338 ARC

The match bullet will have a higher BC than a round nose Maker, true, but it's not the BC you think it is. And it has no expansion capability. I can verify the Maker bullets expand very well and there are plenty of examples from other people shooting them demonstrating that they expand well. I really don't think that's debatable.
Yes, I know....the match bullet will be much lower because the BC changes with velocity, but still have a small advantage, even at subsonic speed, and increases with range. And sub hunting is a close range endevor. But as one goes supersonic the advantage begins to really widen again, as I shoot alot of supers.
You say "And Makers expand very well"... not necessarily. I have tested them....They are very twist, velocity, and medium dependent. The petals can blow off before they reach the target, they open too slow, they open too fast and blow off the petals leaving a tiny fmj wound channel or don't open at all. Sometimes they seem to work.
I have shot a bunch of them.
Would I hunt anything with them? Absolutely not.
But I won't hunt with any subonic gun, when I have magnum rifles on hand and a 6 lb 308 AR 10 to take care of the close range work, fast handling with quick, high velocity follow up shots.
Would I build 338 ARC? Yeah probably, just to play with, and test...a fun gun. I do that all the time. And shoot lots of subs.
Would I hunt anything with it ....absolutely not.
But others will, and may be their primary goal of owning a 338 ARC.
 

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I wonder what kind of velocity’s you could get out of a 8-9 inch barrel with a 150-165 solid copper bullet similar to the 110 ttsx for the 300 blackout. Should be a solid heavy hitting pdw for 100-300 yards. 338 arc doesn’t interest me much for hunting tho due to the 6 arc and 300 prc having those spots taken.
 
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I wonder what kind of velocity’s you could get out of a 8-9 inch barrel with a 150-165 solid copper bullet similar to the 110 ttsx for the 300 blackout. Should be a solid heavy hitting pdw for 100-300 yards. 338 arc doesn’t interest me much for hunting tho due to the 6 arc and 300 prc having those spots taken.
I find that in such a limited case capacity, copper bullets are taking up too much space, especially if so slow they won't open. The ttsx is great, but I like the 110 V-Max better.
 
So, the angry bald guy does have some valid points, with twist rates, barrel extensions, magazines, and limited rd mags.
But that does not deter many, as 5 rds or 10 rds in the mag, may be enough....if one can modify the mag, feed ramps, enough to get it to feed reliably.
Hornady has announced the 338 ARC but nothing is available at this time brass, dies, barrels, etc ...but coming soon.
A year later maybe, it will have general availability....support? Takes along time with Hornady.
Its not a super sonic cartridge, too small capacity, he is correct.
I believe it could be a good subsonic cartridge depending on the barrel makers, twist, feed ramps, and mags.
It's true faster twist opens bullets faster, that depends on bullet design, and how extreme the twist, if it's a positive or negative For hunters a 6.5 twist may be better for bullets designed to open up on game.
But the 8 twist is fine for us plinkers and target shooters.
I changed the 3 twist barrel for a 6.5 twist on my own 8.6 Blackout, as the 3 twist was too extreme and dangerous IMO, as bullets blow up inside the muzzle device as soon as they leave the confines of the barrel. I have photos of the destruction.
A 5 twist is available in blank form but it wasn't worth the trouble of machining to see if this was a better option for hunters with sub bullets...since I'm not into that endeavor, just curious.
 
I find that in such a limited case capacity, copper bullets are taking up too much space, especially if so slow they won't open. The ttsx is great, but I like the 110 V-Max better.
Want those normal copper hunting bullets to open up, ya need enough case capacity. Here the 160 Barnes in 8.6 Blackout, has enough case capacity to do that...6.5 twist barrel, only ...2800 fps. Can't go as fast in a 3 twist I had both twist rates at the same time to test, pressure spikes fast and the bullet doesn't seem to accelerate fast enough out of case as the powder burns, and powder energy is consumed in the form of heat and rotational force instead of forward velocity, in the 3 twist...this was also one of the first Faxon rough rifled barrels in 3 twist....not a fan of 3 twist.
Also the 300 Hamr will run the 110 grs at 2700 to 2790 fps, but not a sub round, in 16" to 18" barrels.
 

