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Rifles, Reloading, Optics, Equipment
Rifles, Bullets, Barrels & Ballistics
Is enough ever realy enough?
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<blockquote data-quote="Kiwi Nate" data-source="post: 354433" data-attributes="member: 8533"><p>Am very sorry but I have to agree with Buffalo Bob. The Brownings tend to shoot well enough and can be very accurate but are pretty rubbishy these days. The trigger housing is made of zinc (toy car) metal, the trigger is gold painted plastic. The short lift bolt has no camming power if you get a case problem and the magazine box is too short for long loaded rounds. The threads in the reciever are usually total crap so that when it comes time to rebarrel, the poor smith loses sleep over ripped/gawled threads which is frikken unfair- especially with added pressure from folks saying that Browning A-bolts are oh so cool. </p><p> </p><p>As far as the caliber goes, the 338 is ok but most of the available bullets have low BC's. The SMK's have high BC's but they don't expand very well at low velocities like the VLD bullets. With the 250 grain SMK, you will be limited to between 2650 and 2750fps at the muzzle and at the 200 yard mark, unless you are hitting a very solid animal, you will find the kills to be very slow, very dissapointing. Even the plain jne .308Win does a better job on lean animals at the 200 yard mark. </p><p> </p><p>In a few months, you will probably be able to obtain the new .338 VLD bullets which will enable the .338 Win mag to really shine on a wider variety of animals at longer ranges/ lower velocities. For now, I wouldn't call the .338 over powered for general work. People too often read energy charts and take it as gospel that a bigger bullet means a bigger hole. They get the big gun and if things go right for them they gloat, but if trhings go wrong, like slow killing, they hush up, won't pass on information and nobody is any wiser.</p><p> </p><p>Bullet construction is, as you can imagine, far more relevant to wounding than simply a theoretical unit of energy. </p><p> </p><p>Here is a pic of a 200 yard shot from my .338 Winchester on a Goat. It was a slow kill, the animal did not offer enough resistance for the 250 grain SMK bullet at this velocity. The exit side of the rib cage is shown. I only peeled back the scapula a short distance, should have peeled it back more for a clearer picture of the continued exit wound. Note also the lack of bruising.</p><p> </p><p><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_Y39hCUjruqE/S117tqcW2bI/AAAAAAAAADE/XTuU26V5pl0/s720/338%20250gr%20SMK%20impact%202600fps.JPG" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p> </p><p>Cheers, Nathan</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Kiwi Nate, post: 354433, member: 8533"] Am very sorry but I have to agree with Buffalo Bob. The Brownings tend to shoot well enough and can be very accurate but are pretty rubbishy these days. The trigger housing is made of zinc (toy car) metal, the trigger is gold painted plastic. The short lift bolt has no camming power if you get a case problem and the magazine box is too short for long loaded rounds. The threads in the reciever are usually total crap so that when it comes time to rebarrel, the poor smith loses sleep over ripped/gawled threads which is frikken unfair- especially with added pressure from folks saying that Browning A-bolts are oh so cool. As far as the caliber goes, the 338 is ok but most of the available bullets have low BC's. The SMK's have high BC's but they don't expand very well at low velocities like the VLD bullets. With the 250 grain SMK, you will be limited to between 2650 and 2750fps at the muzzle and at the 200 yard mark, unless you are hitting a very solid animal, you will find the kills to be very slow, very dissapointing. Even the plain jne .308Win does a better job on lean animals at the 200 yard mark. In a few months, you will probably be able to obtain the new .338 VLD bullets which will enable the .338 Win mag to really shine on a wider variety of animals at longer ranges/ lower velocities. For now, I wouldn't call the .338 over powered for general work. People too often read energy charts and take it as gospel that a bigger bullet means a bigger hole. They get the big gun and if things go right for them they gloat, but if trhings go wrong, like slow killing, they hush up, won't pass on information and nobody is any wiser. Bullet construction is, as you can imagine, far more relevant to wounding than simply a theoretical unit of energy. Here is a pic of a 200 yard shot from my .338 Winchester on a Goat. It was a slow kill, the animal did not offer enough resistance for the 250 grain SMK bullet at this velocity. The exit side of the rib cage is shown. I only peeled back the scapula a short distance, should have peeled it back more for a clearer picture of the continued exit wound. Note also the lack of bruising. [IMG]http://lh6.ggpht.com/_Y39hCUjruqE/S117tqcW2bI/AAAAAAAAADE/XTuU26V5pl0/s720/338%20250gr%20SMK%20impact%202600fps.JPG[/IMG] Cheers, Nathan [/QUOTE]
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Is enough ever realy enough?
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