Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 338-06 vs. 300 win mag.

..long necked, fast moving Swedish item...

I'd be willing to bet there are more 338-06 owners on this board than there are 257 weatherby owners... I wish someone would produce the rifle in an affordable package. I might have to buy another.

Give me a 338-06 and 200gr Accubonds or 210TSX and I'll happily kill everything I'd ever want to hunt.

"Give me a 338-06 and 200gr Accubonds or 210TSX and I'll happily kill everything I'd ever want to hunt."


IF your primairy concern is flat trajectory load a 180-190-200 grain bullet in a 300 mag and forget the medium bore!
but if you want a sweet shooting hunting rifle for big game the 338/06 or the 35 whelen fits the bill just fine,
I don,t see the advantage of the 338/06 over the very similar 35 whelen, (and BTW Ive owned several rifles in BOTH calibers) theres not a darn thing a 338/06 will do in the field that a 35 whelen with a similar loading can,t duplicate, now don,t get all crazy and start quoting ballistic charts, IVE owned and shot both calibers in several rifles , and they are both EXCELLENT calibers, but, the whelens a bit more popular, as theres more options in ammo at most suppliers,and more load data available, I still own two 35 whelens and I load SPEER 250 grain bullets almost excluesively at about 2470 fps (I really don,t see the point of using anything less than a 250 grain in the whelen on ELK)or 200 grain hornadys at 2680fps, for deer, and Ive yet to see any loads beat those loads results in the field.
yes you can get a 338/06 to shoot an inch flatter at 300 yards....theres no one that can accuratly judge that inch differance or effectively use that differance in the field on game!
In well over 37 years of hunting ELK Ive seen damn few shot over 300 yards, and even fewer hunters who could consistantly make effective hits past 300 yards under field conditions, your better off having an accurate rifle you trust and concentrating your efforts into learning to shoot accurately out to about 350 yards than spending time worring about trajectory and wind drift, etc. past that, as the chances of useing that hunting ELK in most areas Ive seen or hunted in just are not that common.
ELK aren,t stupid, they tend to stay into cover once the shooting starts.

http://www.doubletapammo.com/php/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21_46&products_id=167

http://www.handloads.org/loaddata/d...;type=Rifle&Order=Powder&Source=

http://www.reloadammo.com/35whelenload.htm

http://www.alliantpowder.com/reload...ht=250&shellid=1088&bulletid=324

I don't have either a 35 Whelen or a .338-06, but if I were in the market for a mild medium bore, I'd pick the Whelen for the reasons you stated. I'd also pick the Whelen because it's a larger jump in caliber from the 30-06. I'm reading here that most guys want to run 200 or 225gr bullets in their .338-06. Nothing wrong with that, but in a straight bullet weight and velocity comparison, the 30-06 and .338-06 appear to run neck 'n neck. If a guy wanted to split hairs, I'd wager that the higher BC/SD of the .30cal bullets make a bigger difference than the .030" increase in diameter. With today's premium bullets, it's pretty much a moot point I guess. The only advantage I see in abandoning the 30-06 for a medium bore based on the '06, is to shoot the 250gr bullets. For that mission, the .35Whelen is a smidge better, but again, today's premium bullets don't require that like back in Elmer's day. It does allow today's hunter to continue shooting standard cup 'n core bullets though if they choose, while reaping the known performance of a .250gr bullet from a Whelen and saving a few bucks on a box of bullets. Plinking with revolver bullets may be fun too.

Finally, the Whelen would also get my pick because it's an older, "classic" cartridge, and that can factor into a gun looney's decision as much as any "ballistic advantages." The 9.3x62 would also be very tempting because it's even older and bigger than the Whelen. It doesn't carry the name of a shooting icon however, so again the .35Whelen wins in this Loonies mind.

Not flaming anyone, but want to point something out.
Every time the subject of a .338-06 or .35 Whelen come up I see same argument about them (usually the .338-06) not being enough of a difference from a .30-06.
I agree they aren't that different from a .30-06, but that's not what I had when I wanted a bigger rifle.
My "deer" rifle was a M-7 7mm-08. I tried 2 or 3 different .35 Whelen's, and settled on a .338-06. I still think I made the perfect choice.

Its all personal prefrence... I don' t have the ability to shoot much farther than 300 yards, and the couple dozen elk I've wacked have mostly all been inside that range anyway. Sure a 300WM might give me a little confidance, but its not something I really need. I just can't figure out why people get so worked up over calibers/and cartridges. I've seen elk killed with everything from 22-250's to 375s... they all died. Anyone would have a prett hard time convincing me that a 300mag, whelen or lame azz 30-06 is any better than a 338-06, and vise versa.

Well said!

If you have both, take both. Having a backup rifle on an elk hunt is cheap insurance. Then hunt with either or both.

Between a 338 and a 30 mag, I would take the 338-06 because I've come to like big bullets at moderate velocities over high speed stuff. It's been my experience that high velocities make for a lot of bloodshot meat. Keeps the dog fed, but elk meat is red gold as far as I'm concerned, and I like to lose as little as possible.