Contemplating the 338 Lapua

[BigJake]

Rather than jumping straight onto the big 50 Bandwagon, I am looking for my next step in long range connections. The 300 win mag is going to be my base starting point. I know I cannot go wrong with that because the ammo is fairly abundant.

Does anyone know how available the 338 ammo is?
I would like to know some imput on how it shoots, and I am all ears for anyone who has fired one, before I get into any "Jaw dropping" shooting.

Thanks.... France sucks the big one....

[Calvin]

BigJake, I have a Mauser 98 converted to .338-06. I can tell you that it's a very versatile/accurate round.
.338 Laupa ammo isn't too abundant, but it's out there.
Shooting a .338 is a joy. Recoil with the magnum loads can be stiff, but not too brutal. Muzzle energy is over 4000 foot-pounds with almost all of the available loads for the magnums, so that should give you a good idea of what they are capable of. Accuracy at long (600+ yards) is extremely good. I have shot a Laupa magnum before, and they are very fine rifles.
I simply chose the .338-06 because of a few reasons I thought were important to me. A couple of the main ones were brass availability and barrel life. The .338 magnum is hard on barrels, as any magnum rifle caliber is. Barrel life is about 5000 rounds before the throat gets too eroded and needs to be replaced. I can get over twice that with mine, and only be about 150 fps slower than the magnums. Not a bad trade-off, if you ask me.
As far as brass goes, I can use either .30/06 or .35 Whelen brass to reform my cases.
I would say to get one without hesitation. They are extremely versatile and can be very accurate at long ranges. Mine can make consistant hits past 600 yards fairly effortlessly. I want to try it at 1000, but can't find that kind of range here.
HTH

[BattleRifleG3]

If you want super magnums, the 300 Remington Ultra mag is known to be accurate. I'm slowly getting used to my Savage in that caliber. Recoil isn't bad at all, though reloading is a must, which is why I haven't gotten that much use out of mine, since I've been waiting for my friend's new manual to be printed. 338 Lapua is bound to be very expensive, probably as much as if not more than 50 BMG.