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

In Colorado it would be illegal to shoot an animal someone else had wounded unless you had a valid license. Which means I won't be stopping anyone else's game. But the channce that I might have to stop one *** I *** wounded is the reason why I buy premium bullets.

So far I've never needed a better bullet than I shot and hope to keep it that way.

Hunts, I love the 7mm-08 and it's my personal minimum for elk. I'd carry one elk hunting if I had to. I've brought one to elk camp as a backup (with 150-gn NP's) However, I'd feel like I'd have to put shot angle and range limitations on myself that would make me... less than warm and fuzzy.

30-06 and the right bullets get me into the beginnings of warm and fuzzy territory... .338 WM gets me solidly there.

I like the warm and fuzzies on an elk camp that is so short, intense, and important to me.

Heh heh.

-jeff

Jeff,

Can't explain why but I've owned 3 different .30-06's and none of them impressed me as more effective on game than my 7mm-08. I've killed two bison with the 7mm and 140 TSX. It worked just fine.

Hunts-when you shot the buffs with the 7/08 where did you hit them?

Thx

Dober

Hey Jeff,
Congrads, I'm always happy for the guy that finds a nice shooting rifle he really likes. The 338 is an awesome elk round. ADs' statement is absolutely right on. I think of the 338 and 300 magnums about the same. They are great choices as long as they can be shot well from real field positions. 300 & 338 mags can karate chop the hell out of your collar bone from the prone position out of lite rifles. I have a few rifles that could compete in the UFC.
Eight years ago I bonked a lead cow over in a Central Oregon snow storm. I tracked the herd for a few hours and filled my tag with a single shot from a 165 partition out of 30-06. While I was working on her I hurd 4 or 5 shots. Walking out on a lower road I met the guy that had been doing all the shooting, from a browning bar in 338. He found blood but lost the track in the storm and never found the cow. Moral of the story; four poorly placed mags are always trumped by one well placed anything.
I have a hard time not ordering a xcr in 338 ultra. The only reason I haven't is because I just don't want to deal with all the abuse. A mans gotta know his limitations.

Hunts,

Nice! I love hearing stuff like that. I really like the .308 case; I currently have a 7mm-08 Mountain Rifle that I love, and a .358 Winchester compact bolt gun that's my main blacktail rig.

I'm hoping to try the TSX on meat, this fall. Sure has a following in these parts.

What I do know is that the 30-06, and by extension the .338 WM (since that the nominal reason for this thread) make a bigger hole than the 7-08, and that cannot be a bad thing on big animals.

But it's nice to hear such success stories from the "little" 7-08. I've got a 120-gn BT load worked up for mine that is bug-hole accurate and I am dang tempted to try it on a doe this year.

-jeff

Rogue, it's a pussycat, I swear! It's really no big deal. I don't know if it's the stock or the Limbsaver or the 26" barrel but an XCR in .338 Win Mag is NOT abusive to shoot. If it was, mine was headed back to the gunshop to go on the consignment rack post-haste because I will NOT own a rifle I can't handle, and I have a lot of faith in my 30-06.

Unless you mean the abuse you'd take on the Campfire for daring to say that a bigger hole is a good thing on elk!

(ducking for cover)

-jeff

J.O.-me thinks that Rogue was talking about a 338 RUM not the Winnie, or perhaps you already caught that.

There is a skosh bit of bump between those 2...grins

Dober

Oh I have a safe full of mags and about everything else. I've killed elk with 100 grain broadheads on up. If I get a shot this year it will be from a 7mm or 30 cal. Maybe something else, depending on my mood. I'm currently all out of 338's and don't see one in my near future. I do have a p17 begging for a new barrel in 340 weatherby or 358 STA, but I'd probably just as soon use the 280 for elk.

Oh- I see that now, that he typed RUM. Yeah, I have to advise AGAINST an XCR in .338 Ultra Mag. I think I already explained why on this thread. My much-seasoned gun buddy used the words "brutal" and "unworkable".

-jeff

Last weekend my bear hunting buddy got a heavy 5pt bull with a 100 broadhead and a lite carbon arrow. The shot placement wasn't even all that great. One hundred yard track and four 2 mile packs later it was meat in the freezer.

As my Dad would say, it would be funner than most fist fights and or divorces or Texas chili...

Dober

(side story years ago I called my smith and told him my new girlfriend wanted to start elk hunting with me. He said he had the perfect plan, a 5 lb 378 Wby without a brake. Guess he didn't think much of women going to elk camp...grins)

That's funny.

