Got an itch to scratch. For some reason I want to convert my M88 from .308 to either .260 Rem or .338 Federal. Haven't been able to think of any major hangups achieving that. Seems it would just require a simple rebarreling. Have I forgotten some significant glitch I will run into?

Thanks for your input....

AC, I did just that and it works fine, simple rebarrel job.

The 260 is a drop in the magazines, no problems.
You will have to check the feeding of the 338 Fed, as the neck diameter may rub on the inside of the shoulder detents, and may cause feeding issues.

The 358 magazines I have to remove .020 from the inside of each so the neck will not rub.

J Wisner

before the 338 federal come along there was a round called the 338-08 it was truly and simply the 308 necked up to 338.
that round would pose no issues as a swap over as far as feeding or whatever.
it would also allow you to just re-bore the rifle without alteration.

And how does the .338 Federal differ from the old .338/08? I have been led to believe the .338 Federal is just the Federal/SAAMI legitimation of that old wildcat, much like the .280 Remington is the Remington/SAAMI factory legitimized version of the old 7m/m-'06.

If that is true, I'd just as soon use properly head-stamped brass for it to keep some pilgrim from trying to shoot it in their .308 someday when I'm gone and my wife sells all my goodies....

Leave it be if it has a Winchester original barrel.

It will be worth way more if it's got a Win. bbl and the .308 is just as good a cartridge as the others you mention and the ammo costs less and is more available.

Keep the rifle till you find a 88 in a caliber you want more. Is yours a pre-64?

quote:

Originally posted by Savage_99:
Leave it be if it has a Winchester original barrel.

It will be worth way more if it's got a Win. bbl and the .308 is just as good a cartridge as the others you mention and the ammo costs less and is more available.

Keep the rifle till you find a 88 in a caliber you want more. Is yours a pre-64?

You have missed the point entirely. I WANT one in either .260 Remington or .338 Federal. I don't give a rusty rat's ass what the gun might be worth to some purchaser after I am dead and gone. While I am alive, I have about a dozen other .308's anyhow, should I have occasion to use one, and this M88 is for MY pleasure in this world.

quote:

Originally posted by Alberta Canuck:

quote:

Originally posted by Savage_99:
Leave it be if it has a Winchester original barrel.

It will be worth way more if it's got a Win. bbl and the .308 is just as good a cartridge as the others you mention and the ammo costs less and is more available.

Keep the rifle till you find a 88 in a caliber you want more. Is yours a pre-64?

You have missed the point entirely. I WANT one in either .260 Remington or .338 Federal. I don't give a rusty rat's ass what the gun might be worth to some purchaser after I am dead and gone. While I am alive, I have about a dozen other .308's anyhow, should I have occasion to use one, and this M88 is for MY pleasure in this world.

My feeling also when it comes to modifying something I own.

quote:

Originally posted by Savage_99:

And and to you too.

Always good to hear from you.

Guess maybe I should have also mentioned that I have two 6.5 and two .338 barrel blanks just lying round here gathering the perpetual Arizona desert's dust.

Would be nice to put one of them to work before it is too late to enjoy it....

I bought a nice "to me" custom last year chambered in .300 Win. Mag. It's a good round however more than I want or need.

I brought it down to my smith to ask how much for say making it a .264 WM or so and the price took the fun out of it.

Can't leave it alone can we!

f you are young enough to have some time to invest, you can bring the cost of those "changes" way down. Enroll in your local JC or CC "machine shop" course. It won't take you too many evenings to learn to do something as simple as chambering, threading and installing a new barrel. Sure, your work may not qualify the rifle to win any BR matches, but it will do well enough (and more) for field use.

In most areas, there are places you can rent the use of a lathe quite inexpensively, so for maybe $60-$75 of lathe time, you can install your own barrel.

As part of the lathe operating schooling, you will also learn how to make your own cutting and threading tools for the lathe. So for $6 of cobalt steel stock each, you can make both a cutting tool and a threading tool.

