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

Hey Mark- any idea what the BC of that 250-gn AB is gonna be? Gotta be way up there... how fast will a .340 drive a 250-gn bullet, anyway? 2800 fps?

-jeff

The 338 could be a great all-around gun for me. Accept.. where are alle the cheap practice bullets? Closest I could find to "cheap" was 225grain Hornady bullet. $25 per 100.

I think the days of cheap ANY bullets are sadly fading into the rear-view mirror...

-jeff

I do own a Belgian BAR in .338 Win Mag that has never been in the field. It's a beautiful rifle, but for deer and elk hunting I have always used my 7MM Rem Mag. But even now after too many rotator cuff surgeries, I cannot see myself hunting with any rifle for all game but by .308 Win Featherweight.

Jeff-not sure what the BC will be but it will be big! You should come over this way and we'll take some guns out to Brads ranch and air them out to 1K.

Af or the speed of a 250 in a .340, will be tube length and tube dependent as well as loader style but 2850 is safe to say and some will push 3K. But day in and day out to me it is in that 2850-2900 range.

Dober

It's listed at 0.575 in the '08 catalog.

Any idea of when we can get our pawz on them?

Thx

Dober

Nope. I'll run by there and ask tomorrow.

The best "practice" bullet for .338 bores I have found is the 250 SGK, it will do an easy 2800 fps-mv out of all four of my 25"tubed P-64 Alaskans and shoots tiny groups over either RE-22 or H-4350. I use the 250 NP at the same velocity to hunt with, so, trajectory and recoil impetus are the same, a good idea for practice, IMO.

With a 26".340 Roy, I have loaded 250NPs to 2950 and much the same last summer in my bud's .338RUM; these ARE the BEST rounds for serious Elk hunting, IMO, IF, you shoot enough to master them, but, I find both the .338WM and my .375H&H rifles a bit easier to shoot.

I really cannot think of a better over-all cartridge than the .338WM, what is there that it CAN'T do, in terms of serious North American hunting?

Wow!
That is a slippery 'pill' for sure.
Ah well, another bullet I 'have' to try in my 340...
~sighs~

Ho Jeez, I would LOVE that! Here's hopin'...

-jeff

Mark- Be sure to run some of the new 160gr TTSX's out of that 340! I'm betting THAT would be a good 'yote round...

They would be if....I am a bit doubtful that they'll shoot. One never knows but. Guess we'll have to see.

Interesting note, the old 160X's would not shoot in my 340 neither would the 175 X's. But, in my 338/06 both bullets perked well especially the 160. R15 would run the 160's at 3047 fps in my 23" 338/06 by the way.

Dober



Dober

That speed doesn't surprise me, as I get almost 3100 with 150's from a 30-06 and the 338/06 will have a bigger "butt" to push on. "The bigger the cushion, the better the pushin', if you know what I mean!" (what movie is that from?)

You still have that 338/06 Dober? Sounds like a cool rifle!

-jeff

Yepper I do Jeff- it is packed and the lil lady is gonna try to blow up an elk with it in the morn.

Dober

Nice. A family rifle. Good luck to you and the lil lady! Hunting elk in December in Montana has got to rock.

-jeff

MOSSBERG 835 ultimag: hands down, the worst recoil I ever got. I think it's stock design. Sold mine.

.338 Winchester Magnum: best rifle I wish I never sold. It is a "gentle" magnum and mine was super accurate!

We are in 100% agreement! Maybe I should sell my 835.. but i'm not going to sell my .338 WM! But I'm with you on the 835. That thing is brutal.

-jeff

My cousin had a new 7MM something special bolt gun either a Winny or Browning with a muzzlebreak on it this past month while deer hunting. I didn't have time to look it over wish I had it was a Long Cartridge that looked to be brutal. He said when shot the kick was more like that of a .223 Rem. Thats what I'll be looking for in my next bolt rifle, till then the 30/30 still rules in my book. Have yet to need anything other the the old levergun even though I've shot plenty of critters with everything from the .223, 12ga slugs,.270, .308 and the 30.06. Say what you will but dead is still dead in my opinion.

Mine has a 24" Gaillard, with a 1/2 pound Merc reducer in the but of the Wildcat stock. It weighs 8 1/4 with a 2.5-8 on it and the recoil is negligible with full house 250 NP loads. I am going to try 225 Accubonds next.