Gunsmithing 338-06 BARREL CUT QUESTION PLEASE.

[rugerdiggs]

I have my 338-06 finished and shot it some and so far is shows promising with less than a moa grouping but not through the barrel break in yet. I am wanting to shorten the barrel from 26" to make it a little bit easier to go in the woods with. Guess my question is how short can i make it and still be able to get a 300-400yard shots with it. I am shooting 225's at around 2700 now with the 26" tube. Wanting to make it 20-22" barrel, its a heavy magnum contour. Thanks for any help.

 

[bohem]

Re: 338-06 BARREL CUT QUESTION PLEASE.

The overbore and expansion ratio on the 338-06 are not that far from a 308. A 20-22" rifle will work just dandy, the 225's may slow to around 2550-2600fps but that's more than enough for killing animals at 400yd.

 

[rugerdiggs]

Re: 338-06 BARREL CUT QUESTION PLEASE.

ok, thanks alot. Was wanting to go to 20 with it.

 

[cvcustom]

Re: 338-06 BARREL CUT QUESTION PLEASE.

I had a 33806 acley improved 22 inch barrel shot like a dream wished I never got rid of it

 

[rugerdiggs]

Re: 338-06 BARREL CUT QUESTION PLEASE.

Well i picked up my 338-06 today and the 22" barrel is what i settled on and it looks good with target crown on it at that length. Will try to get some photos of grouping shortly.

 

[rugerdiggs]

Re: 338-06 BARREL CUT QUESTION PLEASE.

117yds, 225gr hornady sp, 54grs of RL15. I hadnt chronographed it yet but should be around 2650-2675fps, but im gonna call it good. Just need to paint the barrel and dispatch a few hogs with it i hope.

 

[rugerdiggs]

Re: 338-06 BARREL CUT QUESTION PLEASE.

I do have a question about some loads on this rifle if anyone is familiar with it. My father-in-law kinda laid claim to my dies as soon as i got them in since he and i both have a 338-06 so being the nice guy i am i let him borrow them on if he would resize my brass along with his. Anyway i sent some of the 225 sp's and he loaded them up to the 54gr of RL15 and he wanted to load some 200gr hornady SST's so he did with i think 56 or 57grs of RL15,( not sure but it was .3 or .4 from max ). When we shot up to his max charge on the 200sst's the rifle started to kick a bit much for him so he decided to pull the bullets on them and try to charge them on bottom end of scale. With the same charge as the 225 (54grs of RL15) but i shot them in my gun to see if it liked them and it shot ok, about an inch or bit bigger but the recoil was still a bit more with same charge. Only thing i can think of is the SST's are a boattail and probaly have more bearing surface? I dont know, please let me know what you think.

 

[rugerdiggs]

Re: 338-06 BARREL CUT QUESTION PLEASE.

Well i got a guy i work with to go get my target out of my truck and got to get a measurment on the group i shot, really happy now.

 

[18Echo]

Re: 338-06 BARREL CUT QUESTION PLEASE.

I have a 24" 338-06 on a Brux 1-10. I'm shooting 225 Accubonds over 55.3 of RL15 @ 2629 fps. This is giving me 1 hole accuracy at 100 yds. Haven't moved it out further yet to see how it does.

I really wanted to shoot 210 partitions out of it, but I couldn't get them to group with RL15, Varget, or 4064. So I went with the 225 AB's.

 

[rugerdiggs]

Re: 338-06 BARREL CUT QUESTION PLEASE.

Yea the 200 sst opened up to just over an inch in my gun as well.

 

[geraldsd]

Re: 338-06 BARREL CUT QUESTION PLEASE.

Just found this older thread. I have what is basically a .338 Gibbs. It has a 40 degree shoulder with a one caliber length neck. Best powder that I have found to use is H414. It likes it with all bullet weights. I have measured really good velocities with all bullets up to 250 gr. I haven't shot the heavier bullets. This has been a fun experiment for me and I was and am happy with how it turned out. I started this experiment about 15 years ago and had a good supply of the Nosler 200 gr Ballistic Tips...Got over 3000 fps and great accuracy.