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R1 Please make it in .338 Federal


tyson129

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Tyson129, is that a caliber still available for ammo purchase? There is little 30-06 ammo around in my area.....

There is little ammo in most areas, thats where reloading comes in great. As far as the .338 Federal cartridge is concerned its still being used in many guns, especially those set up on the ar15 platform for close to mid range even though the caliber is a great hunting cartridge with great ballistics capable of much farther ranges than those set up for the ar15. Just thought it would make an interesting cartridge for this great gun.

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I'm sure they do the tooling for two sales.

You guys should go ahead and call it in. :D

 

I appreciate the humor, but a 338 cal barrel and 308 bolt face are pretty much "off the shelf" items. It's not as far fetched as you seem to think. Lots of call for 338Federal semi-autos - if you do a little searching you will find that it is "THE" hot caliber in AR-10's now.

 

For those of us that like the reliable functioning and the ability to break a semi-auto down completely for cleaning like an AR-10 but don't like the cold military looks, the Benelli R1 in 338Federal would be a winner! I love my R1 carbine in 30.06, wish I could get one in 338Federal.

 

David

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So I'm not alone in this request. How do you find the .338 Federal cartridge to perform from short, mid, and long range distances?

 

Performance is outstanding. My rifle really likes the 180grn Accubonds. W/ it's 22" barrel it's averaging about 2860fps on my Chrony. The rifle shoots really accurately, recoil is moderate. I hope to kill deer/pigs w/ it this year.

 

Mine is a M77 Hawkeye stainless model. I replaced the plastic stock w/ a M77 Ultra light stock purchased from Brownells. Required a little fitting to get the standard sized barrel into the ultra light stock, but I'm pleased w/ the results - I would put a picture up, but I'm not allowed yet...

 

 

 

David

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It's marginally faster than a .308 and the .270 WSM beats it handily.

I'd rather have the speed than the weight.

If I thought I needed something with more umph for elk, then I'd probably go with the 7WSM or the .338 RUM, which puts a more appropriate amount of speed behind that lumbering slug.

 

Yes, it's somewhat popular in the AR-10, but I suspect the .308 will reign supreme in that category for a very long time.

 

As for other semi-autos, I don't see Browning clamoring to make one either.

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With the variety of new calibers out there I still find it difficult to jump on the bandwagon and abandon old reliable 308, 30.06 calibers for deer on up. If anyone didnt notice but all those super cool WSM rounds come with a really heavy price tag per box of ammo.

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TMAC

 

The 338 Federal is merely a 308 necked up to take a 338 caliber bullet, following a long tradition of necking the 308 up and down to a variety of calibers from the 243 winchester up to the 358 Winchester. The 338-08 has been a very popular wildcat round for many years and like it's bigger brother, the 358win, it has been shown to throw same weight bullets at significantly higher velocities than it's parent 308.

 

Also like the 358win, the 338 fed has the ability to throw significantly heavier bullets w/ much greater frontal area than the 308 win - this combination leads to killing power that seems to be out of proportion for the round in the 358 win, and the same seems to be true of the 338 federal. The 338 caliber is far more popular than the 358 caliber and as a result there is a tremendously better variety of bullet selections for the 338 federal than the 358 win.

 

Federal is currently offering 6 very good factory loads for the 338 federal in bullet weights from 180 grn to 210 grns suitable for any game in North America. Additionally, there are a tremendous variety of bullets available for reloaders from 160 grn Barnes TTSX (max loads of ~3100fps!) to 225 grn bullets in a wide variety of styles.

 

The 338 Federal is not the latest, hottest, etc. - it's a sensible hunting round w/ modest recoil for it's performance that appeals to the bigger bullet crowd - I like it!

 

David

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