"If you want it you probly oughtta have it."
That's it in a nutshell considering the other guns you own.
I've had a Ruger OM (tang safety) in .338WM for close to 30 years now and have used it on both moose and caribou. Carried it in Idaho for an elk hunt, but never got a shot. It's a bit heavy, but I like it, tho I often opt for a lighter rifle if much walking is involved. Bought it used (price was right too!) when I started feeling a little paranoid about those 6 quart piles of steaming brown bear scat I kept finding while moose hunting with my .30-06. Worked wonderfully too. Apparently word got around among the bears, as I've never had to use it on one....
I've killed a few more moose with the '06 tho. The two combined have taken 17 bulls between them, with another 5 using other calibers. Certainly more caribou by a factor of 10 to 1 or more out of the 60 or more of those things.. And the only elk I've taken was with a .260.
For most hunting situations it ain't what you hit em with, assuming a good bullet, it's where, as you no doubt know. So it's back to what john said....
I no longer use anything but a 225 or 250 grain in the .338, certainly not the 210NP, having had the first one I ever used blowing up on the shoulder blade of a moose, with the moose surging back to its feet when I was about 10 feet out in front of his nose. The second one pretty much up his nose did the trick tho. But I swore off the 210NP right there! Probably all right for deer and coyotes......
I don't do frontal approaches anymore either, and put an insurance shot into the back of the head from a few yards out. I can do without the excitement.
The 225 (I think is what I used one year) TB bullet in Fed Safari is great for penetration having once passed through about 3 feet of moose diagonally including a forage filled paunch, before exiting. I've largely gone back to non-premium bullets for all my rifles, having found no significant difference in the killing game. So far. I have one Sierra GK hand load written down somewhere that hovers right at 1 inch at 200 yards. Currently I have 50 or so junk-loads I threw together for target practice, without a work-up (as in the case of the GK), using 250 grain Hornady RN. At just under MOA, they were just too good not to keep for hunting moose, and I've only ever shot 3 moose in excess 100 yards, None over 165. Those Hornady RN drop like a rock at longer ranges, but who cares?
I glass bedded the receiver area and 3 inches of barrel, free-floating the rest after initial shooting proved not satisfactory. It now shoots virtually any factory or good hand load 5 shots into 1.25 inches, or less, and both the 225 and 250 grain loads to the same POI at 100 yards. I also tuned the factory trigger down to about 3lbs creepless. And some other stuff- Decelarator recoil pad, Mag-na-porting, low-base and low blade front sight with a V-notch filed into the scope base for emergency back-up sights (hate those high Ruger iron sights- and the rifle came without).
My improvised irons put 250s dead on at 100 yards. Never used em, but they are low profile and there if I need them.
I think I'll keep it...... :
