anybody shoot a 338 WSM?

I built one for my dad a short while after the 300 WSM first made its appearance , when I called PTG about a reamer they said that they had a few already made , I guess that it was a good logical idea to neck this round up.
I'll have to dig up the load info for it but it is a great round very effecient even in a 24" barrel , My dad was wanting somthing for Elk and big hogs out to 400yds average range is probably 250yds but wanted a little bit lighter gun so I made his on a short action Rem 700 with a Hightech stock and Hart barrel capped off with a short Vias brake , the whole gun scope and all is just at 8lbs and the recoil is about like a 30-06
 
It'll **** sure launch them but not nearly as fast as the 338 Rum would , I doubt that you would even be able to match what the old 338 Winchest could do with the heavier bullets because I think the 338 Win has a little more case capacity to fill with slow powder .
I know that the bullet I Dad shoots is the 210gr Partition and the velocity was in the 2900+fps range. Had great results on deer out to 300yds and a huge pig (500lb range) at 300+yds , both animals were shot through the shoulders and both died quickly.

I think that the best you might be able to do with the WSM case and a 250gr bullet is in the 2500fps range.

You might ask Kirby , I think he has built a few on this round and would more than likely have shot the heavier bullets.
 
If your building a dedicated target rifle for long range and wanted extreme barrel life, the 338 WSM would be a good choice with a 300 gr SMK but for game its velocity would be pretty limited even in a long barreled rifle.

A better choice would be the new Wildcat 265 gr AL RBBT when its ready for production. Offers BC way over the 300 gr SMK and also offers around 125 to 150 fps more velocity. Would be a very good choice for such a round.

I have an XP-100 in this chambering but I used a 1-12 twist Lilja 15" barrel as I was only interested in shooting bullets of 225 and under. It performs extremely well. 180 gr BT at 2950 fps, 200 gr BT at 2800 fps and a 225 gr at around 2700 fps if I run her pretty good. All out of a 15" barrel!!!

She will do better then 2500 fps with the 250 gr SMK I would imagine in a rifle length barrel. In fact from what I have seen, it will run within 50 to 75 fps of the 338 Win Mag and in most 24 to 26" barreled rifles the Win Mag will push near 2700 fps with a 250 gr SMK.

Again, if your looking for paper punching or target type shooting it would be great with an extreme barrel life for its performance level. But if your looking for big game hunting at long range, there would be much better bullet choices then the 250 and 300 gr SMK. Again the aluminum tipped Wildcat bullets may just be the perfect choice for this class of round to boost their terminal performance on big game at long range. More testing to come very soon.

I will be testing these bullets on an early season elk hunt here at the end of the month in my 338 AX so a report will come soon after.

Kirby Allen(50)
 
After I got my dads put together and the brass formed and some rounds loaded up I looked at it and said , "looks like a 6mmBR on steroids". My dad has about 300 rounds through his gun and he shoots it about 20-30 times a year , he is still on his first batch of ammo.

Kirby , what other calibers is Richard gonna offer those aluminum tipped bullets in??
 
thanks guys for all the info. i will be useing this rifle for a little bit of every thing. i orderd a mcmillan a-5 today for it and now i have got to decide what scope i want. thinking about the mark 4 6.5-20 TMR.
 
James,

As I understand it, in time, Richard will offer the AL RBBT in all calibers from 257 on up.

The 300 and 338s are the first being tested. He just started making some prototype 270 AL RBBTs as well recently so that is also very interesting!!!

From talking with him, it sounds like he wants to make from 25 cal up to 50 cal with his AL RBBT design.

Kirby Allen(50)
 
I have an improved and somewhat longer version of the WSM called the Mega.
One of my clients did extensive testing with a bunch of powders. He was running 250 Bergers well up in the 2900's with N550 and several powders in the 4350 range ran 2900. We have reamers brass and dies for it in stock. Its a great round and works well in a mid or long action.
 
Top