Remington Sendero .338 Ultra Mag

Guns Magazine, Jan, 2001 by Dave Anderson

At about the same time a German gunsmith named Gerlich was experimenting with various large-capacity cases using improved German powders. One of his cartridges, the .335 Halger (for Halbe & Gerlich), based on the H&H case, claimed performance of 3,125 fps from a 240 gr. bullet. If this velocity was actually reached, it must have been at very high pressures or else in a very long barrel. Halger rifles and cartridges never got much distribution in America but they did get a lot of publicity in the shooting press.

Modern .338s

In 1956, Winchester launched its magnum series of cartridges based on the H&H belted magnum case, shortened to 2.5" to function in standard (.30-'06 length) actions. First in the series was the .458 Mag. "African." The second, in 1958, was the .338 Mag.; Winchester called it the "Alaskan," indicating the type of game for which the company thought it was best suited. In capacity and design it was similar to the .33 BSA of 1921 but with better powders, better choice of bullet weights and much better bullet design.

Roy Weatherby, not to be outdone by a conservative old company like Winchester, responded by necking up his .300 Wthrby. Mag. case to accept 0.338" bullets to create the .340 Wthby. Magnum. Muzzle velocities exceed those of the .338 Win. Mag. by 150 to 200 fps in similar barrel lengths.

The new magnum .338s proved successful -- not runaway successes like the .308 or 7mm Rem., but solid, steady sellers. This is rather surprising. Certainty the number of Alaskan and African hunters alone couldn't account for these steady sales.

During the mid-1960s Elmer Keith and Bob Thompson shortened the .378 Wthby. case a bit and necked it to accept .338" bullets. The .338 K.T. (or Katy, as it came to be known) was a fairly popular wildcat. Muzzle velocity with 250 gr. bullets was 2,950 to 3,000 fps. Case forming was a bit tedious and because of this the Katy seems to have faded away.

The belt on the H&H case is needed for headspacing on cartridges with little or no shoulder such as the .375 and .458 Mags. On cartridges such as the .338 and .340, which have an adequate shoulder, the belt is redundant.

Beltless cases have some advantages. Overall case diameter can be the same as the belt, increasing case capacity. Feeding, headspacing and bore alignment are improved. Admittedly these advantages are largely theoretical -- the 7mm Rem. and .300 Win. Mags. have proved extremely accurate in long-range competition and belted cases do feed and function reliably. But the pursuit of perfection is what rifle shooting is alt about.

A Magnum Without The Belt

The first beltless, magnum-capacity .338 was made in the mid-'7.0s by a gunsmith named Gwyn Davidson, a South African who emigrated to Canada and later to America, Davidson had used a .404 Jeffery for African hunting. He designed a series of cartridges using .404 brass from RWS and Bertram of Australia. All were improved (blown out to maximum dimensions) with sharp shoulders and one-caliber necks.

His personal favorite was in .358 caliber, but he also made rifles in .338 caliber. His rifles were made to customer order. He had no interest in promoting his wildcats, possibly because it was hard to. come by brass.