The most pricey part will be a chamber reamer, but you can rent those. You don't have to buy one.

As to the cost of the course, if you take it for a grade, it will probably run $100-$200 or more. But if you "audit" the course, you will get the same instruction and practice time on their lathes for maybe $30-$50. You just won't get a grade you can either moan or brag about. Either way you walk away with the knowledge which is the whole point of taking the course.

From then on, barreling would cost you about half of what it would require to get someone else to do it for you.

If you can find a take-off barrel which you can cut off and set back, the total cost could be as low as 1/8th the cost of having it done with a new barrel blank.

At my age I am buying guns complete and ready to use!

I got cheap guns as gifts in the 40's, and by the 50's I was buying M70's and M99's.

Along with target rifles I had some customs made and now I would buy a gun for the fun of it to try something new.

This 'custom' pre-64 came with what is an attractive stock to me a year ago and I have been shooting it. So far It's still not ready.

So what. It cost only $529.00 with a 2-7 Leu!

Maybe I will just sell it and move on. I got an interesting custom this spring that's shooting better and it's 'only' a 7mm RM so the recoil is less.

Bottom rifle in this picture.

My friend was building 338-08's for years her told me the 338 Federal is identical. He never said identical to his version, just identical. I don't know if there was more than one version of the 338-08; most wildcats varied through the years.

airc federal changed the shoulder angle a tick.

I don't remember all the particulars but it was enough you'd have to run a 308 case through the federal sizer to make it work properly instead of just the neck up.

Per SAAMI specs, body diameters and length, overall case length and shoulder angle of 338 Federal are identical to those of 308 Win.

The headspace is "different" because a datum diameter .020" larger than that used for 308 Win is used for the Federal. When converted to the same datum diameter, headspace of the two calibers is also identical.

Dave Manson

I did something similar several years ago and caught a bunch of shit from my Sako buddies when I rebarreled a Finnwolf from 308 to 358 win. Already had a couple in 308, which is a round I don't care for, so making the conversion wasn't painful at all.

quote:

Originally posted by DManson:
Per SAAMI specs, body diameters and length, overall case length and shoulder angle of 338 Federal are identical to those of 308 Win.

The headspace is "different" because a datum diameter .020" larger than that used for 308 Win is used for the Federal. When converted to the same datum diameter, headspace of the two calibers is also identical.

Dave Manson

Dave, the way I read what you are saying, Federal just measures the head space on a different part of the shoulder than where the .308 Win. headspace is measured. The two have identical shape and dimensions (except for neck diameter to accept the different size bullets). The headspace is also identical, just measured at different points on the two cases.


If I read you right, there is no reason one would need to do anything other than open the neck diameter to accept .338" bullets, and then use a seater die which would accept both the sized-up necks and the .338" bullets.
Is that correct?

Absolutely correct. Different datum diameter on the same shoulder angle.

Dave Manson

Go for the 338 Federal. I bought a Sako when first introduced and have been having great success with it on whitetails. Recoil is mild and the 210 grain Partition hammers them.

I have both calibers in a Model 88, love them

quote:

Originally posted by Spooksar:
I have both calibers in a Model 88, love them

Are you speaking of .308 and .358? Or did you convert two M88s to .260 Rem and .338 Federal?

quote:

Originally posted by Alberta Canuck:

quote:

Originally posted by Spooksar:
I have both calibers in a Model 88, love them

Are speaking of .308 and .358? Or did you convert two M88s to .260 Rem and .338 Federal?

Both where 308, they both had bad barrels, one had massive pitting for the last 4" of the muzzle. The other had worn rifling and wouldn't shoot better than 6" group. I also bought a used one in 35/284 haven't played with it much.

I had them rebarreled to 338 Federal and 260. Work was done by Rocky Mountain Rifles in Dawson Creek BC. Also put Boyd's stocks on them