Have the Whelen, thinking about rebarreling to 338/06. What do you folks think?

Why, where's the improvement?

Really????
You must have some extra cash you need to piss away. My address is.......

six of one, half dozen of the other. Send some of Dan's money to me. I am just down, or up the road from him somewhere.

I have had both, no one could tell the difference between them. With one exception, Paul Hail may pipe up, lol. (See if that will smoke him out.)

Chic Worthing

[This message has been edited by Customstox (edited 01-05-2002).]

If it's not broke, don't fix it.

ZM

Sounds like a great idea. If this is a Mauser we're talking about, can I have your take-off barrel? And dies?

Todd

Laughing here Todd, why didnt I think of that.

Chic

Dear JLR,

I have a 338-06 Ackley Improved. I just can't say enough good things about it. I just shot a whitetail this evening using a 250 grain hornady round nose at 2650 fps. It was a heart shot from the front and penetrated all the way and out. It drove straight as a string. To get to the point, This type of penetration comes from good sectional density and stablization. The 338 has better S.D. for the same weight bullet than the 358.

Before anyone throws a fit, I know that many loads in the 35 Whelen will do the same thing, the 338 just does it a little better.

Now, if you have a standard sized action with a magazine length around 3.3" long, and want to use the heaviest bullet weights, the 35 whelen would be a better choice as you won't have to seat the bullet as deep. Remember the 358 caliber projectile will always be shorter in like grain weights than the 338. This is why alot of guys get a solid 2700fps with 250's out of their 35 WAI's and I feel I'm pushing it at 2650fps. I realize there is no effective difference between these velocities, they are both devastating. In my mauser, I don't use projectiles longer than the 250 gr hornaday spitzers beacause I really start chewing up powder space.

I thought about the 35 whelen improved as I had access to both reamers for free. I went with the 338 and have never regretted it. I'll build another one.

That said, Can I have your take-off barrel and dies?

If it is a mauser action that you are working with, and you decide to do it, e-mail me and let me know how much you want if you feel like selling.

If you ever need any 338-06 load data, I've tried a heck of alot of powders and all bullet weights from 180-250 grs. Let me know.

-Catter

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Shoot the largest caliber you can shoot well, and practice , practice, practice.

[This message has been edited by Wildcatter (edited 01-06-2002).]

Chic,

Mission successful I would have missed this one, but was looking for the slow rust blue thread, and found it on the second page. I recall we went into this one on HA a few years back. As I recall my statement was, 338-06 sounds sexier, 35 whelen makes a bigger hole.

What one really needs to consider is, what bullets are available, and how will they perform when driven at the velocity one will get with the given rounds.

A general statement is the 35 bullets are a bit softer, so hence more compatible with the design velocities, as opposed with the 338 bullets that are desinged for 338 win mag on up. If I had a 338-06, I'd likely load it with the 210 gr parition, and I know I'd have an outstanding combo, I doubt I'd even consider a different bullet.

My ackley whelen pushes a 250 gr a-frame 2700 fps even at the chrono, I am very happy with the load, if I could just get some game to line up in front of it!

I think the greatest attribute of the whelen is the ability to shoot cast bullets, either 150 gr pistol bullets for plinking or small game, on up to the 280 gr for big game hunting, and about everything in between.

To the original question, I can't see any reason to do it, but I know several of my projects would recieve the same response from others and it never stopped me before. For the cost of re-barreling, you could buy a 338 win mag (Ruger M77's go on sale for $400), and download it to 338-06 levels, as well as load it up full patch.

To get to specifics a 250 grain .358 caliber bullet has a sectional density of approx. .280 and a 250 grain .338 has an SD of approx. .320. That is a pretty good difference my freinds. I think you'll see the difference in penetration since velocity is such a concern with these smallish cases.

-Catter

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Shoot the largest caliber you can shoot well, and practice , practice, practice.

I agree with Zeke.
Good luck and good shooting

Catter , the s.d.for the 250 gr .338 bullet is only a little over 0.300 .

The .338 /06 fans always talk sectional density . Then , in the real world , you see them all using and bragging about the 210 gr Nosler , and rightly so , but it has a s.d. of only around 0.260 .

If you just have to have the highest s.d. possible , why not just stay with the old 06 ? The .30 cal 220 gr bullet outdoes all the common .338 bullets for s.d.

Sectional density is a meaningless number, because it does not take into account bullet construction, which is the most important consideration when looking at penetration! A 225 gr X bullet will penetrate as well or better then a conventional cup core 250 gr.

As far as the 33 vs 35 sd's, if I always get exits with the 250 gr a-frame, as I fully expect, what do I gain by going to a smaller dia bullet? The 35 bullets don't just bounce off animals You can only get so much killing power out of a given caliber, once you get consistant exits, heavier bullets won't make it a bigger gun, you have to increase weight and dia in unison.

sdgunslinger,

I use a 250 grain Hornaday RN in my 338-06. It has a sectional density of exactly .313.

I don't use the 210 partition. My rifle doesn't like them as much as the 250 RN.

I do agree that the old 06 with 220'S is a great performer. Better yet improve it.

-Catter

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Shoot the largest caliber you can shoot well, and practice , practice, practice.

JLR,
You need to get a full time job, your running out of things to do

There is no improvement in that rebarreling project...You could put a 338 Win barrel on it and improve it some but not much...

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Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com