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.

The new .338 Federal (far right) is a necked-up member of a short-action family that includes (from left) the .243 Winchester, 7mm-08 Remington and .308 Winchester.

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.

The Sako 85 Hunter is a superb, quick-handling platform for the .338 Federal.

What's cool about the .338 Federal is that it fills the niche left by the .358 and does so by opening up a wider bullet selection: Available .338 projectiles handily outnumber .358s. And it shoots a bit flatter. Winchester's 200-grain Silvertip .358 loading clocks 2,490 fps at the muzzle, while ATK's new 200-grain Fusion .338 Federal beats that number by more than 100 fps with slightly better sectional density.

Of course, any caliber--new, old or wildcat--depends on a good bullet, and from what I saw on a recent whitetail/hog hunt on north-central Texas' Stasney's Cook Ranch, the 200-grain Fusion loading is pretty much ideal. In fact, the entire Fusion line may cause a bit of consternation among the Federal brain trust; it's been delivering super-premium performance at about half the cost of the top-of-the-line Federal offerings.

Taken by Surprise
"Actually," says ATK's Jason Nash with a rueful smile, "the success of the Fusion line kind of took us by surprise, although we knew it was a hell of a bullet when we developed it. But for stuff like elk, we still feel you're better off with Federal Premiums with heavier 210-grain Nosler Partitions."

On the Texas hunt we used Sako 85 Hunters topped with 2-7X Burris variables. A preliminary zeroing session proved two things from the outset. The .338 Federal/ Sako 85 combination is remarkably easy on the shoulder, and it groups very well. Groups ranged from just under one inch to just over an inch and a half.