.338 Federal

Last updated
.338 Federal
338 Federal cartridges.jpg
.338 Federal between .308 Winchester (left) and .358 Winchester (right)
TypeRifle
Place of originUnited States
Production history
DesignerFederal Cartridge / Sako
ManufacturerFederal Cartridge
Produced2006
Specifications
Parent case .308 Winchester
Case typeRimless, bottleneck
Bullet diameter.338 in (8.6 mm)
Neck diameter.369 in (9.4 mm)
Shoulder diameter.454 in (11.5 mm)
Base diameter.470 in (11.9 mm)
Rim diameter.473 in (12.0 mm)
Rim thickness.049 in (1.2 mm)
Case length2.01 in (51 mm)
Overall length2.75 in (70 mm)
Primer typeLarge rifle
Maximum pressure62,000 psi
Ballistic performance
Bullet mass/typeVelocityEnergy
180 gr (12 g) AccuBond2,830 ft/s (860 m/s)3,200 ft⋅lbf (4,300 J)
185 gr (12 g) Triple Shock2,750 ft/s (840 m/s)3,105 ft⋅lbf (4,210 J)
210 gr (14 g) AccuBond2,630 ft/s (800 m/s)3,225 ft⋅lbf (4,373 J)
Test barrel length: 24" Pac-Nor
Source(s): Nosler Load Data, [1] Hodgedon Reloading Data Center [2]

The .338 Federal is a rifle cartridge based on the .308 Winchester case necked up to .33 caliber. It was created by Federal Cartridge and Sako in 2006 and intended as a big game cartridge with reasonable recoil for lightweight rifles. [3]

Contents

Comparison

The .338 Federal was designed by Federal Ammunition and it is a SAAMI standardized cartridge that was released in 2006. In the table below is a comparison between the .338 Federal and the older .358 Winchester, another cartridge based on the .308 Winchester.

.338 Federal Performance Comparison
CartridgeBullet Weight Muzzle velocity Muzzle energy Load [lower-alpha 1] Recoil in 8 lb (3.6 kg) rifle
grgft/sm/sft·lbfJgrgft·lbfJ
.338 Federal210142,6308003,2254,373473.023.4231.75
.338 Federal180122,8308603,2004,300473.021.8429.61
.358 Win 200132,4907602,7533,733493.220.0727.21

See also

Notes

  1. Load values specify typical powder weight for this level of performance.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.223 Remington</span> Firearms cartridge

The .223 Remington is a rimless, bottlenecked rifle cartridge. It was developed in 1957 by Remington Arms and Fairchild Industries for the U.S. Continental Army Command of the United States Army as part of a project to create a small-caliber, high-velocity firearm. The .223 Remington is considered one of the most popular common-use cartridges and is currently used by a wide range of semi-automatic and manual-action rifles as well as handguns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.308 Winchester</span> Rimless, centerfire, bottlenecked rifle cartridge

The .308 Winchester is a smokeless powder rimless bottlenecked rifle cartridge widely used for hunting, target shooting, police, military, and personal protection applications globally. It is similar but not identical to the 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge.

The .256 Winchester Magnum is a firearms cartridge developed by Winchester, and was produced by necking-down a .357 Magnum cartridge to .257 diameter. It was designed for shooting small game and varmints.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wildcat cartridge</span> Custom cartridge for firearms

A wildcat cartridge, often shortened to wildcat, is a custom cartridge for which ammunition and/or firearms are not mass-produced. These cartridges are often created in order to optimize a certain performance characteristic of an existing commercial cartridge, or may merely be intended as novelty items.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.243 Winchester</span> Rifle cartridge

The .243 Winchester (6×52mm) is a popular sporting rifle cartridge. Developed as a versatile short action cartridge to hunt both medium game and small game alike, it "took whitetail hunting by storm" when introduced in 1955, and remains one of the most popular whitetail deer cartridges. It is also commonly used for harvesting blacktail deer, pronghorns and mule deer with heavier rounds, and is equally suited to varmint hunting with lighter rounds. The .243 is based on a necked down .308 Winchester, introduced only three years earlier. Expanding monolithic copper bullets of approximately 80 to 85 grains or traditional lead rounds of 90 to 105 grains with controlled expansion designs are best suited for hunting medium game, while lighter rounds are intended for varmints.

The .510 Whisper is a subsonic rifle cartridge developed by SSK Industries for use in suppressed rifles. It is capable of firing a .51-caliber bullet weighing 750 gr (49 g) at roughly 1,050 ft/s (320 m/s).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">7mm-08 Remington</span> Necked down .308Win

The 7mm-08 Remington is a rifle cartridge that is almost a direct copy of a wildcat cartridge developed around 1958 known as the 7mm/308. As these names would suggest, it is the .308 Winchester case necked down to accept 7 mm (.284) bullets with a small increase in case length. Of cartridges based upon the .308, it is the second most popular behind only the .243 Winchester. However, the .308 is more popular than both. In 1980, the Remington Arms company popularized the cartridge by applying its own name and offering it as a chambering for their Model 788 and Model 700 rifles, along with a limited-run series within their Model 7600 pump-action rifles during the early 2000s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.300 Winchester Magnum</span> Rifle cartridge

The .300 Winchester Magnum is a belted, bottlenecked Magnum rifle cartridge that was introduced by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company in 1963. The .300 Winchester Magnum is a magnum cartridge designed to fit in a standard rifle action. It is based on the .375 H&H Magnum, which has been blown out, shortened, and necked down to accept a .30 caliber (7.62 mm) bullet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.338 Winchester Magnum</span> Rifle cartridge

