6.5 forever
Silver $$ Contributor
Agree on the Hornady assessment. Not good brass or good ELDM bullets either.
Thoughts on partial case separation
- Thread starter MrK.
- Start date
Maybe at this point you need to get hold of a no go gage and if it will close on a no go ten you have a legitimate gripe with Ruger that is provable. Ruger should make good on it if its out of spec. I am unsure I understand the 338 Ruger as I've seen it talked about on this and other forums. I saw yesterday someone posted about loading 165 up to 200 grain bullets. Why would you do that, all of those bullet weights can be loaded in a 308win? Now I do understand what a 225 and a 250 grain Nosler petition can do in .338 as I shoot those in a 338 win mag, and a milder version of that would be cool. But why .338 and load the light for caliber bullets when the 308 is the easy button? Does the 338 have enough taper to take a thread or two off the barrel and set it back and cure the headspace problem and the grooved chamber at the same time? Good luck a valued hunting rifle that you trust is a valuable thing and starting all over again can be worrisome.
Exactly , I have a set of lee dies and when setup by the instructions they were resizing almost 11 thousands.... That brass won't live long but it will chamber in any gun and lees phone won't be ringing with people asking why their brass won't chamber so they don't care if you only get 2-3 firings...
After tinkering in the workshop this morning with fired cases I think the chamber is in spec but on the long end. I looked around for a smith with an actual no-go gauge instead of a go gauge and tape and they wanted $50 to drop it into my chamber and close the bolt. I found a Forster no-go gauge on the 'Zon for $35 so I picked that up... it will be here tomorrow so we will know for sure.
As for why a .338 Federal... my initial thought is why not... Another reason is that I am getting almost 2700 fps with 200 grain bullets. My .308 shoots 165 grain NBTs right at 2600.
As for why a .338 Federal... my initial thought is why not... Another reason is that I am getting almost 2700 fps with 200 grain bullets. My .308 shoots 165 grain NBTs right at 2600.
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You are correct…. My Model 88 loves 150 grain Remington Core lock factory ammo so I had a bunch of RP brass on hand. The new Hornady was an impulse buy back during Covid.
Have you tried to find 338 Federal brass lately? Loaded ammunition isn't very common either. Using 308 is the easy button in my Tikka. Both older WW & new SIG brass have formed with no problems.
I think if you are going to approach Ruger about fixing it a proper gage would go a long way to convincing them to do what is right. In years gone by they were very generous when repairing their guns, but its been a while since Ive sent them anything. does the 338 Ruger use the same headspace gage as the 308 win?
I have not. I have no need for it, I was curious. But, now that you have mentioned it a quick search revealed
Starline, Primary Tactical and Federal show virgin brass available.
Starline & Federal are not available @ Staline & Federal or any of the usual suspects I use regularly. Never heard of Primary Tactical. Looks like they even have some double-net+ Starline in stock. Oh well. The cheaper WW & SIG 308 is already formed.
I've never heard of Primary Tactical either. Interesting about Federal and Starline they listed available when I checked just a while ago, let me put in in the cart and didn't note unavailable. Oh Well, I'll take your word for it. Doesn't make any difference to the subject of the tread, just a question I had.
Sure is
I waas thinking that when cases are designed they make some longer than the parent case so the can't fire in the wrong rifle. Like a 270 win is longer than a 30-06, so if you sized a 270 to 06 length it would be too short like the situation you have. If it were mine I would check headspace with a proper gage and talk to Ruger if it is not in spec. If not and I wanted to continue I would get a smith to take a thread or 2 off the chamber end and recut the chamber the right size and eliminate the ring at the same time. I have a 25-06 that Ive owned and hunted with for many years, I ruined the barrel in a place where they fertilized with the irrigation and got fertilizer dripped in the barrel as I was field dressing a deer. I went to great lengths to get it fixed, it was like a friend. The stories it can tell about WYO lopes.
I'd give them a call, for sure. That said, there is another gauge beyond a n-go, called a field gauge. Not sure what they'll say but I'd guess they will make it right. As others have alluded to, it won't hurt anything once you know how to set the dies up for it but if you ever sold it, it could be a problem for someone else and IMO, it never shoulda left like that. They may say that Field is their max, too...just fwiw. But now you know.
Ya... I was thinking after I ordered the no-go that I should have ordered the field gauge instead.
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