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

Must be the stock, or something, is all I can come up with. My XCR simply does not kick that hard. I'm no masochist; my 45/70 Guide Gun, for instance, or my 12-ga 3.5" mag turkey gun, really are unpleasant to shoot. My .338 is lightweight and is not at ALL unpleasant to shoot. I think you'd agree if you fired it.

-jeff

Hey Bob,

I for one realize that you know the .338 is a fine caliber; you've just made another choice for your heavy rifle and a good choice, too, it sounds like.

We're all just splitting hairs here... as the excitement mounts and huntin' gets closer!

My intent was simply to pay homage to my rifle, which is excellent and is making me a Very Happy Camper with it's stability, moderate recoil, accuracy, and overall trustworthiness. The fact that it's a very capable killer of very large animals is a huge bonus!

-jeff

I agree the .338 WM is a good round - for those that can shoot it well.

That said, I do have a .338 - .33 WCF to be exact which is a nice round to use in bush country where the ranges will be short. Some day I may try the 338 WM when I'm looking for new things to experience.

Jeff, I admire you're enthusiasm in "hosting" this thread. I got my .338 out of the safe to photograph for other reasons so I thought I'd take a few for your thread too. If you've ever searched for attractive Ruger 77 wood, you'll know why I snapped up this one when I found it. It's even prettier in person, as I'm not very good at driving my digital camera.

Now a 33 WCF would be a way cool round.

I wish Marlin would do one with a square tube at about 19".

Now that would fill a niche need for me...grins

Dober

(enough of this I am heading to the hill, rips some lips, hunt for birds and bruins)

Better late than never, I guess.
I favor light rifles. Nothing over 8 lbs. empty. 7 lbs. is better.
I also have learned over the years that I shoot better, especially when under stress, with a lighter kicking round.
Above all, I've seen lots of elk class stuff killed. If you need to make a "giant killer" out of a standard .270, '06, or a .308 class of cartriage, you need to go to the premiumu bullets. They go a long ways in making this happen.
I don't own a .338 WM. Simply because they don't offer enough to me. Light rifles not only kick harder, but they kick faster as well. It's the "faster" that gets to me worse than the overall recoil. Don't get me wrong. I've hunted with them, I've seen them in action and I've shot several.
But, the bottom line is that I know few who have or do use them that can shoot one really well. I don't kid myself that I'm one of those.
One of the more fascinating comments I've ever read was by a guy named Les Bowman who used to guide in the Wyo/Colorado area. He wrote once in an article not too long after the .338 came out that his hunters using the .243/6mm Rem. rds. had a better record on elk than his hunters with the .338 WM.
"A man has got to know his limitations." E

Great points E. My .338 pictured weights 9lbs on the nose BEFORE ammo and sling. That's probably why it's so easy to shoot. But, it does start to feel heavy after a few days in the mountains.

Thing about these discussions is that many fail to acknowledge EVERY decision in favor of one cartridge/rifle over another is a compromise including the 338 WM.

It's all well and good to proclaim the 338 WM is a "Wonderful And Mighty" cartridge. I've probably got as much or more experience with the round as many expressing undying love here. However, the 340 Wby is all that and more... and the 338 RUM is all that and more squared, and the 378 Wby is more than any of them, and...

Using the logic of some expressed here, why not use the 338 RUM at least?

Course the answer is recoil and rifle weight. In that line of thinking, I'd also wager most of the 338's mentioned on this thread come in 8.75 - 9lbs all up. A 9lb 338 with a decent tube is a pussycat to shoot IME.

Were I inclined anymore to carry an 8.5 lb rifle it'd be a 338 WM since it seems pointless to use a heavy rifle in a "standard" chambering... might as well get a little extra thump for the effort of carrying it.

Since I like 7.5lb rifles and can't shoot a 7.5 lb 338 consistently well I make my cartridge compromise differently and use a 30-06. I just haven't seen enough real difference between the two. Wreck the lungs and chit dies. And, since a real hunting rifle is carried more than shot, I'll take the 7.5 lb 30-06 thank you!

Would add, the 30-06 is a Wonderful And Mighty round in its own right and really a lot more cartridge than needed for most of the game it's used for (WT deer).

It's nice to have choices, lets just be honest about all the variables...

