[ENGLANDER]

Hello from Scotland

Firstly thanks Jimmy for E-mailling me the article on this interesting wildcat-cheers buddy.

I like the A-bolt action on my current .308 how suitable for convertion is the A-bolt action ? Any veiws ? Or even suggestions as to more suitable actions ?

You may tell im pretty new to this wildcat caper- spend enough on standard guns !

Regards Englander

 

[Jimmy]

Glad you got it all right, Englander.  I must have been typing your email addres incorrectly... fat fingers, etc.

I have thought about the 338-08 myself, but do not have enough time for std. calibres right now... although I think I see a Marlin 94 in 44 mag in my near future ( although a 336a, 2/3 mag would look even a bit better right now).

If your spouse/girl friend gets upset about another gun, DO NOT POINT HER MY WAY.  I do well enough on that front all by myself!

Keep us posted, Jimmy

 

[jim]

Englander:

Mine is built on a Rem. 700 short action w/21" barrel. My goal was a very light handy rifle with big bullet capability. The problem with the 700 action is that it limits the C.O.L. to about 2.800 inches. This forces deep bullet seating with longer bullets, hence reduced powder capacity. Of course a long action would fix this, but then you might as well use the '06 case.

I am not familiar enough with the A-bolt action to know the magazine length. I beleive that the Win 70 short action has a longer Magazine box, and some older Ruger 77's had about 2.900 of length in the box.

Having said all that, I am satisfied with the performance of mine and don't consider the short magazine much of a problem.

Jim

 

[ENGLANDER]

Cheers- Jim for the info on your rifle and experience with the .338-08.
My A-bolt magazine also has a MAX length of 2.800
im not very fimilar with .338 bullets available for reloading,what about round nose or flat nose bullets ? Would'nt this allow longer seating ?

What about a .338 wildcat based on  Mausers actions like 7x57mm ? Has it been done ? Would allow a tad more powder and still not really a long action ?

What do you guys think ?

Regards Englander

 

[dclark]

Englander,

A .338 wildcat based upon a 7X57 case would be a lot like a 8mm Mauser or a 9mm Mauser.  It would about split the difference.  With the OAL limit of your rifle, the .308 case may well be more suitable for the .338 length bullets.

Generally, you will want to use 200, 210 & 225 grain spitzer bullets in such a case.  I have also used the 250 grain bullets in my .338-06 and can reach 2400 fps with them.  You should be able to get about 2200 fps in the .308 case with them.

dclark

 

[jim]

Englander:

There's a bunch of variables here. I think dclark mostly hit it on the head about the 7X57 case. I'd consider the following....

What bullet weights do you want to shoot? If a 200 gr. is enough, then an 8X57 would be fine without wildcat headaches. If you want more weight than the 8mm bullets and/or you want heavier premiums, i.e. say a Nosler 225 or 250 (etc) then the 338 bore is the way to go.

The velocities so far in my 338-08 w/21" bbl. are as follows.......180/2760,  200/2675,  225/2450. I'm not sure that a 338X57 would beat that by much in a short bbl.

Also, consider your goal. I built mine with the goal of a light gun shooting a fat bullet, approx 30-06 range capabilities to about 350 yds, and manageable recoil. The 308 case does this for me, so I'm not trying to squeeze more out of it. FWIW mine was built to be a backpack type gun for Elk in the Rockies and Caribou in AK (with a good grizzly stopper bullet available)  

I have not tried the 250s yet, but your point on the RN etc. bullets is well taken. The 250 RN from Hornady and the 250 Grand slam from Speer are both about the same length as a 225 spitzer.

Hope this helps...

 

[MikeG]

For the .338-308 I think I would stick to the lighter bullets.  A 210 gr. Nosler Partition would get the job done on anything that can be found in Merry Old England, I suspect, and give decent velocities too - probably in the 2,500-2,600fps range.

On the other hand a good argument could be made for 8x57 or 9x57 as well, all these cases can throw 200gr. and up bullets.  Probably less trouble than a true wildcat (imagine trying to talk the police into letting you hunt with some wildcat cartridge when you have to justify the muzzle velocity being over 2,500fps and all that nonsense).

To me a round nose bullet defeats the purpose of more velocity, you lose that velocity fast.

Besides, you already have a .444 on the way to shoot blunt bullets with, right?!?!?