338 Federal


AJ

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There is a new cartridge for 2006 and its the first from Federal. Its the .338 Federal, which is a .308 Winchester necked up to hold the .338" bullet. Sako is supposed to be chambering the new cartridge this year. How it catches on is yet to be determined. There are to be three factory loads available from Federal this fall. They are:

P338FA1: 180-grain Nosler AccuBond 2830 fps

P338FB: 210-grain Nosler Partition 2630 fps

P338FC: 185-grain Barnes Triple-Shock 2750 fps

Federal is advertising this as the "Ultimate big game cartridge" as it "is a cartridge that provides the energy of a 7mm Rem Mag in a necked-up .308 case." Another line from Federal is "A larger diameter bullet in the shorter-action .308 case generates approximately 200 feet per second more velocity than a standard .308 with a 30-caliber bullet (when comparable bullet weights are considered)."

Nothing is free though. Added performance comes at a price. In this case its more recoil. Bigger heavier bullets going faster generates more thump on the shoulder. Still, I may look at this one on a Remington Model 7 platform. It will be a nice rifle for carrying up and down mountains. It should be a good cartridge. Personally, I like the .338 caliber. Lets hope it catches on.

Read more about it on Federal's web page.

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Re: 338 Federal

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Gotta think this would also be a decent thumper caliber for the single shot handgun types.

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I almost went with it in my XP a while back. I decided to go with the 338/284 for a little extra speed.

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Re: 338 Federal

Oh well, with all these new cals. popping up it's hard to decide what to buy. Some of the new cals. have problems with excessive bolt thrust, heating, etc. etc. Aside from the fact that ammo is very hard to find, once found and the price is noted, you wish you hadn't found it. Anyway, now it looks as if the mfrs. are working their way back to a good old original round, the .358 win. ha ha

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