[Joel B]

Does anybody have any experience with the 338 Hawk. Is brass available, or do you make it from 30-06. Is it that much better than the 338-06? How do these two compare to the 35 Whelen. Thanks.

 

[alyeska338]

Fred Zeglin at Z-Hat either developed this is or is one of its biggest boosters. He has a ton of info about it on his website. Basically, he took the 338-06, moved the shoulder forward and blew the case out so that the walls are near parallel. I think he steepend the shoulder angle also. He's got some pretty good charts and tables, but I doubt there's a nickel's worth of animal reaction difference between the two at normal range. I think he is able to pack more powder in because volume capacity is increase a bit.

Fred makes dies for all of the Hawk cartridges and brass is available with correct headstamping from Quality Cartridge. Quality also provides loaded ammo of any flavor for the Hawks.

Z-Hat: http://www.z-hat.com/HawkContents.htm
You can also access the main page at http://www.z-hat.com

Quality Cartridge: http://www.owlnet.com/quality/
Their website seems to be down at the moment. You can order the brass through Z-Hat.

Hope this helps

 

[Joel B]

Thanks for the link, interesting reading.

 

[Bill Lester]

I agree with alyeska, there probably isn't any realworld difference between the 338 Hawk and .338-06 A-Square. Meaning no disrespect to Mr. Zeglin, the articles I've read about the Hawk lineup usually test rifles with longer-than-typical barrels. That obviously helps improve velocity over a standard 22-24" rifle.

 

[alyeska338]

338-06 vs 338 Hawk

I've been thinking about this off and on for the last couple of days. I personally don't think there is any real difference between the 338/06 and the 338 Hawk (could be similar to 338/06 Improved), but that doesn't seem to stop folks from "improving" the 270, 280, etc... You may 100 fps or a little more from the improved version. Now, since you have readily available brass for both (either making from the '06 or 35 Whelen or A-Square or Quality Cartridge), they both use the same bullets, there are dies readily available for both, why not choose one over the other? I don't know. If you like the "improved" type cartridges, I'd go for the Hawk, if not I'd go with the '06. Both will require the same amount of gunsmith work, both have forming dies readily available, etc... Question is, do you like Fords or Chevys.

As far as the comparison between the 338/06 and the 35 Whelen, there are several articles out there about it and I won't rehash it. I suppose the 338 version has a wider variety of bullets, but for a rifle of this class, you would probably just find one or two loads for it and stick to those. By the way, just to confuse the issue more, there is a 358 Hawk.

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

 

[leadbutt]

One thing about the Hawks,altho based on the 06,Fred has had a new case designed so as its strong in some areas and a little longer so as to give full lenght sizing