338 fed rebuild

[stagpanther]

I put a 338 fed together a few years ago based on Wilson Combat's barrel, it's a rather odd-ball affair at 18" and is the only AR barrel I've ever bought that comes with an intermediate length gas system. It came fluted and unthreaded at a discount price, so I believe it was meant for a woods hunting gun.

I went with a Guntech stripped upper initially (theoretically compatible with any DPMS low style lower), but I never could get the rifle to cycle reliably and went through many convolutions of part swapping until I figured out it simply didn't work with any of the different LR308 lowers I have. So it collected dust in the back of a safe. Got a tickle from Midway that they had LR308 uppers in stock, so I went ahead and got a Colt billet gen 2 though the fit isn't totally wobble-free (yes, I know I can get rid of that). Happy to say the 338 fed is back in the rotation and the Colt upper plays well with any of my lower receivers.

 

[Crankylove]

Nice looking rifle.

Mine is all plain Jane black, and much more of a budget build, except for the suppressor…………that item isn’t really budget friendly.

What bullet weights/velocities are you running in yours? Ive been shooting some 225 grain (they were free), but will be loading up some 185 gr factory seconds from midway soon. I already have a .358 Win for big and slow bullets (almost exclusively 250 gr) for short range work, and would like to get a little more speed out of the .338 Fed. compared the the .358.

 

[stagpanther]

Nice looking rifle.

Mine is all plain Jane black, and much more of a budget build, except for the suppressor…………that item isn’t really budget friendly.

What bullet weights/velocities are you running in yours? Ive been shooting some 225 grain (they were free), but will be loading up some 185 gr factory seconds from midway soon. I already have a .358 Win for big and slow bullets (almost exclusively 250 gr) for short range work, and would like to get a little more speed out of the .338 Fed. compared the the .358.

Thanks cranky--like you, I also did a 358win build (mine loves 225 gamekings) and this build is also a "budget" build for the most part (the WC barrel was on sale for about $200 as I recall, my guess it was being discontinued). As I'm sure you know, the bullet selection for the 338 fed in an AR is very limited due to COL limitations. I typically use shortish spire-point type hunting bullets in the 180 to 200 gr range i.e. 200 gr hotcors (driven by 2000MR); Woodleigh 180 (driven by 8208 XBR); and 185 TSX (driven by ram exterminator). The fed is a tricky one for hunting purposes as I understand it--got to watch bullet velocities and be aware of when they might be too much/too little, but I haven't hunted with it so far. My rig weighs 9 lbs all-up which actually does make it a reasonable hunting carry LR308 IMO. I'd have to search around to see if I can find velocities for you (the computer I keep my labradar files on crashed recently and not all the files restored properly ) IMO the 338 fed and 358 win are so close in performance it probably doesn't make much difference using one over the other, but I can't back that up with hunting results. Pushing the 338 fed hard makes mine prone to "bang and klang" and I'm increasingly getting averse (lazy) to tuning parts and gas blocks in my old age.

 

[Scorch]

I figured out it simply didn't work with any of the different LR308 lowers I have

You learned the lesson the easy way. I have seen a lot of people try to "fit" DPMS uppers onto Armalite or RRA lowers. They then try to "fit" the upper to the lower and end up buying new parts for their efforts. A lot of shooters say "it's an AR, why won't it fit?" and when I try to explain the difference between the SR25 pattern receivers and AR-10 receivers I get this confused look back like they don't believe me. That's why I use the generic term "308 AR" when I talk to people about large ARs. They're not all the same.

 

[Crankylove]

The fed is a tricky one for hunting purposes as I understand it--got to watch bullet velocities and be aware of when they might be too much/too little, but I haven't hunted with it so far.

I’ve heard the same, and haven’t hunted with mine either.

Lots of people seem to prefer the lighter weights (165-200’s), saying the heavies can’t be driven fast enough with the .308 based case, to get adequate velocities for reliable expansion, and end up just punching a .338 hole through the game.

I went with a 16”, lightweight barrel (planned on suppressing it from the start), blem PSA DPMS style upper, and a Tennessee Arms poly lower. I built it for a close(r) range deer/elk/antelope/watermelon/soda can/squirrel gun, and wanted to go lighter weight so I could actually pack it around, and not just shoot it from a bench. Had plenty of people say the lower won’t hold up, but it’s been doing ok so far, and, it was free. The suppressor (Bowers Dreadnought) adds a little length and weight back onto it, but with the poly lower and short, .750 barrel, it really isn’t too bad.

I’ve been loading the 225’s, cause the were all I had, and free, but those are close enough to the 250’s coming out of my .358 bolt gun, that I am really hoping the 185’s I picked up shoot well, would like a bit more velocity, and a little flatter shooting.

One day I may have to pick up a .308, I’ve got three .308 based cartridges I shoot, but no .308.

 

[stagpanther]

They're not all the same.

Yeah, I've known that for a long time and have built lots of LR308 ARs (in addition to regular multi-cal AR15's)--but the guntech upper I have is so far off I don't think it will work with anything but perhaps a guntech lower (if they even make one).

 

[taylorce1]

That's why I stick to building AR-15 rifles, better industry standards for mixing parts. My buddy has a .358 Yeti, performance is similar to the .35 Rem. That would be good enough for me and it fits in the AR-15. Neck it down and shoot 160-200 grain .338 bullets and it would be pretty bueno as well in the AR-15.

The weight of the AR-10 has also kept me from using them. I'm just not going to hump around one for the type of hunting I do. Heck, I often times have troubles keep ing my bolt action rifles light enough to want to carry them.