The .338 Edge
BY DEFENSIVE EDGE

Jacob Gottfredson

Defensive Edge

If one were looking for an example to argue fate, one might start with Shawn Carlock. Living within reach of the Canadian border and at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, he started shooting at the age of 5. By the age of 20 he was already a member of the sheriff's office and soon after a member of SWAT assigned to sniper duty where he was drawn to shooting competitive tactical matches. Somewhere in his journey, Shawn picked up the skills of a machinist.

He knew guns, machining, and what it takes to shoot at the top of the game by being a competitor. One might argue then that fate played a factor in Shawn's migration to gunsmithing for he was developing that perfect combination needed to excel in a field that he probably would never have guessed he would be doing. The transition from police officer to full time gunsmith is not an everyday occurrence.

Shawn began by first building his own rifles for competition. His company, Defensive Edge, was the natural outgrowth of his experience, training, and a love of the tactical and long range shooting genre. Shawn's business is now full time and has evolved into crafting precision rifles for tactical, competition, long range hunting, and services for the 3 gun shooter and tactical operator.

The Hard Target Interdiction Rifle (HTIR)

Shawn was interested in designing an extreme range rifle that a man can handle, a rifle of normal size that does not almost outweigh the carrier. His general specification were:

• must be under 15.5 lbs (the legal weight for hunting in Idaho)
• must be capable of MOA
• must be a repeater with box magazine
• must be capable of protracted engagement/long strings of fire
• must be length adjustable for shooter
• must have a flowing overall design, being smooth to move with outdoors
• must be capable of firing bullets bigger than 200 grain with high BC
• must help to bridge the tactical gap between the .308 Win and the 50 BMG
• must use a round and/or components that are reasonably priced and accessible
• must have options available to suit various needs or missions.

As Shawn puts it, "With these basic ideas in mind, I set out to build the HTIR (pronounced "Hitter").

Shawn calls the HTIR configuration that he sent me the .338 Edge. In fact it is a 300 Remington Ultra case necked up to .338, which allows for a little more case capacity than the standard .338 Ultra. Not so unusual maybe until one begins to realize and demonstrate what it will do, which is exactly what I set out to do.

The rifle that represents the criteria outlined by Shawn above and which I spent many hours testing was put together with the following components:

• HS Precision tactical adjustable stock
• Standard eject/extraction
• 28 inch Wes Harris radial fluted barrel with integral muzzle brake (26.5 effective barrel length)
• factory trigger
• Mossy Oak breakup camo
• Harris Bipod
• Warne vs. rings, Nightforce tapered 2 piece bases
• Horus Vision extreme range scope
• chambered in 338 Edge
• base package price w/o optics, $2195
• package price as sent to me w/o optics, $2915

The 338 provides a 6 to 7% edge over the standard 338 Ultra and about a 3.5% advantage over the 338 Lapua case. 338 Remington Ultra Mag dies are adjusted up to perform forming and sizing chores, or the 300 Ultra die can be opened up and the expander ball replaced. Initial testing was done with the 250 grain Sierra MatchKing and RL-25powder. This gave Shawn 3118 fps in Idaho with 98 grains. There are several bullets available to the hunter in .338 caliber, but Shawn chose this weight because FMJ are also available.

Almost every word above was given to me by Shawn. That makes writing easy. But does the rifle live up to Shawn's concept? I think it does.

Testing The .338 Edge

To test a rifle like this takes a friend with a range that can accommodate a rifle with this capability. I phoned Jacob Bynum of Rifles Only and asked if I could use his range and a bit of his help and brain power. My overwhelming charm won some time at his facility.

We met promptly at 7 AM and proceeded to bore sight the rifle. I assumed that Shawn had sighted it in before shipment, but I wanted to see where it was impacting here in Texas at approximately sea level. I shot a few 100 yard groups wanting to zero it for the Horus Vision scope. I did, but let well enough alone when the groups were falling center bull but about inch to the right. That became important at the longer ranges. For example, that is 3 inches at 600 and 5 inches at 1000. Caution, don't let well enough alone. When shooting at long range, well enough is perfect only. Bullets touched with groups going well within Shawn's inch criteria, sometimes much less. More about that later.

