Second Wind

Some confessions can clear the conscience and get a load off your chest. I have one such confession—and need to put it to rest. When the .338 Federal was first introduced back in 2006, I never gave it a second look, never bothered to study the ballistics, never felt like I needed a medium-bore in my arsenal.

I simply assumed this was just another marketing ploy designed to deplete our wallets of hard-earned cash for something we don’t really need. After all, we have other .338 caliber rounds—some of which happen to be frightfully good hunting cartridges—the .338 Win Mag for example.
As time passed, I honestly thought the .338 Federal was dying a slow, painless death—drifting off in to the sunset of firearms history. Then, Savage releases six of their flagship rifles chambered to it. At the same time, Federal launches seven different load options for it. This grabbed my attention. Maybe I was missing something.

The .338 Federal is based on a .308 Winchester case, necked-up to .338 caliber. Nothing really earth-shattering in itself, as the .308 Win. has been necked up and down for decades—.243, .260, 7mm-08 and .358. Now I’m curious why it took so long to add .338 to this lineup.

One advantage the .338 Federal has over the bigger magnums is the fact it can be chambered in short-action rifles. Big-game hunters in pursuit of elk, moose and bear will find the .338 Federal an ideal choice, capable of fitting in a short-action, lightweight rifle. Federal’s ammunition product manager, Mike Holm, says, “The .338 Federal may be the perfect big-game cartridge.” Holm originally developed the round in conjunction with Sako. The .338 Federal provides greater muzzle velocity than the .308 and does so with a heavier, larger-diameter bullet. The real benefit comes from getting near .338 Win Mag performance out to 400 yards, without getting your teeth jarred loose from recoil. Federal ballistics figures bear this out. For example, the 200-grain Vital-Shok Trophy Bonded Tip .338 Federal delivers 1,891 foot-pounds of punch at 300 yards, yielding an only slightly lighter sting than the 2,213 ft-lbs delivered by a 210-grain .338 Win Mag. Nosler Partition.

Better still, the .338 Federal produces only 23.9 ft-lbs of recoil compared to a jolt of 36.1 for the Win Mag. Your shoulder will definitely detect the difference (mine did). Velocity-wise, the .338 Federal cruises along at 2,064 fps at 300 yards, close behind the magnum round at 2,180 fps. Trajectory is nearly identical with about 1-inch difference at 300 yards—not enough to miss a prairie dog. When compared to other medium-bore cartridges—the .35 Remington, .348 Winchester or .358 Winchester—the .338 Federal possesses a higher ballistic coefficient with bullets of the same weight and design. This allows the .338 Federal to tackle longer shots more effectively.

New Loads, New Rifle

Federal has ramped up the .338 Federal line with seven different loads ranging from 185-grain American Eagle softpoints to 210-grain Nosler Partitions. The American Eagle load was a great addition in this scribe’s opinion—providing practice rounds for non-handloaders. Trophy Copper and Trophy Bonded Tip options are included in Federal’s Premium Vital-Shok line. Shooters have a variety of options covering a multitude of applications including, of course, serious big-game hunting. You know, if I would have paid more attention to the attributes and ballistics of this cartridge—I would have included it in my battery from the beginning.

Back in 2006, Sako initially provided rifles when the .338 Federal first hit the radar screen. Very few other long gun manufacturers joined suit. Now, Savage Arms has added the .338 Federal to six of its popular hunting rifles—the Model 11 Hog Hunter, Model 11 Long Range Hunter, Model 16 FCSS Weather Warrior, Model 16 Bear Hunter, and the Model 11 and Model 16 Trophy Hunter XP. Savage Marketing Director Bill Dermody says, “The .338 Federal is a great caliber with a lot of potential that fills somewhat of a hole in our lineup. It provides great energy with heavier bullets, without magnum recoil.”

All six of these rifles feature Savage’s AccuTrigger system, which allows you to dial in the exact trigger pull to fit your needs. After spending hard-earned dollars on a rifle, it always aggravates me to spend additional coin on a trigger job. The AccuTrigger eliminates this.
The Bear Hunter, Hog Hunter, and Model 11 Long Range Hunter are members of Savage’s Specialty Series. But they certainly aren’t limited to specific applications. The Hog Hunter features a dark green synthetic stock, carbon steel 20-inch barrel with black matte finish in medium contour. The rifle weighs 7.25 pounds and comes with adjustable iron sights. The Hog Hunter is a business-looking model incorporating an internal box magazine and is very reasonably priced at $578.

Designed to reach out and tag a variety of big game, the Long Range Hunter features an AccuStock bedding system, cradling the action 3-dimensionally in a rigid platform. This model also comes with a black 26-inch barrel and matching synthetic stock with adjustable comb. The Long Range Hunter has a hinged floorplate and wears a Savage muzzlebrake. The price is $1,136.

Ideally suited for inclement weather, the Model 16 FCSS Weather Warrior sports a stainless steel action and barrel along with a lightweight synthetic black stock. This is a hard-working rifle, perfect for extreme hunts in harsh environments at $911.