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Looks a LOT like the 338 Spectre but guessing it will have better support.
I think that’s exactly what it will be.

A pod caster on YouTube shared to wait on a 338 Spectre video I saw last week.

Hornady is stating that the new .338 ARC is capable of anything someone would use a 44 Magnum for.

I think that will make it more mainstream than it otherwise would be.
 
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338 ARC vs 338 Spectre
Almost identical.
I made a 338 ARC case with a home built die not having the exact dimensions, but the 338 ARC COAL at 1.293" I trimmed it to 1.283" for a barley fit to the ogive of the 300 gr Berger.
The shoulder of the case could be larger or the neck longer, but I just used a cut down 6.5 Grendel.
The water capacity other mockup 338 ARC was 29.0 gr at .010 short on length.
Q load says the water capacity of the 338 Spectre is 28.80 grains.with a case length of 1.252"
So one can plug in 338 ARC in the 338 Spectre cartridge data and get your load data...that simple.
But it only has a MAP of 37,500 psi where the 338 ARC is 52,000 psi Max.
Plug and play...easy.
 
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338 ARC vs 338 Spectre
Almost identical.
I made a 338 ARC case with a home built die not having the exact dimensions, but the 338 ARC COAL at 1.293" I trimmed it to 1.283" for a barley fit to the ogive of the 300 gr Berger.
The shoulder of the case could be larger or the neck longer, but I just used a cut down 6.5 Grendel.
The water capacity other mockup 338 ARC was 29.0 gr at .010 short on length.
Q load says the water capacity of the 338 Spectre is 28.80 grains.with a case length of 1.252"
So one can plug in 338 ARC in the 338 Spectre cartridge data and get your load data...that simple.
But it only has a MAP of 37,500 psi where the 338 ARC is 52,000 psi Max.
Plug and play...easy.
It will do what the Spectre does but with Big H support.

I’m intrigued.
 
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Well boys, Kevin hates it so you may as well pack it up and go home.


Not surprised by Brittingham's position, pretty much the same shit he's done for years. There are some pretty epic stories out there on his interactions in the industry and community, and reasons why he's been banned from other forums.
 
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Apparently plexiglass in front of a wet cardboard box, with maybe some shaving cream or glue in there lol
It was a 2 liter bottle of water...lol.
The perfect mushrooms shown look like ballistics gel not meat. If it was meat they failed to penetrate through the animal which I consider inadequate and a failure.
They have a lot of S/D at 350 grs and mine really penetrate. But also were inconsistent, no perfect mushrooms, but highly varied pieces of bullet, bent bullet, blown off petals...
But for me it's just a test and I don't care how they perform, ...just report how did they perform....cause I ain't gonna use them to kill game animals.
I just want to know if they work as advertised, the answer is sometimes, part of the way through, and a few not at all.
An animal is made of hair, hide, muscle, blood and bone. Not ballistics gel...and even there the petals break off, bullets curve off path.
I did find them accurate in the 6.5 twist.
And so it is... I do not care if they are used or not, and experiences differ.
They had trouble with the 3 twist 1000 fps a new lot says 1050 max fps... cause the petals blow off before reaching the target.
Like my muzzle brake and magneto speed bayonet.
Very dangerous, csuse ya don't know which way all the shrapnel is going, bullet fragments and muzzle brake fragments.
The 338 ARC will be better here with the 8 twist...but you'll have to get the correct bullets for it. As they may not open up with Maker 3 twist bullets, cause they make them for the 338 Spectre with 6.5 twist would be a better bet for performance, in your 338 ARC.
Yep, I tested blowing up bullets on purpose with a recommended load in the 3 twist.
This time no muzzle device or chronograph...barrel inside the box the bullet blows up as soon as it leaves the confines of the barrel...sending pieces of bullet to all sides of the box, back, top, bottom, & sides.
When no one tells the truth, or muddies up the facts, you have to find out for yourself.
An inquiring mind wants to know.
 

