RIFLES
A Civilized Medium
The .338 Federal delivers "over .30" performance without magnum recoil.
|
|
Everyone likes fooling around with new cartridges. And, if truth be told, gun writing types would be in desperate straits if there were no new cartridges to write about on a regular basis. This fact of life, however, has resulted in some pretty arcane hairsplitting over the years. Anyone with a long history of poring over gun magazines can recall stories with titles such as ".270 Winchester vs. .280 Remington: Which is Better?" or "King of the 6mms--.243 Winchester or 6mm Remington?"
Realistically, there is more than a little justification for the somewhat crabby contention that we have far more centerfire rifle cartridges than we need. After all, is a hunter using the 100-year-old .30-06 really all that disadvantaged compared to a guy using the latest .30 short magnum?
Is a midrange trajectory difference of 1.2 inches a deal-breaker? Is an extra 150 or 200 fps in impact velocity a critical consideration? Are rifle bolts so heavy that it's an insurmountable task to yank one back another inch or so?
Well, probably not. But every now and again a new load comes out that just flat makes sense, despite the glut. Federal's new .338 is just such an item. Like its wildcat predecessor, the .338-08, it's a .308 necked up to .338. Nothing more. But what it offers justifies something I've always had a suspicion about. Namely, if you need more than a standard .30 caliber, you don't need a faster (or shorter) .30, you probably need a bigger bullet.
It's no great secret that the .30 caliber is the bore size of choice for the majority of American hunters. The .30-06 was, and is, pretty much the yardstick for a general-purpose big-game rifle. The '06 was deemed "too much" in military circles and was replaced with the 7.62x51 or, in sporting garb, the .308 Winchester. The two are pretty much identical, the .308 being about 100 fps slower than the .30-06--although '06 lovers are quick to point out that you can run heavier bullets out of the bigger case.
Since its inception in 1952, the .308 Winchester has provided an unsurpassed platform for sporting cartridges that make sense. The key word here is efficiency. In terms of commercial success, .308 offspring that have made the grade have been necked-down offerings, which include the 7mm-08 Remington and .243 Winchester (the jury is still out on the .260 Remington).
The sole commercial necked-up load--the great and lamented .358 Winchester--has faded, although it may benefit from a revival thanks to Ruger's new chambering of the Model 77 Frontier in that caliber.