I shot the rifle from the bench (easier on my neck) at all ranges. Recoil was well within the tolerable level for a rifle in this caliber. I shot 42 rounds the first morning and could go on shooting it. The muzzle brake works and the weight helped as well. The HS Precision stock has a palm swell on both sides that was comfortable to handle. The adjustable stock happened to be set fine for my needs, and I left it alone. I used the Harris Bipod in front and a benchrest rear bag in the rear, later switching to a leather front rest to monitor the difference between it and the bipod.

The Horus Vision scope was exceptionally clear as were the reticles and numbers. The bolt functioned very smoothly, and the trigger was set at about 2 to 3 pounds with a nice, crisp let off. No creep or over travel. This was my first exposure to Wes Harris' bolt release. It is installed on the side opposite the bolt like many other similar bolt releases. And although I am familiar with Wes' barrels, I have never shot one.

The rifle was very stable and easy to shoot. The Horus Vision scope makes it very fast to acquire long range targets. In case you are not familiar with the Horus Vision concept, it is a series of reticles below the main crosshair expanded left and right of the vertical crosshair to account for wind. Each reticle is numbered for reference. Using the Horus Vision PC software or palm pilot, the user can run the ballistics of the bullet under environmental conditions, trajectory, and attributes of the bullet. This prints out a range for each line. The main lines have ticks between them so the shooter has mil aiming points as well. This version had the main crosshair in the upper 1/3rd of the image and is designed for long range shooting where the shooter wants most shots to be taken while using the center of the optical axis so that the outer ring distortion does not affect accuracy. With Shawn's bullet, this worked out very well. Fast shots can be taken without having to mess with the elevation and windage knobs. Once it is sighted in, the shooter need not return to the turrets.

Shawn had sent along the Handspring Palm, and Jacob fed in the data to the Horus Vision software. After sighting in, I asked Jacob for the 600 yard hold. He simply punched in the distance and immediately said just shy of line 2.75 (which is 2.75 mils). That meant that I was to find the line marked 2 below the main crosshair, and then find the third tick mark below that. Bang … a hit on the 4 inch Swinging Horse steel target. Bang .. a second hit on the next 4 inch swinging horse. As it happened, the bullet impacted on the right edge. Remember that I was MOA right when I sighted in?

I scooted the rifle around toward the 1000 yard berm. A 20" x 36" Iron Maiden stood looking back at me. I asked Jacob once again for the number. Again he punched the distance in the Handspring and told me the 6.25 line (6.25 mils). I took the sighting and let it go. The round hit the little darling in the right belly. Remember my sighting in? I over corrected on the second shot and hit her in the right neck. I corrected again and placed two bullets an inch or so apart about 6 inches low of the neck shot.

Ok … I was ready. I fed the magazine full with 3 rounds and put one in the chamber for a maximum capacity shoot. The magazine came out without complaint and the cases fed in easily. I put the magazine back in and pushed the bolt forward, holding the top case in the magazine to allow the bolt to slide over it. I was ready to test Shawn's concept and how the rifle functioned in speed mode.

Abusing A Fine Rifle

Being of little patience and wanting to continue testing before the raging Gulf Coast winds started, I had been firing with few pauses. The barrel was steaming hot. In fact, I could not hold it for even a part of a second without pain. If that is not enough, I had forgotten my cleaning rod, patches, etc. This barrel was now functioning in an extreme state. The temperature was 80 degrees with matching humidity. I thought about letting the barrel cool. I asked Jacob what he thought. He exclaimed without hesitation, "Shoot now, let's see what this thing has. If it won't do the job under duress, what good is it?"

I got back under the rifle and took the sighting I wanted based on the bracketing I had done. I fired the 4 rounds as quickly as I could. As you can see from the photo, the bullets impacted with 1 inches of horizontal and 6 inches of vertical spread. That spread could have easily come from my holding, the rifle's statistical accuracy level, slight breezes, or velocity spread.

The bullets from the big rifle punched some considerable dents in the steel. I am not sure if you can see the Iron Maiden well enough to see past hits vs. these. The Sierra 250 grain hollow point target bullets punched holes that indented about 1/16 to 1/8th inch deep and left large bumps on the backside.

