question on cheytac rounds

[mitchell]

hello gentlemen

i've been a lerker on this site for quite some time so i figured i should make a post

i have a few custom rifles with my babies being my 300 win mag built on a remington 700 action and a 338-06 built on a savage. i feel fine taking the 300 to 1000 yards on deer, but i'm a soldier and when i return from this deployment i will be pscing from ft hood texas to ft lewis washington and would like to start hunting elk. so a new toy is in order.

i was looking at the cheytac rounds. the 408, although a great round, just doesn't have the hunting bullets available. so i have been looking more to the 375 cheytac and the 338 cheytac. the 338 seams to be the flatter shooting or the two also with a little less wind drift but the 375 isn't far from it with a good bit more energy. i was wondering what you guy think of the two and what you would pick . with my goal being a 1000 yard elk.

also i have never had a rifle with a custom action. i know the cheytac round come from the 505 gibs family and the gibs was made to fire in a mauser style action, but do you think a remington 700 style action (or savage, winchester, cz ect) would be ok for this build ? or should i just save up some more change and go with a custom action? and if so do any of you know a custom action that wont brake the bank?

thank you for your time

mitch

 

[JUDD]

338 is where it's at right now and would do just fine at 1000 for elk. Bullet election in the 375 just isn't there yet.

A remington or factory action will not work. I would go with the new stiller action for this build.

There is a couple cheytac pro's out here I'm sure they will chime in on this. If not give kevin Cram of Montour County Rifles a call. He built himself one and its a shooter. We killed a whitetail with his this year at over 1500 yards.

570-437-2010

 

[Joel Russo]

Welcome to the forum Mitch.

The most popular wildcat cartridges based on the .408 case are the .338 and the .375 at the moment. Either one of these combinations will kill an Elk at 1K. They are "ballistic twins" out to about 1,800-1,900 yards. So you can compare and contrast the both and still end up with a choice based on personal preference. The over the counter bullet selection for the .338 is better as the 300 gr SMK is a pretty **** good bullet out of the box. Forget the Bergers as they do not like the velocities the .408 case is capable of pushing them. The 350 gr SMK for the .375 is a little tougher to get, but can be had.
You will need a custom action designed to handle the .408 case. Hall, Stiller, and BAT actions are all good choices. The Stiller can be bought in a single shot or repeater configuration.

I own a few of these combinations and have been shooting them for years. taken them both out past 2,000 yards with excellent results. I've deviated from the norm, and have improved cases and played with fast twist barrels and lathe turned bullets.

If you decide to take the leap, the standard versions are very user friendly.