The .338 Winchester Magnum is a .338 in (8.6 mm) caliber, belted, rimless, bottlenecked cartridge introduced in 1958 by Winchester Repeating Arms. It is based on the blown-out, shortened .375 H&H Magnum. The .338 in (8.6 mm) is the caliber at which medium-bore cartridges are considered to begin. The .338 Winchester Magnum is the first choice among professional brown bear guides in Alaska to back up clients where a powerful stopping caliber is required on charging bears. It is also the most popular medium-bore cartridge in North America and has the most widely available choice in rifles among medium bore rifles. The action length is the same as a .30-06, and most major rifle manufacturers in the United States chamber rifles for the cartridge including the semi-automatic Browning BAR Mk II Safari, making it a very powerful combination against charging dangerous game. The cartridge was intended for larger North American big-game species and has found use as for the hunting of thin-skinned African plains-game species.

The .222 Remington Magnum was a short-lived commercially produced cartridge derived from the .222 Remington. Originally developed for a US military prototype Armalite AR-15 rifle in 1958, the cartridge was not adopted by the military, but was introduced commercially in sporting rifles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">7mm Remington Magnum</span> Rifle cartridge

The 7mm Remington Magnum rifle cartridge was introduced as a commercially available round in 1962, along with the new Remington Model 700 bolt-action rifle. It is a member of the belted magnum family that is directly derived from the venerable .375 H&H Magnum. The original purpose of the belted magnum concept taken from the .300 H&H Magnum and .375 H&H Magnum, was to provide precise headspace control, since the sloping shoulders, while easing cartridge extraction, were unsuitable for this purpose. Improved cartridge extraction reliability is desirable while hunting dangerous game, in particular when a fast follow-up shot is required. The 7mm Remington Magnum is based on the commercial .264 Winchester Magnum, .338 Winchester Magnum, and .458 Winchester Magnum, which were based on the same belted .300 H&H Magnum and .375 H&H Magnum cases, trimmed to nearly the same length as the .270 Weatherby Magnum.

The ArmaLite AR-30 is a bolt-action rifle manufactured by Armalite. Based in part on Armalite's AR-50 rifle, the AR-30 is available in three cartridges; the .308 Winchester, .300 Winchester Magnum and .338 Lapua. It was introduced at the 2000 SHOT Show.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruger No. 1</span> Falling Block Rifle

The Ruger No. 1 is a single-shot rifle with a Farquharson-style hammerless falling-block action, introduced and manufactured by Sturm, Ruger & Co. since 1967. An underlever lowers the breechblock to allow ammunition loading and also cocks the rifle. Lenard Brownell, commenting on his work at Ruger, said of the No. 1: "There was never any question about the strength of the action. I remember, in testing it, how much trouble I had trying to tear it up. In fact, I never did manage to blow one apart."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.300 Winchester Short Magnum</span> Centerfire rifle cartridge developed by Winchester

300 Winchester Short Magnum is a .30 caliber rebated rim bottlenecked centerfire short magnum cartridge that was introduced in 2001 by Winchester.

The .264 Winchester Magnum is a belted, bottlenecked rifle cartridge. Except for the .244 H&H Magnum and .257 Weatherby Magnum, it is the smallest caliber factory cartridge derived from the 2.85 in (72 mm) Holland & Holland belted magnum case. It was introduced in the late 1950s and early 1960s with the .338 Winchester Magnum and the .458 Winchester Magnum as one of a family of short-cased 2.5 in (64 mm) belted magnum cartridges developed by Winchester based on the .375 Holland & Holland parent case. It was officially introduced to the public by Winchester in 1959. After many years of dwindling use it began enjoying a mild resurgence in popularity in the mid-2000s among long range rifle enthusiasts and reloaders due to the high ballistic coefficient of the heavier 6.5mm bullets and increasing popularity of cartridges such as 6.5mm Creedmoor, .260 Remington, 6.5 Grendel, benchrest and wildcat cartridges in 6.5mm.

The .260 Remington cartridge was introduced by Remington in 1997. Many wildcat cartridges based on the .308 Winchester case had existed for years before Remington standardized this round.

.22 caliber, or 5.6 mm caliber, refers to a common firearms bore diameter of 0.22 inch (5.6 mm).

The .338 Ruger Compact Magnum or .338 RCM is a rimless, short-length rifle cartridge based on the .375 Ruger case. Sturm Ruger and Hornady jointly developed the round, which was released in 2008 and chambered in various Ruger rifles. The goal of the project was to produce a .338 caliber cartridge with magnum level performance that would fit in a compact, short action rifle. The .338 RCM is conceptually similar to the WSM cartridge family, but is somewhat smaller dimensionally. This often allows for a higher magazine capacity than the WSM equivalent. Like the .338 caliber cartridges which predated it, the round is designed for hunting medium to large sized North American game.

References

  1. "Nosler Load Data" (PDF). Archived from the original on February 5, 2015. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
  2. "Take Aim at Rifle Reloading Data | Hodgdon Reloading". Archived from the original on 2015-03-25. Retrieved 2015-02-05.
  3. Cartridges of the World 11th Edition, Book by Frank C. Barnes, Edited by Stan Skinner, Gun Digest Books, 2006, ISBN   0-89689-297-2 pp.75,104