Hornady 338 ARC
- Thread starter IAm_Not_Lost
- Start date
By virtue of twist, the 338 ARC will never reach very high rotational speeds as the SAAMI is 1:8.
I think it was smart of Hornady to come out with this, but if it's only 200 yards, it's limited. 6.5 Grendel is good for 400-500 easy, in the same size action. For me, since it seems they're targeting subsonic, it's less exciting as I can't use a suppressor in CA, so there is less incentive to use subsonic for hunting. And even so, 8.6 blackout does work in subsonic also if suppressors do become legal in CA.
Hornady was showing Hornady Black ammo with 175 grain hollow tips. I can't use those in CA either, need copper. Those must be supersonic, as I shoot 210-220 grain SMKs in the 300 blackout for subsonic. There are millions of AR-15 semi-auto rifles in the market, those are potential upgrades to 338 ARC.
For those looking for good bolt action to start with, Howa and Ruger both make a mini-action bolt that are reasonably priced, pretty accurate from what most say, and can be easily acquired.
My opinion, nothing more, nothing less, the 6.5 Grendel has not been an easy cartridge to get to feed in semi-auto. The mag vendors are limited and most have been plagued with feed issues with the lips. Keep that in mind if you plan to feed from a mag. Bolt action is less concern, especially since you can single feed. It's an interesting cartridge, but .338 copper bullets aren't cheap. I don't think they will detour people from using it. With Hornady backing it, probably hard to go wrong, but all of the game Hornady claims the 338 can take are the same game that people use 6.5 Grendel today. All of this is food for thought.
mattri
Silver $$ Contributor
Larry Koch
Silver $$ Contributor
Someone will try this in VFS.
KAK Industries is also showing and working on it.
Its on snipers hide. If I remember its 31.2 gr water.
Who makes appropriate 338 bullets? I'd like to see this happen but until there are high quality, lightweight br quality bullets, I think it'll be an uphill climb
Hornady makes a 225 grain CX in .338, not sure if that would work for subsonic or not, but it's probably not a bad place to start. Barnes makes a TTSX in 210, 225 and 250. One of those may get you in the ballpark.
Typically that means lighter bullets, like the 160 grain, but that's not big enough I don't think, not for subsonic.
Without new bullets it sounds like SOL. I don't think this is a BR gun though...it's intended more for hunting. The Grendel is more of a BR cartridge, IMO, and it works fine for supersonic.
I thought they said 207 grain for subsonic, but in listening to that again it's a 307 grain sub-x they're shooting.
They have an A-Tip that is 300 grain. That might work for subsonic. They're shooting 175s for supersonic, and there's a 160 FB and 185 BT in Barnes TTSX. Those are pretty light for a .338 bullet, but not a match bullet. In the video they show hunting pigs and varmints, but that doesn't mean it won't be good for BR.
I would guess 338arc isn't optimal for BR. I believe it has less case capacity than a 6ppc. Start with a grendel case or go 338br.
To me this cartridge is subsonic only.
To me this cartridge is subsonic only.
Despite that, Hornady will market the crap out of this and sell a crap ton of product. It's a smart move, business wise, for Hornady, IMO.
mattri
Silver $$ Contributor
According to this the case capacity is similar.
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