Mark,

One buff(young bull) took one behund the ear shot(outfitter recommended) at close range and then a finisher at 3' with the bull on the ground(mercy shot). The last bison was a large cow. First shot was behind the ear but I must have been off a bit as she jumped back up and shook it off. She took two more through the lungs after that. The two lungs shot bullets were recovered under the hide on the opposite side with perfect expansion and intact petals.

It would be very fair to argue that the 7mm-08 is a bit on the light side for bison. When they're running around in a pasture it's not much of a "hunt". That's for sure. They aren't going anywhere. I've had people tell me that they dispatch bison regularly with a .22-250 using the behind the ear shot. I've also heard of bison soaking up multiple hits from much bigger calibers when shot in the heart/lung area. Sounds alot like how a moose reacts. The animal can be dead for all intents and purposes, it just doesn't know it yet and then falls over.

In my limited experience I would have to say that really big animals, say over 900-1000 lbs, "rarely" go down quickly no matter how big the gun is unless you can knock out the CNS. They just aren't immediately impressed when hit in the heart/ lungs. These are just my opinions and observations.

The head shots are not interesting (just because most anything would work for that shot) but the penetration it showed on the rib shots is impressive!

-jeff

Allen: I agree with everything you said;all I ever said about the cartridge is that I have no need for it; because I have a 375 that :
a)weighs the same(8.5 lbs)
b)shoots as flat and as fast as a 338
c)is as accurate at any distance.

So I, me, personally never had a need for it. As to the recoil question, well ya it kicks, but in the Brown Precision stock it really is not that bad. I've shot it many, many times prone, with tight sling, etc. Recoil is heavier than a 338, but slower.

Hell I musta said six times the 338 is a great cartridge.But 338's and 375's are comparable cartridges. Why does anyone need both,is my point, so I just picked one; doesn't mean the other's no good, I just have no use for it..

But c'mon,(not directed at you ,Allen) perfect velocity level? So we can shoot marginal cup/core bullets? Why don't we all go back to lead spheres and push them at 1200 fps, another "perfect velocity level".

Jeff, I had a fellow try to sell me a Browning A bolt in .338 once. I shot it, handed it back, and never shot another. I own a .300 Win, a .300 WSM, and a .30-.338. None of them kicked like that thing did. I'm 37, was probably 20 at the time, and can shut my eyes and still feel it. I shot a Kriegoff 470 Nitro Express that wasn't that bad. In a light gun, ugh.

My very first rifle (21 years old) was a Sako Classic in .30 - 06, and I thought of re-barreling it to .330 - 06 a favorite of my gunsmith. I just never run into anything that big to use one on. I've read story after story about people shooting moose, elk, grizzly bears.... with the cartridge. The plus is plenty of power with less powder and recoil. I've heard it said by many a gun writer that the .338 is overpowered for N. American hunting and could replace the .375 Holland and Holland in Africa if they would ever lift the caliber restrictions.

Up in Maine where my Brother and the guys go up the Golden Road to hunt moose, black bear, and huge whitetails, they all use .308, and .30 - 06 carbines, like the little Remington pumps and semis. If it'll put a moose on it's butt, or blow a 250 pound black bear end over end, that's enough for me.

Bob,

Need? NEED? Since when did need have anything to do with it? Turn it around and why NOT a .338 Winchester, .340 Weatherby, .358 Norma Mag, 9.3x62, 9,.3x74R, .375 H&H and .375 Ruger, as somebody that I know well owns and uses? And why NOT throw in a .338 Federal and .358 Winchester and a wildcat or so in the same category? What is this stuff about need?

JB

Well said, Allen.

+1 on Allen's comments

My 338 was the first rifle that I really researched and bought with my hard earner dough, I was 17 at the time. Still have that rifle and it would be the last one to leave my safe if I ever had to sell them all. That rifle has made a believer out of many folks, I loan it out all the time and it seems to call the elk in and then they just tip over when they see it.

Of course, I hunted 13 years with it before killing anything with it. It was almost a joke, I'd let someone borrow it and I'd take my 300 Winnie, they'd shoot something that same day and I'd kill something with the 300, but never when I was packing the 338. It was saving up it's mojo for the moose in my avatar, 200 yards, 1 shot and a 10 yard track from there. The 338 just plain works.

J