The rifle performed flawlessly. The bolt and magazine reacted smoothly with no binding, and it was an easy task to put 4 rounds down range in 30 seconds. It frankly amazes me when two ballistics software programs (Trag 1s5 and Exbal) agree precisely on the comeups and the rifle responds perfectly. But a tactical shooter relies on this, expects it, and Shawn's rifle delivers.

.338 Edge Exterior Ballistics

Note that the energy remaining at 1000 yards is still 1622 ft lbs with a velocity of 1710 fps. That is more than many rifles used for hunting have at 100 yards and fits most lethality theories for putting down elk. Other interesting data is that it only takes 22.5 MOA to be on at 1000 yards from a 100 yard zero. That is the setting for my .308 at 700 meters! Time of flight is 1.3 seconds (1.7 seconds for my .308), and drift in a 10 mph wind is 60.5 inches. Although that seems like a lot, and it is, that drift is on a par with many rifles shot in 1000 yard competition by shooters whose very career seems to hang on cutting the wind problem to a minimum. For example, the darling of the 1000 yard shooters today is the 6.5x284 busting the 139 Lapua Scenar bullet down range at about 3050 fps. The drift from that is 60.8 inches. The .338 Edge's ballistics are very impressive for a 250 grain bullet with considerably more weight, frontal area, and delivered energy.

When I got home, I immediately began cleaning the rifle. If I know these large bore, fast cartridges; they are hell for laying down copper like the mines in Utah. I expected the start of about 4 days of JB's , IOSSO and Sweets. However, I started with 2 patches of Butches Bore Shine followed by brushing with the same solvent. I put another patch through the bore with Butches and retired to the kitchen to put the digital photos up on the PC to see how they came out. In about an hour, having forgotten that I was cleaning a rifle, I ran another patch with Butches. I left the rifle and proceeded to do some "honey do's". In about another hour I got back to the rifle. I was curious to see the barrel's condition and how much more work lay ahead of me. Ok … you knew it was coming. The bore scope showed that the barrel was clean … no copper fouling at all.

I was looking at the interior of a Wes Harris barrel for the first time. Not only was the barrel clean, but I was so unfamiliar with Wes' technique that I was not sure what I was looking at. As you might be familiar, Wes makes radial (circumferential) cuts on the exterior of the barrel about 1/8" apart. You are left with a barrel that is one diameter at every 1/8th inch and another diameter at every other 1/8th inch. Wes uses this method for faster barrel heat dissipation. Wes calls them "Insta Kool" and claims a 10 fold increase in heat dissipation. He also states that the radial flutes break up harmonics so that accuracy is enhanced. Shawn, however, cut the flutes in this particular barrel. The lands are much wider than I am used to seeing, and the edge of land to groove is tapered at an angle. With a bore scope this gives the illusion of 2 lands close together with a groove space in between and a larger groove space to the next double land set. I emailed Wes about that. He answered by saying that, "the rifling is Polygonal … there are no grooves. Better seal of the bullet, no distortion, therefore better accuracy results. We do this type of rifling in 7mm, .308, and .338 only."

I was able to take the rifle back to Jacob's the following weekend. I shot again at 100 yards before proceeding to the longer ranges. I loaded the magazine with 3 rounds and one in the chamber. The four rounds went into .055 inches. Yes … you read correctly: .055 inch group for four rounds.

Once again I turned to the 1000 yard Iron Maiden and shot 3 in the lower belly. I adjusted my aiming point and finished a 10 round string. The last 7 shots were in the chest, forming a group 7 x 10 inches. Still very impressive.

Jacob left the range to run an errand and left me to destroy things on my own, and I did. I directed the rifle at the 600 yard Iron Maiden and again fired a full loading of 4 rounds. The rifle shoots so well, I aimed at the smaller head area thinking the whole body a bit too easy. Two shots doubled and the 4th went high, forming a 3 " group, or about MOA. The "destroy his property" part was realized when I drove to the steel target to see the damage. I was aiming at the head and had put 4 rounds into … and through it! Wow. I wondered if I were pushing my luck with the good Mr. Bynum.