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I was bored so I got on the wait list for an upper. Should be about 4 week before they start shipping. Let's see if I follow through! :LOL:
I already have load data written down...
It's a tiny case with big bullets, pressures jump really fast like 2 tenths extra powder can get into the danger zone.
Subs are fairly high pressure, so powder burns should be good.
Powders are limited because of the small capacity. Similar to 300 Blackout.
Supers are nonexistent basicly and still mushroom up with most bullets.
The Barnes 160 gr might reach 1920 fps at max pressure in a 12" barrel for example.
The Spectre is 1850 fps in 16" for factory ammo, but it runs at lower pressure, so a 12 " ARC should reach that with the 52,000 psi.
Maker has a 160 gr 338 expanding for supers for the 6.5 twist 338 Spectre, that supposed to work down to 900 fps. But you will have to confirm that before using.
A 200 gr Nosler is around 1600 fps no help there for hunting on a 12".
I did a fair amount of research for what information is available.
I believe thr 338 ARC to be a pretty good subsonic gun, and not much use as a super sonic gun, unless special light bullets are made that will expand at lower velocity, but they won't be cheap plinking like the 300 blackout with 147 fmj.
Plus issues to overcome with mags might exist.
Intriguing, yeah kinda...
For me it would be another fun gun torally worthless for anything but fun.
Good enough reason to own one...😀
 
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@Ledzep

How do pressures compare to a subsonic .300BO?

Curious if suppressors rated for subsonic .300BO will be able to handle this cartridge (i.e. Octane 45HD).
That's exactly what I was think when I first heard about this. It makes me want a subsonic / suppressed only setup so bad to use around the farm to not disturb the neighbours.

Maybe my old yhm resonator will have a big enough bore diameter. I can measure it or the rugged obsidian 45 possibly
 
The gold standard is going to be a TBAC 338 Ultra
probably so if db reduction and precision are the two primary selection criteria ...

tbac makes a hell of a can ... i love my dominus sr

somehow I ended up with a YHM resonator and I think the bore diameter on it will be big enough to shoot 338 projectiles through

i never use that can anymore anyway so I was just excited about something to use it on again or it would be a good excuse to buy a tbac
 
Well boys, Kevin hates it so you may as well pack it up and go home.


Well fuck... I hate Kevin more than I hate the .338 ARC, so... Goddamnit... I guess now I have to build one now that the raging egomaniac alcholic narc hates it... 🤦🏼🤦🏼🤦🏼

Or, someone must have showed him my "Candy Mongoose 8.6 Rainbow Warrior" Q-mockery post, and so he didn't want to get accused of being a bigger fag than he already is, so now he's against it. 😂
 
Not surprised by Brittingham's position, pretty much the same shit he's done for years. There are some pretty epic stories out there on his interactions in the industry and community, and reasons why he's been banned from other forums.
Yeah, my personal interactions with him over the years is why I hate him so much... Same with Cortina and Alex Wheeler. All egomaniac d-bags. They all have that "I have trophies or .gov contracts, and you don't, so who are you to question what I say, and not worship at my feet like all the other gun simps..." type of attitudes. Pathetic for grown men to act like this.
 
That's exactly what I was think when I first heard about this. It makes me want a subsonic / suppressed only setup so bad to use around the farm to not disturb the neighbours.

Maybe my old yhm resonator will have a big enough bore diameter. I can measure it or the rugged obsidian 45 possibly
Exactly my thought. Is it cute and useless? YES! Will I use it to fuck up any raccoon I see at the house while the neighbors are blissfully unaware? Also YES! Plan on running a Hybrid 46 with a 9mm front cap for the can.
 
It was meat. I said it was meat. A bone in pork shoulder, taped up with black gorilla tape with three layers of denim taped to the front. Backed by water jugs and finally plywood to stop the bullets. I've tested a lot of bullets this way.

190gr SUBXs, 200gr Makers, RMR 9mm Nukes, 9mm Gold Dot HP's. All going between 1000fps and 1060fps.

View attachment 8527867
120gr 6.5mm Speer GDHP, Hornady 55gr SP, 2 x 62gr Speer GDHP, 200gr Maker, Barnes 130gr TTSX, Barnes 110gr TAC TX, 124gr GDHP, 2x147gr GDHP, 124gr RMR Nuke, 115gr modified Nuke.
View attachment 8527870

This medium shows some pretty consistent results with multiple bullets. And it show where some bullets fail. Like the Speer 147gr Gold Dots. Fail to expand well until they're over 1050fps. The Barnes 130gr TTSX is borderline at 2800fps. The TAC TX is phenomenal at 2450fps. The 200gr Maker has a bent petal from penetrating through the pork shoulder, three water jugs and bouncing off the wood backer.

