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.
7 comments:
I heard of the .338 Federal but did not know of the ballistics. It does sound indeed like an effective round. I just hope the price of that can stay reasonable. The sweet spot between the .358 and .308 Winchester.
Interesting rounds, but sadly hard to find unless you load/cast your own.
Had 2 moulds for .338 cast bulllets, no rifle - so bought a .338 Federal off gunbroker. 2 weeks later an ad shows there is a man sellng a .338 Ruger Compact Magnum (.338 RCM) rifle near me. Moulds seem to cry out for rfles to shoot them in.
Price ammunition before you buy. A Remington .350 Remington Magnum box of 20 is nearly $100. Five bux a shot ! The Remington 600 Magnum it chambers in is an awesome bolt brush carbine.
My little niche cartridge happens to be the .300 Savage. Everything else is main line easy to find stuff but I just love me that cartridge.
Hope you have a model 99 to shoot it in.
My levergin orphan is a.356 Winchester. First generation model 94 AE with the monte carlo stick. Loaded down it’s a.35 Remington. Loaded way down it’s a great plinker with pistol bullets. Loaded up it’s a .358, which is a lot of gun.
My other favorite orphan is the venerable.32-20. It’s a popgun round in a weak rifle but can be loaded to .30 Carbine levels in a strong rifle. Should your strong rifle be a single shot with a faster than normal rifling twist you can make ammo that uses the 7.62x39 bullets.
Not sure if .45-90 counts as an orphan but it’s a nice blackpowder cartridge.
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