My first wildcatting was to increase velocity to increase energy without blowing up or stretching the frame on my Thompson Center Contenders. Being a handgun hunter in big bear country I wanted to reach out and touch a deer and still have something for bear protection. SO either my bud or my wife always carried a repeating rifle.

When the Encores came out I immediately got a 338 X06 barrel! After a very close encounter of the worst kind (bear/cubs/12 feet) I decided that my single shot just wasn't big enough. Think of the old volkswagen beatles,put hair and legs on it with a really nasty personality! SO I improved the 338 X06. I did not get enough improvement so went to the 338 Gibbs. Poor brass = poor case life awesome ballistics. Ran into a fellow wildcatter who also shot many of the Gibbs line and he turned me onto the RWS brass. Tried it,liked it,never wore a case out . In the process I learned of the 7X65Rimmed case. Ordered a bunch, had a reamer made based on the slightly under 30-06 case size.

Now I had a rimmed 06 sized case so I did not have to take gloves off to extract cases. I had pre-WSM ballistics and did not have to go to belted Magnums to get what I wanted. I was after 06 rifle ballistics when the 06 was shooting 180 grain bullets. The 16" Encore barrel was safely shooting the 180 grain Accubond at well past 2800fps and I quit checking case at 15 reloads. I have never lost a case and have gone past 20 reloads..
SO for me it was application pure and simple. I wanted something that would reach out and take a sheep,goat or deer in the high country and still cover my bacon along the rivers when I was trying to gain access to a distant mountain.

Then there was another bear attack. Yes I felt comfortable screwing the barrel in a ear if the bear chose to come around the tree to get me. But what if I were in the open/unprotected? I now have a 8 pound 338 Edge, 6.2 pound 338WSM and a couple 6.7 pound 338 Win Mags. The 338R CE just hasn't the powder capacity to drive the big bullets like the larger cases will. 225 and 250gr bullets down the pipe in close in country and lighter long ranging bullets in the high country.

Need is what I was after. No excuses the past couple years for where i have been though.

Neal