Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting All hail the wonderful and mighty .338 Winchester Magnum

After two cups of coffee and 30 minutes of quiet reflection on the cartridge,I've come to the same conclusion I arrived at 20-odd years ago; that being that the 338 is a fabulous big game cartridge for which I have no use whatsoever.I say that having owned and shot about a 1/2 dozen;everything from a high-end Griffen&Howe sporter on a pre64 M70 action, to a couple of lightweight (8 1/4 lb) synthetic stocked wonders built on M70 actions.I've seen the cartridge in action any number of times on elk and brown bear, and spent considerable time discussing its virtues with a couple of brown bear guides in Alaska, where it is highly regarded.They said when a client showed with a 338, they wanted to know "what bullet?"; if he showed with a 375, they generally did not worry.

After digging around elk,bear, etc. carcasses to look at wound channels, and recovered bullets my conclusions are that it does not kill measurably better than the 300 mags with heavier bullets(said another way, it certainly seems to kill as well);wound channel size and depth of penetration seem roughly similar,provided bullet structure is the same.And recovered bullets from the 338's do not look a whole lot different in frontal area.

Having fired hundreds of rounds out of the 338 WM, and the various 300 mags out to the 600 yard line,I notice that the 338 is outclassed trajectory-wise by the 300's beyond the 400 yard mark(if you shoot 250's in the 338 the 300's leave it in the dust much sooner).

I've seen elk collapse like empty puppets when hit at long and close range by 270's,7 mags,300 mags,30/06,340,338, etc, so I don't get too excited about the legendary toughness of elk. If you get sloppy with your first shot, with any cartridge, you are generally in for a long, trying day; hit properly they are not at all tough to kill.

Since a guy needs so few rifles above 30 caliber, I decided awhile ago that I'd be better served with a light 375 H&H, which with my handloads,pushes a 250 gr Bitterroot over 2900 and makes a far bigger wound channel than any 338; also easily shoots as flat to 400 as any 338 load, (with the possible exception of 180BT's, whatever they may be good for)and at 8 1/2 pounds carries about the same.Slipstick theory aside, the notion that a 338 Win Mag is as good as a 375 H&H is, based on what I've seen both do to animals,simply not true. If I want to go to Afica, I can just grab the same rifle.I really don't think the 338 is any better than the 300's(which is to say it's a good cartridge).

So, I agree 100% with Barsness who wrote a year or so ago, that his 338 gathers dust, and he is happier splitting chores between a 300 mag and a 375,etc. I came to the same conclusion about 20 years ago.

I'm still trying to figure out why 2800 fps is so "perfect".

338 win mag is very liveable recoil wise, very accurate, works very good on large game... AND I have taken game way out there with it... 802 is the furtherest.... trajectory is plenty good for that and it bucks the wind well enough... I prefer it over 300 mags for some reason... can't say why..

Have shot a 338 RUM and did the load work for a friend in an XCR.. its tough but manageable...

If I were going long range I'm going the 338 RUM or probably Edge...

I'd love a 375 also but for me the mid round would be the 338 and then skip up into the 40ish calibers...

But then again its all personal anyway...

Bob, my conclusion is basically the same... for the recoil it just doesn't bring all that much to the table. In a rifle with a decent tube weight and decent overall weight (8.75 lbs all-up) recoil isn't a big deal. I always found myself with light 338's and, while shootable, I got sick of dealing with the recoil. The older I get the less I've found I like recoil.

My problem is I don't like heavy rifles and most 338's are. Still, if you put all the variables into a bag and shook them up I suppose an 8.5 lb, 22" bbl'd 338 WM would probably come out as the "ideal" elk rifle.

Were I to do another 338 I'd get a stock Ruger Hawkeye and put it in a Bansner. Cut the barrel to 22" and put a 2-7 Leupold on top. I like the Ruger Magnum Contour on the 338 (about perfect IMO) and I believe the rifle would come in at around 8.5lbs all up which is about right for me.

JEFF: I've had four 22" barreled 338 WM's. 210's generally went 2,950, 225's 2,850 and 250's 2,680. I've used RL19,22,H4831, IMR 4350 and H4350.

H4350 is my favorite 338 WM powder.

Pretty much. I think the best place for the 338 bore is with the REAL high velocity 338's, for those who shoot REAL long range;for those (like me) who lack the skill,gear, and inclination for shooting beyond 500, I'll leave the 338 to others and take the 300's.If more is required, I'll go 375, which is as far as I wanna go anyway........

I couldnt agree more with Jeff, the .338 is an awesome round.
I would love to own a .338 win model 70 SS with a boss on it, but like others have stated I probably wouldnt use the gun on very much game unless I was going after moose.
So for me I would do a .338 federal in Rem TI, now that would be a little more useful to me.

