338-284

A

AKSam

Member
Wondering if anyone has played with this wildcat before. Living in AK now, and while I trust my 280ai slinging the 155AH at 3170 to kill anything i point it at, I think there is some AK street cred I’m missing by not having a 338 something or another in the safe. Oddly, I don’t even have a 30 in the safe these days, other than a sporterized O3a3 my dad gave me when I was a kid. Anyway, this will go into the pile of barrels that gets swapped around on one of my Tikkas (which is otherwise identical to my 280ai). I don’t have or want a magnum bolt, so that trims down my options quite a bit. 338-06 (ai or not) or the 338 Sherman (270 based) bothe make a lot of sense, but I think I’d like something a little more obscure, and I love the 284 case (and I happen to have a bunch from a project that never happened). Planning on either the 175HH or 186SH.

TLDR- anyone have experience with the 338-284, especially with hammers?
 
Well, it’s off and running- ordered barrel and dies, as well as a couple extra expander mandrels to make some brass. Will need to make up some dummy rounds so it gets throated correctly, since I’ve got lots of room in the magazine. Should be a fun project for later in the winter.
 
Necks went from .0155-.0160 to .0135-.0140. I think they’ll do just fine. Need to order some Hammers, and of course the long wait for the barrel. Thinking the 175HH or maybe the 186 SH. Use will be moose and black bears, inside 300. Brown bears sometime prior to them crunching my skull, ideally. Any thoughts on that choice?


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The 338 line of pills is the toughest to pick from imo. I’ve loaded the 175hh and 205ph in a 338rum. I’ve not seen anything shot with the 175hh but I believe the hp depth is too deep. There is a review on the 175hh where you purchase pills, it says the 175hh deflected up, from a rib shot, into the spine. There is a pic on the review that appears to be the case.
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So this review leads me to believe my theory of the 175hh to be correct. An unbalanced pill.

The 205ph has been used with mixed results. Sometimes explosive and sometimes not. And it has shown that the shank can turn.

So I would look at the 186sh and the 200sh. If anyone has the hollow point depths of these two pills I’d tell you which one I’d go with.

The last time I remember a discussion about choosing a 338 pill @Farleg had on hand and recommended the 225sh. If the 225sh isn’t too heavy for your needs, I’d recommend it for now.

Good luck
Kneedeep
 
I appreciate that info. The 225 is probably going to push the recoil up and muzzle velocity down from my goal, but if it turns out that is what will work, that’s where I’ll go. I’ll probably start with the 186 and see how it goes. It’s first test will probably be on a black bear over bait next next spring so hopefully enough to get an idea of how it works in tissue.
 
kneedeep said:
The 338 line of pills is the toughest to pick from imo. I’ve loaded the 175hh and 205ph in a 338rum. I’ve not seen anything shot with the 175hh but I believe the hp depth is too deep. There is a review on the 175hh where you purchase pills, it says the 175hh deflected up, from a rib shot, into the spine. There is a pic on the review that appears to be the case.
View attachment 4433
So this review leads me to believe my theory of the 175hh to be correct. An unbalanced pill.

The 205ph has been used with mixed results. Sometimes explosive and sometimes not. And it has shown that the shank can turn.

So I would look at the 186sh and the 200sh. If anyone has the hollow point depths of these two pills I’d tell you which one I’d go with.

The last time I remember a discussion about choosing a 338 pill @Farleg had on hand and recommended the 225sh. If the 225sh isn’t too heavy for your needs, I’d recommend it for now.

Good luck
Kneedeep
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My mom shot a moose this year with the 175 HH in an 8.6 blackout that I built with fantastic results. 100 yards, hit a rib going in, destroyed/liquified the lungs, and blew blood out the backside for like 3-4 feet. Moose got up, took two steps, hung his head and fell back into his bed.
 
Sprint1006 said:
My mom shot a moose this year with the 175 HH in an 8.6 blackout that I built with fantastic results. 100 yards, hit a rib going in, destroyed/liquified the lungs, and blew blood out the backside for like 3-4 feet. Moose got up, took two steps, hung his head and fell back into his bed.
Click to expand...
Sprint 1006

I have not forgotten about your mom’s moose! It certainly caught my attention as a stand out. Not only because of the impressive performance but the fact that your mom is out hunting. My mom is close to 70 and still hunts for whitetail with a crossbow, muzzleloader and straight wall cartridge. Up until a couple years ago she could easily hand catch more bullfrogs than anyone else I knew. At night with a light in a rubber raft.

