I traded for a Encore rifle bbl in 338 Federal, and I don't know much about it. I am told it is a 308 brass necked up to 338. Does anyone out there have any experience with the cal? thanks, wallace in Ga

I have a Ruger Hawkeye in .338 Fed and your description is pretty much right on, it's in the .308 family along with siblings; .243, .260, 7/08, .308 & .358. I really like the cartridge and purchased it even though I already owned a .358. In factory loads the .338F has a much broader range of available loads and actually also outperforms it's slightly larger brother, the .358W. If you take "after" factory loads from HSM or Buffalo Bore for the .358, along with stout reloads, the gap is not so pronounced and perhaps completely gone. The .358 Win was never loaded to it's full potential by Winchester and that gave it a bad rap to some.

I bought my .338F mainly as a deer/hog rifle and I prefer it to the venerable 30/06 (and .308) as such. Shooting in like rifles and side by side; the .338F/200gr Fusion vs 180gr/30-06, I feel no discernable difference in recoil to my shoulder. I do, however favor the added frontal area of the .338 across the board in my applications. I have only fired two bullet weights in my Hawkeye, factory 180gr Accubonds and the 200gr Fusions and both gave me sub MOA 3 shot groups. I've got my Hawkeye ready for the Ky gun opener with the Accubonds for this season, and have already harvested one large Ky buck with the 200gr Fusion load. It gave excellent (as expected) results on a big bodied deer.

I had originally considered a .338F barrel for my Encore as well, but I already have a .35 Whelen barrel that shoots very well for it and don't need any more redundancy there...lol.

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I have been looking at buying the .338 Fed myself. It would go well with my two 7mm-08's

Just can't decide which rifle, the Ruger hawkeye ( in wood ) or the Tikka. I'm leaning towards the Ruger because it's made in this country - plus, I already own one Tikka in 7mm-08.

Could make it my all American rifle = Ruger hawkeye with redfield scope