Hey there. Long time lurker, first time poster. I am still fairly new to shooting, and I never realized how dangerous it is out there. I already have a .338 Win Mag handi rifle that I have turned into a tactical sniper weapon based on the one you originally described. I had the gunsmith put an adjustable muzzle break on it, along with a pistol grip and collapsable stock. And I have a 10-24x varminting scope on it so I can hit Tangos clear out to over 200 yards. It is a great tactical rifle, especially with the 3 point sling I have on it.

My question is this: How can I modify the AR-15 that I have coming to use the same .338 Win Mag rounds? I think I can fit at least 8-10 of them into the magazine if I put them in at an angle. And I can get a .338 caliber barrel from several sources online. So what do I do next? I'd really like to try to do this at home, so I can learn more about gunsmithing. Any help from the master would be greatly appreciated.

-GM

monkey boy:

Excuse me if this is a short reply. It's oh dark 30 here and I just got back to BOQ after running a FTX with my team after we received some critical HUMINT from HQ about possible organized ITO/DOMTERGRP joint activity CONUS. Our drill tonight was to simulate two simultaneous attacks on the retail center: a radiological attack destroying the movie theater as a distraction while the PETA tangos attempt to liberate all of the live animals being stored for slaughter in the food court. I'm happy to say that my team never missed a beat. In fact, the distraction at the theater was completely ignored while we rounded up all three of teh zoo jihadists. Admittedly we lost an estimated 1,300 people in the bomb blast but just because it was a big distraction doesn't mean it wasn't just a distraction from their main operation.

I wish I could report there were no animals injured in the course of our training excerise but unfortunately some of the cats at the China Jade Garden were tasered accidentally and died. Luckily, the meat was still suitable for serving according to the night manager.

On to you're question.

First, the .338 Win Mag is a very week round compared to my prefered .338 Lapua Magnum. Really, there is no comparison. Based on ballistic testing I've done using clay blocks, the Lapua is much more devastating as well as being better at penetrating various common building materials and similar obstacleswe see at the indoor retail complex. Also, the Lapue is what we call "barrier blind" ammunition. That measn its just as accurate even when you can't see the target behind a barrier, as long as you know the right place to aim.

Modifying the AR 15 to accept .338 Lapua ammunition will require serious work by your gunsmith. Instead consider something like the proven .499 Leitner Wise round. It should be very easy to find a conversion kit. The .499 is obviously just one thousandth less powerful than the .50 BMG, and we all know the .50 kills people from more than a mile away.


Also, with regards to your tactical sniper kit. I would suggest you de-X the three point sling. Three point slings are just SpecOps wannabe crap. Get yourself a good single point sling. The 10-24x scpe is good to go though. Excellent choice for longer range shots even a little past your 200 yard performance enveope.

i looked this up, and it is possible with an ar 10.

its listed as 338 federal but some minor gunsmithing can easily convert it

Ah, don't worry about it guys. I went and bought a chamber reamer for .338 Lapua. I am just going to ream out the chamber on the handi rifle to take the larger cartridge. I am also trying to make some fulminate of mercury to put into the hollowpoints that I have drilled in some .338 bullets. I figure that I should have enough knockdown power then to at least slow them down. I can get about 20 grains of it into the hollowpoints right now, but I am going to try packing it in a bit more with a punch and a hammer. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

sounds like an excellent weapon, looking forward to a range report