I hope you shoot more animals with your 8.6 and the 175hh. I also hope you post the results. I look at the 338/175hh similar to the old 308/137hh before it was adjusted. There are those that had great results with the old 137hh and then occasionally those that did not.

Now the 3 twist of your 8.6 is more than 3 times faster than most 10 twist 338s. This is the part that intrigues me the most. I’m curious what the entry side hide stretch looked like. I’m guessing not as much as the same pill at the same velocity with a 10 twist. I’m curious what the lungs looked like out of the chest cavity and out of the pool of blood. I’m also curious what the petal pattern looked like on the exit side as well as the shank exit holes in the ribs and the hide.

The 3-4 foot of blood spray out the back is extremely impressive as well as the quickness of the kill. I hope this is a common occurrence for you. For those with standard twist, I’m guessing the 175hh will work great and then get an occasional wtf.

Just my opinion
Kneedeep
 
Get even more AK cred by stepping up to the 35 caliber space. 35 Whelen AI with the 200gr Power Hammer.....

.
 
choprzrul said:
Get even more AK cred by stepping up to the 35 caliber space. 35 Whelen AI with the 200gr Power Hammer.....

.
Click to expand...
Considered, but wanted to use the 284 case. I like them, and had some on the shelf that I didn’t have a use for. Also think I can get all the recoil I want out of this case (I shoot a bare muzzle and still have to shoot it well).
 
kneedeep said:
Sprint 1006

I have not forgotten about your mom’s moose! It certainly caught my attention as a stand out. Not only because of the impressive performance but the fact that your mom is out hunting. My mom is close to 70 and still hunts for whitetail with a crossbow, muzzleloader and straight wall cartridge. Up until a couple years ago she could easily hand catch more bullfrogs than anyone else I knew. At night with a light in a rubber raft.

I hope you shoot more animals with your 8.6 and the 175hh. I also hope you post the results. I look at the 338/175hh similar to the old 308/137hh before it was adjusted. There are those that had great results with the old 137hh and then occasionally those that did not.

Now the 3 twist of your 8.6 is more than 3 times faster than most 10 twist 338s. This is the part that intrigues me the most. I’m curious what the entry side hide stretch looked like. I’m guessing not as much as the same pill at the same velocity with a 10 twist. I’m curious what the lungs looked like out of the chest cavity and out of the pool of blood. I’m also curious what the petal pattern looked like on the exit side as well as the shank exit holes in the ribs and the hide.

The 3-4 foot of blood spray out the back is extremely impressive as well as the quickness of the kill. I hope this is a common occurrence for you. For those with standard twist, I’m guessing the 175hh will work great and then get an occasional wtf.

Just my opinion
Kneedeep
Click to expand...
I plan to hunt with the gun on my cow elk hunt in February I will try to better report the results on that one. We didn’t dissect the moose, just looked from the out side in but there was definitely no deflection the hole in the hid going in was bullet size. Hit a rib dead center, tore the lungs up good when I moved them around with my hands. Lots of mushy lung material. The exit hole was in a straight line across the moose and was probably 2-3 times bullet size. My hope is to get a little further of a shot on a cow elk and see how it does.
 
kneedeep said:
Sprint 1006

I have not forgotten about your mom’s moose! It certainly caught my attention as a stand out. Not only because of the impressive performance but the fact that your mom is out hunting. My mom is close to 70 and still hunts for whitetail with a crossbow, muzzleloader and straight wall cartridge. Up until a couple years ago she could easily hand catch more bullfrogs than anyone else I knew. At night with a light in a rubber raft.

I hope you shoot more animals with your 8.6 and the 175hh. I also hope you post the results. I look at the 338/175hh similar to the old 308/137hh before it was adjusted. There are those that had great results with the old 137hh and then occasionally those that did not.

Now the 3 twist of your 8.6 is more than 3 times faster than most 10 twist 338s. This is the part that intrigues me the most. I’m curious what the entry side hide stretch looked like. I’m guessing not as much as the same pill at the same velocity with a 10 twist. I’m curious what the lungs looked like out of the chest cavity and out of the pool of blood. I’m also curious what the petal pattern looked like on the exit side as well as the shank exit holes in the ribs and the hide.

The 3-4 foot of blood spray out the back is extremely impressive as well as the quickness of the kill. I hope this is a common occurrence for you. For those with standard twist, I’m guessing the 175hh will work great and then get an occasional wtf.

Just my opinion
Kneedeep
Click to expand...
The 3 twist 338 barrels that are out there for that cartridge are intriguing. I was tempted to try one for this project, but I’ll probably shoot some cast bullets for plinking out of this rifle as well, and don’t think they’d stay together spinning that fast.
 
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