. My Kimber 98 in 338 Winchester mag. is not a problem, even off the bench . I've taken it to the range to compare point of impacts between several loadings up to 250 grain Federal loads, (including Federal 'heavy magnum' loads). I shot up more than forty rounds and only began noticing a bit of discomfort near the sessions end. I had no bruising at all. Now the Kimber with a Bushnell scope-chief 1.5-6 scope mounted is certainly no lightweight! I'd GUESS it at 9.5lbs, at least it feels like a real chunk to me, I'm used to favoring my Brown precision "High Country" in 284 Winchester, which barely makes 6.5 lbs with 2-8 Bushnell compact scope. I'd much rather have a 338 with a kevlar lightweight stock,22" barrel of "light" sporter contour and a Leupold 2-7X33 scope mounted up to try for 7.5 all up. This recoil talk would give a fellow a flinch if he never had one, the 338 just ain't all that bad. Hold the rifle properly, squeeze off your shot, in the field with your sights on game, you'll likely never even feel any recoil, and maybe not even hear the muzzle blast! I'm a 160 lb. 65 year old fellow, so it isn't like my mass soaks it all up. I've fired 416 Weatherby magnums that were nasty off a bench, and wouldn't be an option for me to choose for a prone position, but off hand, or kneeling, or even in a sitting position my body rolls with it sufficiently to allow me to consistently squeeze off subsequent shots with out undue timidity. BUCK up, practice often, shoot more off hand style and I'd bet there'd be a lot less complaint about recoil sensitivity.
....When I was a youth of 21 years Remington came out with the sexiest rifle I'd ever seen, the model 600 magnum. I bought one in the then new 350 Rem mag. That little gun could'a scarred me for life! I recall that it rung my bell so severely that my ears rang for a couple hours and I thought it had broke my collar bone! As much as I loved it's sexy look, I traded it off at trader Tex's swap shop, and stayed with my sporterized Swedish Mauser model 94 in 6.5X55.(that little gun had enough muzzle blast of it's own!......
......Finaly , if recoil is that much an issue swap to Nosler 210 grain partiction bullets with the 338. This load still has wonderful wallop on the biggest of North America's game, but is a scant step up from 30/06 boom & bluster.

How many, all-up 7.5 lb 338's have you shot?

Like I said, have owned six 338's that ranged in weight from 7.75 to 9.5 lbs... the two extremes aren't the same.

As to not feeling recoil in the field, as the kids say "well, duh"!

Point is, doing load development etc., requires bench time and a 7.5 lb 338 isn't much fun at the bench... develop a flinch at the bench and it'll show up in the field.

But then I'm a whimp...

I shoot a 338 Win Mag for everything anymore. I have other guns, especially a 30-06 that I'm real partial too. But, when the leaves start to fall, and that first frost hits, my Model 70 SS Classic chambered in 338 Win Mag is the one that gets grabbed. For everything. Lately that's been quite a few deer. Is it to much gun for them? I guess so... But I don't care. I use 210 Noslers for everything, and haven't seen any reason to change. I've worked up a bunch of different loads for it, and another Model 70 338 I have, but I never use them.

I guess as I've gotten older, I know that these years right now are the best years I'll have hunting. Soon, age will become a factor. I'll fiddle around with other guns when I can't get around as well as I can right now.

My SS Classic weighs 8.43lbs. without the sling. The sling is never on the gun while I'm hunting with it, but I have it with me at all times. It was weighed on a Hobart Quantum counter scale that's dead on. That weight doesn't bother me at all, and I don't like a rifle much lighter than that.

I've used two calibers extensively for most of my hunting. A 300 Weatherby, and the 338 Win Mag. I thought the Weatherby's recoil was more severe. The 338 kicks, but I don't consider the gun a bench gun. I shoot it enough to stay comfortable with it, and that's it. I'd rather shoot my .223 off the bench.

I think the 338 kills a little better than the 300, but both hit like the Hammer of Thor.

The 338 Win Mag has become my favorite cartridge the last few years. Is it really necessary to use such a large caliber? No, but I drive a F-350 too! I guess I'm just funny that way.

The 338 sure works good for me, as would a number of other cartridges if I had a mind to use them...

Good points all.

I'll have to weigh my XCR sometime. I don't know what it weighs, with the 2.5x8 Loopy on Loopy mounts... other than that it's not heavy.

-jeff

JB: I know, but I've owned so many rifles and I loved them all (including my 338's, a couple of which I wish I had back); but after awhile,it just gets to "burn-out" with all the overlap in calibers, not to mention the fact that (and I'm not trying to start an argument here), I have a hard time seeing the difference between how certain categories of cartridge perform on game; plus if you tend to be "obsessive/compulsive" (me) about how they perform,function,loads, etc., it can be burn-out in short order, dealing with SO MANY!!!! I have a life outside the rifle range (I think).

So, I figured above 30 caliber I wanted ONE cartridge that would cover the biggest territory, here, and Africa when I go.A lightweight 375 was it, since by handloading I could get it to do anything a 338,358 Norma, etc,etc could.Plus, I guess everyone agrees it'll work in Africa,too.

I really wish I could have the hunting opportunity of some on here so I could justify many more rifles.

Joel, I remember the arrival of my all-time 338 Win. Mag. a few years ago. When it was finally done and I had it in my hands, I was about two days away from a Texas deer and hog hunt, and I was so much wanting to hunt with it that I grabbed some Federal 210 Nosler Partition factory loads off the shelf, rushed out to the range, sighted the rifle in, and a day later jumped on a plane.

In camp, one of the older hunters found out that I was hunting with a 338 and he looked at me like I was even crazier than I actually am. The funny part was, those 210 Noslers dropped everything dramatically stone-dead, and going by the autopsies, they did less damage than a 130 would have out of a 270 or a 150 out of a 30-06. Was the 338 "too big" for the task at hand?