You couldn't be more wrong.
Staged to capture the bullet like I said, you did not recover them from live animals... cause the penetration performance would be dismal if ya did.
Very few are actually recovered from live animals, but you had a fair amount, mentioning meat, falsely leading one to believe the bullets were recovered from big game animals and they all worked perfectly. Unbelievable....so you got called on it. You mislead. It could be hamburger, pork ribs, or a grasshopper the bullet penetrated "meat" under controlled conditions therefore it must be a perfect bullet.

As I mentioned they were pretty hard to recover because of penetration (especially the 350 grain) even in a staged event, where impact velocity, and medium are controlled to get the best outcome for bullet performance.
That doesn't tell ya much other than it has the potential to work. Then when one fails the potential to fail.
How will it hold up going through elk or bear hide and bone?
Velocity to high just blow off the petals, before it reaches the target or at impact?

And sometimes they worked, sometimes they did not. Just the facts.

Check with Maker the manufacturer, who states the velocity range and sometimes the cartridge and twist rate the bullets are to be used at...for example not recommended to use 338 Spectre bullets in 8.6 Blackout, they both .338" in dia but the 3 twist takes a different bullet than the 6.5 twist of the Spectre. They work in a very narrow velocity range with specific twist rstes.
There have been a fair amount of complaints to the manufacturer and it appears they try to listen to improve their bullet, or place further velocity restrictions, or in one case add 50 fps to the top velocity with a 3 twist.
The bullets are what they are.
 
So you're changing your goal post? First it was gel. Now it's because it wasn't a live animal? From the guy shooting water jugs... You can't even take a legible photo.

You won't have good data on bullets if you're only standard is live animals. Because you won't recover the majority of them. And in reality when you are talking about shooting people and animals, weird shit happens. People and animals live through some horrific things. Bones cause bullets to ricochet. We shot a guy with AH64's in the mountains of Afghanistan. 20-30rd burst. I watched the video. He lived, but it turned him into a vegetable. Weird shit happens. To isolate the weird shit, this type of testing really is the better way. And the only viable way. I agree about ballistic gel. It is like a comparator. It gives you a better idea about expansion and penetration compared to other bullets than it does how that bullet will actually perform in live tissue. So capturing after dead tissue is the only practical way of testing to provide empirical data.

You have done neither.
I didn't move any goal posts...just pointed out your "meat" target statement, and the phenomenal bullet recovery efforts, from implied big game animals.
 
I didn't imply anything. I said meat. You said I lied and shot gel. I clarified and then you tried to discount it because it wasn't live tissue. Yes. You did move goal posts. When confronted with facts and data you squirm and vacillate.
Only come clean after you're called out for your BS.... fact.
 
Only come clean after you're called out for your BS.... fact.

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This is what you typed. You strongly suggest @JR1200W3 did not shoot them through any sort of meat, but through ballistic gel.

Then you hedge and say if it was through meat, well then it’s not good enough.

Why didn’t you just ask about what type of meat target it was before your accusation?

I dunno man, if that thing stops inside of me, dumping all of its energy there…ouch. Think of the wound cavity created by that sucker.

Maybe you want an exit for the blood trail?

Maybe it depends if you are hunting animals or shooting people. Regardless, lots of arguments for/against an exit wound in animals.

Me? I want small varmints to explode/backflips etc 💥 lol…obv I’m not the target market.

Meanwhile you shoot two-liter water jugs and post uncaptioned and often confusing pictures, as if others can read your mind?
 
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This is what you typed. You strongly suggest @JR1200W3 did not shoot them through any sort of meat, but through ballistic gel.

Then you hedge and say if it was through meat, well then it’s not good enough.

Why didn’t you just ask about what type of meat target it was before your accusation?

I dunno man, if that thing stops inside of me, dumping all of its energy there…ouch. Think of the wound cavity created by that sucker.