In my testing so far, the rifle is a hammer. It has not missed yet at 1000 yards, groups were amazing at 100, drilled 3/8" plate at 600, and has yet to shoot as large as 1 MOA. What more can you ask for in a big bore rifle?

I cleaned the rifle again and let it cool. Since I had earlier shot a .055 group on a cold clean barrel (and remember, those were the first 4 rounds out of the cold, clean barrel that morning), I wanted to see if I could repeat. I loaded the rifle with 4 rounds again and shot a group that went .223. I repeated and shot a .355. At this point I could very well be in first place at a benchrest match. I recalled the first group I had shot the week earlier. I had the target in the car and measured it at .433".

Like Jacob said, "That rifle is a hammer. What else could you want." All I could think of was … wonder what Shawn would let this used and abused rifle go for? It is not often that one runs into a big bore rifle that shoots this well. Got to snap these up before they slip out of our hands.

I took the rifle out again, being very curious about the velocity versus that in Idaho. I shot a 10 round group which measured .921. velocity was 3137 with a standard deviation of 17, temperature 80 degrees, humidity 80 percent, pressure 29.53, and elevation 100 feet above sea level. The first shot was in the center of the 10 ring at 10 o'clock. Shots 2,3,4,5,6,7 were in the same hole at 8 o'clock but still in the center of the 10 ring. The next 3 shots went high of that. I was getting a lot of barrel mirage with no wind, and let the barrel cool. I then fired 5 more rounds in the center of another bull that ran .310 inches!

My desire was to take the rifle to 1500 and then 2000 yards. Although I realize that the 250 grain bullet goes subsonic at about 1700 yards, I was curious what the effects would be. Unfortunately circumstances beyond my control did not let me shoot the longer ranges I had hoped for.

While Shawn is partial to the Wes Harris barrel, the .338 Edge concept is not contingent on either the Harris barrel or the Horus Vision Scope. Shawn will mount any barrel the client wants, and, of course, the choice of a scope is up to the individual.

Bottom line

I believe that Shawn has truly created what he set out to do. The .338 Edge configuration seems to meet his criteria. It would make an extremely capable long range hunting rifle as well as an interdiction weapon. If the military is looking for a middle of the road cartridge and rifle to bridge the unusually large gap between the .308 and .50, this would offer a usable alternative. The problem with the larger cartridges, for example, the 50, is that the rifles are too heavy. If it takes an artillery unit to carry it, why not just use artillery. Any stopgap for more energy and longer range has to be human friendly. It should not be outlandishly long or oppressively heavy. Our motto in Special Forces was De Oppresso Liber, meaning: to free the oppressed. In my mind I was often thinking about myself when I thought of that statement. The long range hunter or sniper has his hands full with the gear he has to carry. 100 to 150 pounds is not unusual. Carrying an oversized weapon is always a chore. Sometimes the urge to throw it overboard was overpowering.

Shawn's criteria for an HTIR or hard target interdiction rifle is one fraught with common sense, experience, and good old American know how.

The .338 Edge is an excellent creation that will fill the bill for many users from long range competition to hunting to giving the military a usable platform for long range requirements.

My time spent with the .338 Edge also lead me to realize that Shawn is an excellent gunsmith who can provide services for many of the current and more modern shooters desires.

Manufacturers mentioned in this article:

Shawn Carlock
Defensive Edge Inc.
1712 Hemlock Ave.
Lewiston, Idaho 83501
Phone: 1-208-746-1671

Lightforce USA. Inc.
19226 66th Avenue South
Kent, Washington 98032
Phone: 425-656-1577
FAX: 425-656-1578

Leopold & Stevens, Inc.
P.O. Box 688
Beaverton, OR 97075-0688
503-526-5195
Email: www.Leupold.com 

Perry Systems
P.O. Box 581
Bishop, TX 78343
Phone: 361-584-2278
FAX: 775-239-0091
Web Site: www.perry-systems.com
Email: gperry@perry-systems.com 

Harris Barrelworks Inc.
11240 N. Cave Creek Rd.
Phoenix, AZ 85023
602-997-5370; 602-942-9281
FAX: 602-942-5327
Cell: 602-432-2871
wwharris@msn.com