Rick-now that is one nice rifle, most certainly one of a couple of favs of mine that show up here from time to time! About model perfect for yotes as well as elk...grins

Dober

I'd love to shoot a .375 some time. From what I hear, that's a great round. While I have no firsthand knowledge I would never assert that the .338 is the same thing as a .375; that would make no sense. Except for later in this post. :-)

As far as 30 vs. 338... eh... who knows. I do know that for some odd reason the various 300 mags hold NO appeal to me, none whatsover. It makes no rational sense but there it is! Possible execption being something like a Montana or Model 7 in 300 WSM, but even then I'd prefer .325 WSM. Anyway, maybe it's because I love 30-06 so much and if I want to hit harder, I'll go .338 while if I want to shoot significantly flatter, I'll go with a big 7mm of some sort... the big 30's are sort of the odd man out in my book.

Brad- I messed with H4350 in my .338. In fact if memory serves that's what fuels my 200-gn BT plinkin' load. But my rifle just loves the Rl19 with 225... whatcha gonna do. I'm a die-hard H4350 fan though. It's my main powder. I don't know what RL19 would do from 22" but from 26", I get slightly over the nominal velocity for the cartridge... pushing 2900 with 225's.

It's interesting how bullets have indeed leveled the playing field, as Brad mentioned. We're almost to the point of being able to look at the ft/lbs delivered by a cartridge, and then being able to judge it THAT way- as in, how do you want those ft/lbs delivered? Do you want a predictibly massive wound channel? A very long relatively thin one? Something in between? It's all there and mostly all seems to work as advertised. Or at least, fairly predictably.

So in THAT sense, I guess it could be said that in the same way that a 30-06 can rival a .338 with modern bullets, a .338 can probably rival a .375 with modern bullets. This is a hypothesis on my part. What say you, Bob?

-jeff

as much as I like the 338, I like the 375 better. Recoil is technically greater but "feels better" as I think it's slower. The 375 is not very range-limited either, contrary to popular belief.
I also think the 338 (with 250s) packs a lot more wallop than a 30 anything and will penetrate deeper than just about any other common round.

Mine's a Howa 1500. Came with a Tupperware stock. Restocked with a laminated Boyd's JRS job and glass bedded same. Topped with a simple Leupold M-8 4X. I've discovered that my rifle doesn't start to percolate, accuracy wise, until near max loads. On a day when I do my part, it will put 3, 250 gr. Hornadys into about .75" @ 100 yards.

Oh, I forgot to add that I had a Sorbothane buttpad installed on my stock. World of difference!

May use mine to hunt the deadly whitetail deer this November (grin).

Jeff: They all kill;which one you like best is the one to use.I can only carry one at a time,and having a theoretically perfect rifle for every micro-niche in big game hunting is something I want to avoid.300's and 338's both cut the same swath.The 375 is a tad different than either.

The newer bullets are a help,but whatever advantage a 338 may gain by newer technology applies to the the 375 as well, and the 416, etc, up the line, so the bigger hammer still wins.Better bullets do seem to let you "stretch" a cartridge, so are always a great idea, on anything,and in any calber.

I turned a 338 Finnbear into a STW.Best move I made in awhile.But I do have another 338 Finnbear collecting dust.Maybe I'll have to change that one day.It's what I mainly used while guiding.

It's a good cartridge.

7STW: That's what I found with mine. It IS a great cartridge, but I always grabbed the 300 when it was time to chase the elks!Mine gathered dust, too.

Recoil and trajectory being similar as they are, I'd grab my .338 every time over a 300 mag!

Funny... guess that's why they make so many calibers, eh?

-jeff

Bob
Yup A 300 and a 200 grain bullet always trumped my 338..Very easily too.

I have owned a couple of them, and by the time they were light enough to enjoy hunting elk with, they were not much fun to enjoy shooting. So they both went down the road.

I love my .338 WM. It is easy to load for and accurate. I just do not find its recoil pushing a 250 NP at 2,700 to be a big deal. It is like a big, fat .30-06 which is the bottom half of my 2 gun big game battery.

Expat

I had a 338WM, killed a shiras moose with it. The recoil was not bad at all. I feel the 338WM brings alot to the table with 200gr - 250gr bullets. Folks I know use 'em all the time as their main elk rifles. I also know a fella who used his 338WM on (2) Russian brown bears and (1) Kodiak brownie, swore by the 338WM for elk on up.

I would build one again, if it were not for my 350RM (grin).

MtnHtr

7STW:Left a bunch of 300 Weatherby mag ammo with 200 gr partitions with my elk guide;he shot at a cow, and two(!)came down.I found that bullet penetrates a lot of animal flesh.

Bob-back when I had Krieger in 300 Wby on my old 700 I ran serious amuck using the 200 Noz and the 165 Sierra HPBT. Both of them were rather effective at sorting things out.

Only problemo is that I now use my 7 Mashburn Super for all and it is a fair bit more user friendly than the 300's and every darn bit effective.

Dober

....The 338 has earned it's place as one of the great caliber standards used to measure other offerings. It's wide spread availability, and unfailing field performance assures it's being a standard for many a generation! In my opinion it's recoil level is much exaggerated, more like shaking hands with an old friend than getting clocked by aunt hattie's mule, but then different folks are just that, "different".In the game field recoil ain't near the nemisis it is at the bench anyway! If a fellow is truly bothered by recoil, just load her up with 210 grain Nosler partitions and you can have at any big beastie in North America, with confidence, and at any reasonable range too.