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

HEAR, HEAR!

Yeah, sheesh, "need"! That's crazy talk!

Next thing you know they'll be saying we don't need a V-8 in our trucks. :-)

-jeff

I just had to bump this one back up to the top.

I have been shooting my 338 a bunch again lately, primarily at intermediate-long range (out to 600 yards). What a rifle, what a caliber!! The thing is just insanely accurate with 225-Accubonds.

It's a M700 XCR, stock except a Jewell trigger, and I just put a Zeiss 3.5x10 with the Rapid-Z 600 reticle on there. The RZ reticle matches the ballistics of the 225 Accubond perfectly; the 600 yard stadia it dead nuts at 600 yards. Pretty dang cool. I am hitting that 600-yard stell plate (vitals sized) easily about 75% of the time. To some of you, that's nothing; to me... wow.

.338 Win Mag is just a spectacular caliber. All hail. :-)

-jeff

Jeff, you bet it's great, and if you spend most of your time working with and hunting with that one rifle, you'll be way ahead when it comes time to press the trigger during elk season.

And since there are lots of other cartridges out there that are just as good in most ways, and some that are just possibly better, I think that's the best apprach no matter what cartridge any hunter shoots.

I know guys who have literally 'most every huntable species of the world's big game not only with the 338 Winchester, but also the 30-06, 300 Wby., 300 Win., 7mm Rem. Mag., 375 H&H, etc., and I haven't heard about any general complaints or about bullets that bounce off, either, and all of these guys are too busy professsionally to play this cartridge-of-the-month-club stuff, anyway. Their spare time is mostly spent hunting, pure and simple. You'll hear about bad bullet performance and poor shot-placement once in a while (you'll hear about those things from me, too) but very, very seldom do you hear about bad CARTRIDGE performance.

I was out shooting my 338 Win. Mag. yesterday morning, and it remains one of those cartridges that, for any number of rational and irrational/tangible and intangible reasons, I simply do my very best work with, and for me it's been that way since I bought my first 338 Win. Mag. back in 1980. But I'm at least as happy when I hunt with my 300 Win. Mag., and I can't tell any difference in killing power between the two.

That doesn't sound very imaginative now, does it?

AD

Right on Allen, I was hoping you'd show up again on this thread! I've noticed that you are back in love with the .338 again lately.

One of the things that I didn't mention that boggles my mind about my particular .338 is how impervious it is to variations in hold and rest. I take it up, toss it across the sandbag, and boom! A hole appears right where it did last time I did that.

Other rifles I have are very finicky about being sandbagged and held just so in order to be consistant as far as hitting the same exact POI.

This is making me want to go shoot it again today! I've shot long range the last 3 days in a row, mostly with my .325 and .338, and I'm really on a roll.

My face is all puffed up from an allergic reaction and my mouth ain't working right because of it... so I can't hardly do real estate other than keeping the deals I have in escrow serviced... so what the hell, maybe I WILL go shoot again today! My cell phone works up there... technically I'm workin', right? :-)

Yeehaw! Love the caliber. And I gotta put in a pitch for the Zeiss 3.5x10 I just put on it. It's too soon for me to be REALLY pimping the scope, but boy does that reticle work great for long range shooting.

These really are the good old days.

-jeff

That ability to maintain a zero, not be fussy in terms of hold, plus downrange-accuracy, balance, feel, feeding, etc., etc all have something to do with how solidly we get attached to a given rifle, and those things transend the exact cartridge you're shooting.

One reason I've been shooting a 338 Win. Mag. a lot lately is the fact that on my last Africa safari, my hunting partner wanted to take his 338 Win. Mag. for plainsgame, so I did the same, and having that same commonality of ammunition saved me a tremendous amount of grief, as it turned out. Shooting everything from whitetails and hogs to elk has been solid practice for everything else.

We're taking the same rifles again this year, and for the same reasons, plus last year during elk season, all three of us were shooting 338s.

