DixieFreedom,
Personally I do not think you need a 338 unless you simply want one. Ballisticly and terminally you do not have a requirement for a 338 class round. Still, there is never anything wrong with a little more gun then is needed.
The 308 Baer is a great design but it will not run with a 300RUM. In fact in sub 30" barrels, the 300 RUM will run closer to the 30-378 then the Baer class of rounds.
Still velocity is really not a big deal here, all have plenty of Horsepower to get the job done at extreme range.
Personally, I would recommend staying away from the standard belted magnum case simply because of the variation of the headspace measurement from one brand or even lot of brass compared to another.
I have built several of my Extreme Sporters in teh 257 STW and I like to cut my chambers to min spec to the highest level of accuracy and case life possible.
In so doing, about 15% of the standard belted magnum cases would be very tight closing in teh chamber because of this dimension variation as the belt would bare hard against the chamber.
Because of this, the oversized brass needed to be sorted out. This little problem can be solved by simply lengthening the chamber, something I do not like to do.
To solve the problem in a better manor, I decided to design my 257 Allen Magnum which is based on a 338 RUM case with a highly modified shoulder angle and diameter.
These cases still have some variation in length but even if the case is tight chambering, after fireforming, the case conformed to the chamber and chambered easily. Something the Bellted Magnum brass will never do.
If your looking for a 338 I would look two directions, the RUM and the Lapua. In the RUM case I would go with either the standard 338 RUM or the 338-300 RUM wildcat which is an identical ballistic Twin to the 338 Lapua. They have identical case capacities.
For a single shot I have no problem building a Rem 700 chambered for the Lapua. For a repeater I would recommend a custom action.
This is the beauty of the 338-300 RUM or the 338 Edge which is the brain child of Shawn Carlock who is on this board regularly as Shawn C.
This round provides identical performance as the Lapua but it is more comfortable in the Rem 700 both in single shot and repeater and brass is much less costly.
I fully admit that 338 Lapua brass will be better for extreme range shooting right out of the box then the RUM brass, but with a little case prepping, the RUM brass will perform just as well.
In a quality rifle, they would produce equal accuracy results.
My personal extreme range 338 is a 338 Kahn built as a single shot on a highly modified Rem 700 action. IT drives a 300 gr ULD to an honest 3100 fps but it also has a 1.350" straight cylinder, 34.5" barrel.
I would recommend a 30" barrel of about a #8 contour(.900" muzzle). Any heavier then that or longer then that and you will need either a custom action or you should use a barrel bedding V-Block like my Kahn uses. It has to for the Rem 700 to handle a barrel that weights roughly 15 lbs alone. The receiver is then totally floated from the stock.
This is an extreme round though, much larger then the RUM or Lapua class of rounds as it gets 3100 fps very comfortably in pressure.
For my money I would get a #8 Lilja with a 30" finish length, and fit it to a fully accurized Rem 700 action, I would prefer single shot set up. The stock would eb up to you. What ever you like. I personally love the McMillan MBR stock but they are very large and more then some like in a rifle.
As far caliber, if it was a 30 cal. I would go with a 1-9 twist for the 220 to 250 gr ULD bullets. If it were in 338 I would probably go with a 338-300 RUM again with a 1-9" twist for the 300 gr ULD bullets.
For extreme range shooting, well past 1000 yards, it would be a rifle exactly like my Kahn built on a V-Block.
Good Shooting!!
Kirby Allen(50)