Maybe you want an exit for the blood trail?

Maybe it depends if you are hunting animals or shooting people. Regardless, lots of arguments for/against an exit wound in animals.

Me? I want small varmints to explode/backflips etc 💥 lol…obv I’m not the target market.

Meanwhile you shoot two-liter water jugs and post uncaptioned and often confusing pictures, as if others can read your mind?
That's why I said ainmal to clarify what I ment....as you all know to force him to come clean that he did not shoot live animals as implicated...by the meat statement.
And that his bullets would be considered a failure IMO, if they actually did not shoot through live animals, and he recovered that many from live animals, was highly unusual.
So he confesses, he only shot at target medium with some meat on it....as suspected. It Ain't the same as live animals bullet recovery and that's all I wanted to clarify, and that's all there is to it...The facts..
 
And that his bullets would be considered a failure IMO, if they actually did not shoot through live animals, and he recovered that many from live animals, was highly unusual.
You talking about this post?

With these two pics?
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He didn’t say these bullets were from live animals. Rather, he said they were from his meat target.

Am I missing a post here? Am I in…

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1729403413906.gif
 
He's talking about this post


See how the implication basically means shooting animals? Neither do I.

The reality is he got, got. He was corrected itn his BC comparison. He was corrected on the Maker bullets. He's just trying to hang in by his fingernails by concocting some sort of beef. He doesn't have a 338 Spectre. He doesn't really have anything to add but he feels like people need to listen to him. About a cartridge he has no experience with.
Oh yeah, I get that he’s “beefed” about the beef (meat) post you referenced.

I’m talking about all these bullets he said you supposedly recovered from dead animals (the quote in my post). Well, he said “live animals” but I assume he means “formally live animals” unless JR you are a fucking goddamn werewolf or some shit lol now I’m scared
 
Kinda tempting. I have a short barreled 300BLK, sounds tempting to get a Nuke bolt face and swap to 338 ARC.
Does anyone have the case capacity numbers compared to 338 Spectre ?
Seems like it'll work perfect for fast burning pistol magnum powders such as Bluedot, N105, N32c Tinstar
 
I haven't tried blue dot in the Spectre yet so I don't know if it would work. I have tried Longshot and it doesn't work. It's too fast. It pressures out before you reach 1000fps and it pressures out fast. Works great in 300BO, but not in Spectre. So based on that I have to take the Unique recommendation back. I think it might be too fast as well. But I guess you don't know until you try it. And that's the dilemma. Could be a spicy experiment.
Thats why I'm looking for actual case h20 data so I can run some numbers in QL. I was running my 300BLK bolt gun at 55K psi for subs
 
Kinda tempting. I have a short barreled 300BLK, sounds tempting to get a Nuke bolt face and swap to 338 ARC.
Does anyone have the case capacity numbers compared to 338 Spectre ?
Seems like it'll work perfect for fast burning pistol magnum powders such as Bluedot, N105, N32c Tinstar
Spectre uses a 10mm magnum for the parent case & this essentially is the twin to the Spectre except with an ARC BF.

I *believe I saw on another forum it was within 2 grains of the same case capacity?
 
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I haven't tried blue dot in the Spectre yet so I don't know if it would work. I have tried Longshot and it doesn't work. It's too fast. It pressures out before you reach 1000fps and it pressures out fast. Works great in 300BO, but not in Spectre. So based on that I have to take the Unique recommendation back. I think it might be too fast as well. But I guess you don't know until you try it. And that's the dilemma. Could be a spicy experiment.
Have you used Red Dot for the 300BO?

Sure would be nice if that would work for the 338.
 
Kinda tempting. I have a short barreled 300BLK, sounds tempting to get a Nuke bolt face and swap to 338 ARC.
Does anyone have the case capacity numbers compared to 338 Spectre ?
Seems like it'll work perfect for fast burning pistol magnum powders such as Bluedot, N105, N32c Tinstar
Hornady doesn't have that data out yet. That said in one of their videos they talked about the importance of filling the case for better more consistent powder burn. The person that said this about the 338 ARC did not name the powder but he's a Varget fan for slow burn full case applications like this one.