Next year, though, I'm taking a 270 Win. and a 375 H&H when I head over with my wife, simply because I've always wanted to (in the spirit of Jack O'Connor), and if my 115 lb. bride decides to whack some stuff on her own, that 270 should fill the bill for her just fine without too much back-shove, and in the form of a nice, light, flat-shooting, beautifully-balanced rifle. As I've found out long ago, good 270 bullets don't bounce off, either!

AD

Dang it, you guys are going to have to stop all of this talk. You've almost got me on the 338WM bug!

Of course my new little 338Fed is not helping matters either

Have a Good One,

Reloader7RM

RL7RM, it's a GOOD bug bite to get! Get bitten, man!

I was afraid of the caliber. I've only been shooting high-powered rifles for... 9 years now I guess it is. You hear stories about the brutal recoil of a .338, and maybe some of the do; but not mine! When I bought it I told the guys at the gunshop to "go ahead, laugh at me now and get it over with, because I won't own a gun I can't shoot well and if this thing kicks the snot out of me, I'll be draggin' back tomorrow with my tail between my legs to trade it back in at a loss!" Or words to that effect.

So it was with some trepidation that I touched off that first round.

At the shot, I literally started laughing. No big deal, not even close to a big deal, no pain or bruises, no NUTHIN' except a big, friendly, push. Then, I noticed that this rifle was shooting even my initial practice loads into tiny little groups.

And so it began.

-jeff

A light 338Fed and normal weight 338WM are a great pair. Go ahead, give in to the "bug" you'll feel better in the end. I know I did.

RH

Hopefully we get a break in the cold temps and wind tomorrow. I want to go out and shoot the Kimber Montanas, 300WM vs. 338WM head to head. I want to see if there is a difference in their felt recoil. We'll see.

BigWhoop, which Montanas do you have again?

-jeff

Jeff,

What load are you using for the 225 gr AccuBond?
The load I was going to try first is IMR 4350, up to 71.5 gr with Federal 215 primers (convinced a friend to sell me 1000 <awfully hard to find right now>)

My relationship with my old Model 700 really improved once I replaced the old hard rubber recoil pad with a new LimbSaver.
Went from 20 rounds at the bench being the max, to 60-80 rounds a session with out bothering my shoulder at all.

Limbsavers are great...

My load is 74 grains of RL19 and a F215 mag primer. I think I set the bullet out towards the lands some so it's longer than SAAMI max OAL. In my opinion, everyone should at least try RL19 in their .338 Win Mag. It's like they were made for each other.

I don't remember where exactly 74 grains is in the charts, but, my guess is that's max or close to it (knowing me) so check the books and work up accordingly.

RL19 has been a stable, accurate, reliable, powder for me. I love the stuff. And that's coming from a guy who could just about otherwise get by with H4350 and be perfectly happy!

-jeff

Thanks Jeff.

Will give it a try.
Manual shows this load as max.

Jeff,
Those are Kimber Montanas.

Yeah, I figured it would right up there somewheres!

-jeff

I shot the 06 and the 338-06 for years, then when the first .338 Win. came out I bought one, and I have never looked back..It is the one most balanced caliber I have ever used for big game..The 210 gr. Nosler at 3005 FPS, and the 300 gr. Woodleigh at near 2500 FPS covers about anything..I have shot deer, elk, bison, cape buffalo and all of the African plainsgame with one or the other of these two loads..

I can't imagine a better caliber than the .338 Win. for hunting big game. I have no need for comparisons, serves no purpose...I still like the 30-06, 308, 7x57, 300 H&H and even the lowly 25-35!, so what?

The only reason I don't choose it as my "one rifle" on the interminable one-rifle threads is simply that I worry that when I'm old(er) and gray(er), the recoil could start to be a problem if I develop shoulder or neck problems.

Other than that I agree 100%. Especially since putting that Zeiss scope on mine, with their 600-yard reticle; with 225 Accubonds I can hardly miss out to 600 yards! On steel plates that is.

-jeff

Then just load it down a bit...

When that older, grayer day comes, simply go back to the .30-06 with 180s.

Expat