I've been "at it hammer and tong" for the last several weeks, trying to get our new fishing tournament app working. Today was a complete "day off". As I sat and pondered what I would do with this rare event, at the top of the categories to consider was "something with guns". Since I received the new .338-06 reamer in the mail yesterday, that was fresh on my mind. I decided to "look into that".

i went into my 'gun room' and looked the reamer over carefully. It looked 'good'. Nice and sharp and no 'dings' that I could see. I grabbed the Savage .338 Federal barrel (that wasn't on an action), I had and looked at it. I couldn't think of any reason(s) to keep it since I had one already on an action. I was thinking about heading out to the shop and setting up to ream that .338 Fed chamber out to .338-06. I really didn't want to go to all that trouble. I stuck an '06 case in the barrel and there was a good .45" that needed to be reamed. (Makes sense since the .308 case is 12mm (0.47") shorter than the '06 case.) Barrel in left hand, reamer in the right, looking back and forth. The heck with it, I'm going to ream this by hand. A quick twist of the reamer in the chamber to check for sharpness, and I was 'off to the races'.

I got a reaming handle out of my tap and die set and put it on the reamer. Got out some artificial "sperm whale oil' (jojoba oil actually). Got a couple of old tooth brushes out - one to clean the chips from the reamer with, and one to put oil on the reamer with. A rag, pencil and paper (for recording measurements), and a resized .06 case necked up to .338 in my .338 MAI dies to use as a gauge. I was ready.

Not having reamed a chamber 'by hand' before, my arm was 'out of calibration'. I started off with 10 rotations with "moderate" pressure. After I pulled the reamer out that first time, it was obvious that I needed a different gauge for the reaming. (I would still use the cartridge case for setting the headspace.) A while back when I got tired of listening to all of the baloney about headspace and headspace gauges from the "experts", I made myself a 'universal' "chamber rod". It's good for measuring chambers for just about any case that has a 0.473" head. It's diameter is equal to the diameter of most common cartridges at the datum point (about midway on the shoulder). Using that rod I can measure seating depth and headspace and anything else I care to with respect to the length of the chamber.

After those first 10 rotations, I have removed maybe 0.003" of metal. So I decided to add a little more elbow grease and increase the turns to 30. My intent was to remove about 30 thou between cleanouts. When I got close, I could tweak the depth with fewer rotations and less 'oomph'.

The next depth of cut measured 0.022". The next one 0.041". The rest were:
0.035",
0.037",
0.037",
0.037",
0.035",
0.035",
0.040",
0.037",
0.034"
0.025",
0.027",
0.027", and the last one was
0.007".
Which coincidently turns out to be very close to 12mm. :) I did put a blister on my little finger though. Too much time with my hands on a computer keyboard.

Setting the headspace was trivial. I unscrewed the .338 Federal barrel (that I was keeping), from the action and screwed the .338-06 barrel on, to a point where the bolt just barely touched the breech of the barrel. Then I put the resized, empty case in the chamber and check to see if I could close the bolt. No soap. Took the barrel off and cut the chamber that last 0.007" deeper. Screwed the barrel back in the action to where the bolt JUST closed. Put the case in the chamber and closed the bolt. It closed, but just a little tight. I turned the barrel out about 1/8th of a rotation (~0.004"). The bolt closed nicely, so I tightened the barrel nut, securing the barrel to the action with the 'perfect' headspace. :D

Voila'! A new .338-06 barrel for the price of a reamer (which I could sell if I so chose), and a new set of dies. Which I could "make do" with the variety of die sets I already have - .338-08 (Federal), .338 MAI (.338x57 AI), and .338 Win Mag - but I will get a dedicated set for the .338-06. Oh yeah, and the price of a .338 Federal barrel for a Savage; about $100 from Ebay.

I'm pretty stoked about this actually. Cutting the chamber wasn't "bad" by any means, but I probably wouldn't want to do a complete chamber from scratch, (no chamber at all to start with), by hand. Having the existing .338 Fed chamber also helped to keep the reamer centered. (What I didn't mention above is that when I went to 30 turns between cleaning, I rotated the barrel about 1/3 of a rotation every 10 rotations of the reamer. This prevented any "one-sided" wowing due to how I was holding the barrel and reamer.) I am fairly certain that cutting "by hand" is easier on the reamer too. I think one would stay sharper A LOT longer.

The next thing I did was make a dummy cartridge with the case I had used as a gauge. I seated the a 180-grain Accubond at what I thought was a reasonable depth and closed the bolt on it. Tough to open. Got it out, seated the bullet a little deeper and tried again. The short story is that I had to repeat several times until the cartridge extracted like I wanted it to. This reamer has a short throat. I think I may have to get a .338 throating reamer and lengthen it. Overall length with the 180 Accubond is 3.211". I would seat the bullet for an OAL of 3.200". That puts the 180 deeper than I really want it. I'd like to move the bullet out at least 0.100" to 0.150".

