.338 Spectre

[Werewolf]

I buy custom ammo from a garage type FFL/Custom Ammo manufacturer here in OKC and one of the rounds he specializes in is the .338 Specter. I saw one yesterday when I picked up what I thought was a .357 Sig Casing.

Ron told me it was .338 Specter. He said they're a subsonic rifle round. He loads them with a 300 gr FMJ bullet. He showed me a loaded cartridge and half the length of the thing is the bullet. He told me the cartridge is very accurate and is used as a sniper round out to 500 yards. He was reluctant to tell me the type of customer he sells that round to.

Has anyone here ever heard of or better yet used a .338 Specter? What are your experiences with it. As a subsonic it would seem to me to be useful only to assasins whether employed by the government or otherwise.

As an aside he showed me a 14 Caliber bullet which I had no idea even existed. He told me it is becoming popular with the pro-varminters. It's 17 grain and pops out of the end of the barrel at around 4300 FPS. No rifles are made commercially for it and are all custom built.

This guy makes really good ammo at some really good prices. For examle what I buy from him is .308 with a 147 gr BTFMJ RM bullet. MV is 2782 FPS and this is MOA or less ammo. Cost $7.80 a box of 20. He makes custom ammo and specializes in some really weird cartridges I've never heard of but makes the normal stuff too. Here's a link to his website if anyone's interested: http://www.reedsammo.com/contact.html

The web site is a bit difficult to navigate but I think it's worth a look. He will ship to anywhere and you have to order the stuff before he'll make it.

 

[GunnySkox]

I've heard of something similar to how you describe the .338 Spectre. The Whisper line of cartridges are all large rifle-caliber bullets in smaller cases, designed to deliver good power at moderate range while making less noise than full-power cartridges. I'm not sure, but I think they also might've been purposefully sub-sonic, to make them more practical to use with suppressors.

But that's all memory, and I'm a moron, so someone cleverer than me will inevitably roll along and give you a straighter dope than I.

~GnSx

 

[only1asterisk]

The 338 Spectre is the brainchild of Mart ter Weeme and a product of his company Teppo Jutsu LLC. The cartridge is the 10mm Magnum case necked down to hold a .338 bullet. Designed with subsonic 300 grain Sierra Matchkings in mind, it also has interesting supersonic capabilities similar to 357 Max contenders.

Subsonic cartridges have lots of uses other than assassinations. Besides obvious military a LE use, this is a good combination for animal control and just plain fun.

To convert an AR15 one only needs the barrel, off the shelf 6.8 SPC bolt and magazine.

David

 

[Correia]

As a subsonic it would seem to me to be useful only to assasins whether employed by the government or otherwise.

Yeah, can we put that Brady Bunch myth out to pasture allready?

Suppressed firearms are the funnest type to shoot, are incredibly versitile, and the easiest to teach with.

I've got access to about a dozen suppressed weapons, and I haven't murdered anybody.

 

[270Win]

I remember first coming across the .338 Spectre in my Cartridges of the World book... quite an interesting round!

There are a few rounds like that, if I recall.

 

[Tony Williams]

I have a couple of illustrated articles on my website which might interest you. One is about the Teppo Jutsu range - HERE

The other is about subsonic rifle cartridges for suppressed firearms - HERE

I've already posted pics from the latter on another thread recently, so here's the pic from the Teppo Jutsu article:

From left to right: .30 HRT (110 grain Hornady V-Max); .338 Spectre – 300 grain Sierra Hollow Point Boat Tail Match King) and 300 grain HAWK Round Nose; .458 SOCOM – 300 grain Barnes X Spitzer, 400 grain Barnes Round Nose Solid and 600 grain Barnes Original; .500 Phantom - 168 grain Sierra HPBTMK (saboted), 700 grain HAWK and 750 grain Hornady A-Max.

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion forum