Not that I could see! Really, the 338 is only too big if you can't shoot it, or if you simply want or need to carry a lighter rifle of lighter recoil.

I've come close to choosing to hunt mule deer this year with that now well-blooded #1-favorite 338 Win. Mag. of mine, but I'm taking the 270 Win. instead, simply because it shoots flatter, kicks less, and it's shorter and lighter to carry. Such advantages are not lost on me, either, and I've been a 270 fan for many years as well.........

I'll take the 338 elk hunting later this season, as I have for the last three years straight, plus spring bear next season, etc.

AD

While I loaded a variety of bullets in the 338, I only killed game with the 210 partition... it ironed out everything I ever used it on including a bull elk right in the keister.

Great bullet in the 338...

Did you get an exit, Brad?

I've never even tried the 210; it's just seems too... light. Obviously, it ain't! I went straight to the 225's.

I'd guess a guy could get some rippin' speeds with the 210...

-jeff

Generally you can get right at 3000 out of the 210, unless of course you load beyond 65,000 psi, which isn't uncommon.

In the .340 Weatherby you can get an easy 3150, which does indeed just about duplicate the trajectory of the 130-grain .270.

JB

At the risk of sounding like Dion and the Belmonts(remember them): Here's my story,it's sad but true.

Recognizing what a cool thing a nice 338 in a rifle that's not too heavy would be. And wanting a contolled feed action because...... well just because.

I bought a 90s vintage Model 70 Supergrade and was cool except it would not shoot anything(trust me I tried)in less tham 2 inches at 100 yards. So when a dealer friend took in a nice Dakota in 338,we traded and it shot......just as bad.


I traded it for a shotgun and found a nice belgium Brwning FN Safari grade rifle and had to have it and it shot.......just as bad.


I can shoot little groups with my 300 win mag or my 375H&H so I don't think recoil is messing up my shooting. I know it's all just been luck of the draw but it seem that 338 rifles just keep pooping in my easter basket. You know,that sinking feeling when something you really wanted dissapponts you to the point of exasperation.

Right now I have several rifles that shoot great that bracket the 338. I've got a 35 Whelen that a real shooter and and the 375 shoots good too. Heck I've even got a 330 Dakota that shoots half inch with favored loads but it weighs nearly 12 pounds scoped and is too heavy for the mountains.

So should I send the Browning off to see if I can get her to shoot or keep trading guns on the assumption of getting lucky sooner or later? Or do you get by with other rifles that are a little bigger or smaller?

I'm thinking about a Ruger Hawkeye in stainless synthetic. If it doesn't group I'll have somebody put it in a nice McMillan and accurize it.What does that sound like to you guys?

Britt

Which reminds me of one of my favorite .338 stories. I was hunting caribiou and moose in Alaska, about a decade ago. Several of us were sitting around the fire one evening and the 18-year-old packer (a skinny kid from Ohio or someplace) started waxing eloquent on his sythtetic/stainless Model 70 .338, le. "Yeah, it's got a lot of knock-down power," he said, patting it fondly.

A couple of days later I killed a bull caribou with my own .338, using a 210 Partition, at about 300 yards. This was right at dusk, maybe a muile uphill from camp, so I gutted it and told the kid that night where it was, as i still had a moose to get.

The next night he took three trips to pack the caribou out, dragging into camp about the same time my guide and I dragged in from moose hunting. "Man, what did you shoot that caribou with?" the kid asked. "There was a hole in it THIS BIG!"

I smiled at him. "A .338."

It turned out, of course, that he had never shot anything with his .338 except a couple of paper targets.

JB

I'm constantly amazed at the quality of testimony given about the performance of cartridges by guys with little or no experience with same. I know guys around here, in the "Great State of Confusion", who shoot maybe one elk or one deer with a certain cartridge - and sometimes all they've managed to kill is paper - but they still think they've got it all figured out anyway. Just incredible!

Accuracy and velocity issues: The 338 Win. Mag. isn't always an easy cartridge to get to shoot well - not as easy as cartridges like the 308, 30-06, 270, 300 Winchester, or 375 H&H are - and some 338s will either not shoot well at all, or else they'll only shoot well with one bullet. Some 338s are also very slow, and struggle to make much over 2600 fps. with 250s, 2750 with 225s, or even 2850 with 210s. I've owned a number of 338s of various makes that struggled in all those areas, and some of the worst shooting, slowest 338s I've ever owned that had barrels that fouled like crazy were original pre-64 Model 70 'Alaskans', so the old pre-64 70 wasn't and isn't necessarily the sacred object that we're so often led to believe that it was.

BUT, a good 338 Win. Mag. with a good barrel and chamber CAN demonstrate incredible accuracy, and any 338 that's accurate with a variety of bullets, unfussy, consistent, AND fast should be shot sparingly at the range, and reserved mostly for actual hunting. My #1 338 Win. Mag. shoots like a varmint rifle with 210 and 250 gr. Nosler Partitions as well as 225 North Forks and 225 Barnes TSXs, plus it's very fast, and I don't shoot it much anymore. I save it for hunting and practice with other rifles for the most part......

AD