Deer Man--I have built two 338-06AI rifles on mauser actions. One is a lightweight 18" barreled affair that I nick-named the 'Runt', the other has a 24" barrel. The Runt was purpose built as a handy short range tree stand rifle, but it ended up accurate enough to take game easily out to 250yds. Both rifles shoot 180-250gr bullets very accurately, and have been used to take coyotes, bobcat, fox, whitetails, feral goat, wild hogs, red stag, black bear and elk. My favorite hunting load is the 180gr Accubond over 54.5grains of H4895, using Remington brass and LR primers. That load runs at 2700fps in the Runt and at 2940fps in the 24" barreled rifle.
The 338-06 has become one of my favorite cartridges..it is very powerful and efficient. It is a pleasure to shoot, and to me the felt recoil is less than the standard 30-06 with 180gr bullets. The 338 Federal is a very useful cartridge as well, but for my long action mausers the 338-06 made more sense. I probably would have stayed with the standard 338-06 instead of the AI version, but I share reamers and gauges with a gun building friend and that is what he wanted...that said, I do enjoy a bit of extra velocity with the "AI" version, though it is not needed.
If you build a 338, regardless of the chosen flavor, you will be impressed with the way it works on game.
Zee