The Model 11 and Model 16 Trophy Hunter XP belong to the Package Series, which comes with a Nikon 3-9X scope. Both rifles include the AccuTrigger, detachable box magazine, and synthetic stock, supporting 22-inch barrels. The Model 11 has a black-matte carbon-steel barrel while the Model 16 sports a 22-inch stainless steel barrel. They run $629 and $762 respectively.

The Bear Hunter

Time and logistics would not allow me to test all these Savages in .338 Federal, but one really grabbed my attention. The Bear Hunter is equipped with a cool-looking synthetic camo, AccuStock with stainless barrel, adjustable muzzlebrake and hinged floorplate. This specialty series rifle from the company’s Model 16/116 lineup tips the scales at 7-3/4 pounds (unscoped) and has a 23-inch stainless barrel at $1,066. Normally I do a bit of soul-searching before choosing a particular firearm but I simply liked the looks of this model. It comes drilled and tapped for scope mounts. A signature bear track adds a nice touch to the the bottom of the hinged floorplate. The safety is located directly behind the bolt allowing easy operation with your thumb while maintaining a grip on the stock. In front of the triggerguard is a handy bolt-removal release.

The first thing I did was to mount a Weaver Grand Slam 2-8X scope in Weaver rings on the rifle. Now I was ready for some serious range time. But first, some handloading was in order.

The Reloading Bench

With an array of quality bullets, the .338 Federal can be tailored for many tasks. Handloaders can take advantage of it with medium-burning powders such as Varget, Reloder 15 and W748. I ordered a deluxe die set from Redding and, as an added benefit, received their competition bullet seater. My friend and guru at Redding, Robin Sharpless, also suggested their free-floating carbide button kit, which eliminates inside neck lube.

This turned out to be a wise suggestion. On my Redding T-7 turret system, loading for the .338 Federal is painless and straightforward. Obviously cases can be formed from .308 Winchester brass if needed. Primarily I used Nosler’s 0.338-inch 180- and 200-grain Accubonds with W748 and CCI primers. Luckily, I also grabbed Hornady’s 200-grain SST and FTX for a test drive as well.

After procuring Federal factory ammo, including American Eagle 185-grain SP, Fusion 200-grain, Power-Shok 200-grain Uni-Cor SP and Federal Premium 180-grain Nosler Accubond, two of my deer-hunting buddies and I hit the range. The Bear Hunter handles nicely and balances well. Recoil was not intimidating whatsoever—even from the bench. All shots were fired with the muzzlebrake ports open. While chronographing, we managed to get some 3-shot groups a touch inside an inch with the 180-grain Accubond. Other groups within our test lot clustered a bit over an inch. We all were pleasantly surprised with our out-of-the-box rifle shooting factory ammunition. Unfortunately I didn’t have a bear tag in my pocket, but some Texas-sized boar was on the hit list. I settled on the blue box version of Power Shok 200-grain SPs (my Oehler 35P indicated they cruised out the tube at 2,646 fps). The accuracy at 100 yards gave me confidence no hog in Texas was safe.

Unfortunately we were hunting in late summer. The hot and dry conditions made it challenging for the dogs we were hunting over. Three hounds were trying their best to jump some hogs as the Texas heat beat down unmercifully. When they did, the chase was on. The hog was bayed shortly but wouldn’t stay in one place very long. Much later—when that chase finally ended unsuccessfully—the dogs were already getting hot and tired.

Shortly after lunch we turned loose a couple of fresh hounds. Before long they had jumped another hog and apparently had it bayed. Hurriedly we tried to work our way around some thick brush and, to our surprise, spotted the hog running across a small clearing. By the time I set-up the Primos trigger stick, the big boar was 140 yards away and closing in on another thicket. The .338 Federal spoke and dropped the 200-pounder instantly. Rifle and cartridge took the running shot in stride.

The .338 Federal is a great medium-bore cartridge within sane ranges, and without brutal recoil. Luckily for hunters, Savage has provided several rifle options for it. The rifle flat-out performs—as does the cartridge. I do have one more confession. I’m packing my bags now for an African safari in Mozambique. A .338 Federal is the only gun I’m taking. There! I already feel better.

Model 16 Bear Hunter
Maker: Savage Arms, 100 Springdale Rd., Westfield, MA 01085,
(800) 370-0708
Action type: Bolt action, Caliber: .338 Federal (tested), others, Capacity: 2+1, Barrel length: 23 inches, Overall length: 44-1/4 inches, Weight: 7-3/4 pounds, Finish: Stainless steel, Sights: None, drilled and tapped for scope, Stock: Synthetic, Price: $1,066

Grand Slam 2-8×36
Maker: Weaver Optics, 1 Vista Way, Anoka, MN 55303,
(800) 379-1732
Magnification: 2X-8X, Objective Diameter: 36mm, Eye Relief: 3.46 inches (2X), 3.31 inches (8X), Internal Adj. Range: 80 MOA elevation, & windage at 100 yards, Click Value: 1/4 inch, Tube Diameter: 1 inch, Overall Length: 10.9 inches, Reticles: Dual-X, Price: $572.95

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