rifles. (Single hole groups at 100 yds and 3" groups at 500 yds.) My target load was given to me by my rifle smith: 180gr Balistic Tip, 71.3grs H4831, FC210M primer, 3000fps from 26" barrel Walt Sherman Custom M70 Winchester control feed. My hunting load for hunting: 180gr Nosler BT, 73.3gr H4831, FC210M primer, 3150fps from 26" barrel from same rifle. Excellent African load: 180gr Hornaday, 71.5gr H4831, FC210M primer, 2987fps from 26" barrel. Cases are 338 WW re-sized which merely reduces the neck diameter.

This cartridge is the best 308 wildcat magnum around. It will shoot with a 300 Win Mag, and is super accurate. A custom rifle can be based upon a Mauser or M70 with little modification which results in reliable feeding and functioning. Walt will build you one fairly quickly and for a heck of lot less than most of the custom smiths around, and his rifles all shoot well. His number is 850-878-9563. Ku-dude