So now I have rifles chambered in the following .338 cartridges:
.338-08 (08, Federal, Marlin, whatever... pick your poison),
.338 MAI (Ol' John's 8x57 case necked up to .338 and Ackley'd),
.338-06, just made, and
.338 Win Mag.
That pretty much 'covers it' for me. The .338-08 needs to use a bullet not much heavier than 160. The MAI and '06 can both use the 180 and 200 weights well. The Win Mag shoots 210s and 225 very well. Now all I need is a gun bearer to carry those four rifles and I can pick the one I need depending on the game and the range.

I took some pictures of the reamer as I was doing the cutting, but they're on my smartphone, and getting images from my phone to my computer is a hassle. I'll post those later.

Next task is to do some paper-whipped ballistics with QuickLoad.

Paul

Hmm... Maybe not the 180...

180 Accubond


200 Accubond



The above loads are "on node" considering Optimal Barrel Timing theory. The 200 stays below 3400 ft-lbs for muzzle energy and carries more energy down range with essentially the same trajectory. If "reality" jibes with these numbers, the .338 MAI will shoot the 180 and the .338-06 will shoot the 200. This with the short throat no less.

Paul

PS - Just for comparison's sake, the .338 Win Mag. This is "the load" for my .338 WMs.


Same trajectory, almost the same ME, 500 ft-lb more energy at 300 yards.

Paul

Looking good! My 338-'06 Ackley with a 215gr Sierra is -8.8 at 300 with E=2109, zero at 200, +2.1 at 100 and -3.5 at 250. I haven't messed with any 225's yet.

I have only used two bullets in my .338 WMs: The Nosler 210 Partition, and the Hornady 225. As a rule, I don't like Partitions because they almost never stay in an animal, and staying in the animal is what I like. However, that Partition shoots very straight in my rifles. I use the Hornady because it also shoots straight, is significantly cheaper than the Nosler, and as a rule does stay in the animal.

I did experiment with other bullets a little. The Barnes 160s and 175. Couldn't get them to hit the broadside of a barn when I was standing inside. The ONLY bullet Barnes ever made that I got to shoot straight was a 175 COATED X. A friend of mine asked me to load some ammo for his .338 WM and after paper-whipping things, decided that was the bullet he wanted to use. I tried VERY HARD to dissuade him from using any Barnes bullet, but to no avail. Blasted thing made a liar out of me and shot like a laser with the first loads I tried! Larry died about 6 months later, never having gotten to hunt with the rifle. Of course, because those bullets shot so straight, Barnes quit making them shortly thereafter.

I think the 160 is really the best weight among the .338 bullets for the .308 case. But, true to form, being a Barnes bullet, I haven't been able to to get it to shoot worth a dam. I have used 180s and 200s of various manufacture (NOT Barnes) in the MAI, and they all did "OK", but nothing spectacular. I tried the Nosler 210 in the MAI, but I don't like the ballistics or trajectory compared to the boat-tail types, and they cost too much to "play around" with. Therefore, the MAI gets a diet of 180 Accubonds and it does 'good enough' - 1 to 1.5 MoA - with those.

I am very curious what the '06 case will do with the 200 Accubonds. Since this is the '06 case, they will probably shoot like a laser just to spite me! Of course the '06 case could probably handle the 210 Partition, but I doubt if I'll even try it if the AB shoots straight. Why spend the money on a bullet I don't like to use? It might shoot straight and then I'd have to shoot it like I do in the WMs!

Paul

That's a little disappointing. Not a 'deal killer', but disappointing nonetheless. The diameter above the transition point is 0.008" smaller than below it in the fireformed case. The transition point is right at the point of the .308 Win shoulder. The .338 Federal chamber was larger at it's shoulder (by 0.008") than the .338-06 reamer was. This is not a big surprise as the reamer wasn't cutting the full length. Sigh. This could be 'fixed' by Ackleyizing, but I'd rather have a secondary 0.004"  'shoulder' than Ackley the chamber.

Paul

No arguments regarding brass pickup at the range then....

Quote from: j0e_bl0ggs;147274No arguments regarding brass pickup at the range then....

Paul

I promised reamer pictures:

Not the first, but the second I think;


Then one somewhere in the middle:


And the last one:


As you can see, it never cut back the full length of the reamer.

Paul

That will be a good elk gun.

I think I would use John's MAI out of sentiment, or use the Sauer (.338 WM) if I didn't use the .50 Alaskan.

But... I agree that it would be a good - very good - "elk gun".

Paul