I've always had a fondness for niche cartridges. My very first centerfire rifle was a Marlin 336 in .35 Remington. I preferred the 200 grain Remington load, and I carried that rifle for two decades. It was my go-to choice for whitetail deer in central Louisiana. That rifle wore a 2.5 scope and was hot medicine for deer in our piney woods and hardwood bottoms. I never had to shoot a deer twice with it.
Ron Spomer talks about another niche cartridge, the 338 Federal. It's nothing more than a .308 Win necked up to 0.338. It throws big bullets. Not far, but hard. It's not in the same category as the .338 Win Mag, nor the .338 Lapua, but it is not meant to be. It's a cartridge for inside 200 yards. Truth be told, that is where most North American game are taken.
Before Junior Doughty died, he and I talked about the 338 Federal. At that time it was a new cartridge. We thought that a good 200+ grain cast bullet would be the bees knees in this thing. With hard linotype metal and a gas check, you could push it to 1900fps and get plenty of thump on the other end. In a short action, light bolt gun with a low powered scope, it would take anything we might point it at.
I'm glad to see that Ron highlighted this cartridge. It is not for everyone, but niche cartridges never are.
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