338 Win Questions

[JG26Irish_2]

Having never had a 338, what grain bullets and what type of MV should I be looking for?

I can give you an idea. I have a Sako 85 in 338wm with 24" bbl. It shoots the Barnes 225g TSX with MV of 2925fps. A later lot chrono'ed a bit slower. My son has a 338wm custom Mauser with a 22" bbl and it is about 50fps slower with the Barnes ammo and ran 2750fps using the Nosler AB factory ammo which is loaded a good bit milder than the Barnes stuff. I have a Ruger 338rcm also with a 22" bbl that spits out the 225g SST ammo at 2738fps. Dropping 3" to your 19" bbl should put you in the 2600fps range with the same Nosler ammo I would guess-timate. That is still plenty fast for such a large pill.

Shoot it first. My short bbl Ruger 338 is one of my favorite hunting rifles. As long as you are not looking to shoot things 500y away, you may have a winner.

 

[dchum]

As long as you are not looking to shoot things 500y away, you may have a winner.

Even a 2600fps the 225gr accubond is close to 1900fps at 500 yards. So theoretically you would be good to go at 500.

But I expect tha 19” to do a bit more than 2600 imo.

 

[Choupique]

expect tha 19” to do a bit more than 2600 imo

Agreed. 2750+ pretty easily id say