Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 338 Winchester Magnum

Wondering for chitt and giggles how many of you guys own a 338.Also how many use theirs.Myself I haven't packed mine for at least 6 years now.Don't know why either.It sorta got retired.

I have one. my wife uses it for elk hunting and I only shoot it a little. I put a brake on it so she could stand the recoil so it doesn't get shot much for practice as it is hard on the ears.

I have owned 3. Still have one but it doesn't get shot much. Its about all I used when I lived in AK but down here I prefer my 25-06 Ack. My ruger .338 was the first centerfire I bought all on my own. So there is a special place for it. I also shot my first moose and caribou with it.

I always say im going to bring it along but always back out at the last minute. Maybe next year

Ive got a 338-06 AI that I havent even shot yet. Lost interest, but at the sametime I didnt elk hunt this year. Similar to the 6.5-284 I built 3 years ago. Took a year to build and havent broke the 50 round mark yet.

Joseph

I have owned 2, both Rugers.
Loaded for both-they shot very well with 225gr partitions and H4350.
Recoil not so bad either-certainly a fair bit less than my 340.

I've owned a 700 and a Sako Finnbear.

One of my favorite cartridges.

I was going to shoot everything with it, but that ain't no fun!

A 225 TSX, 230 FailSafe or 250's for me. RL-22 and RL-25 are the fuls.

I have a NIB Winchester stainless classic. Need to find a use for it.

I bought it for a moose that I have yet to take.


ddj

have a 700 in lh

love that rifle, it's served me well

she's pretty beat up, but pretty is as pretty does.

she did get a McMillan stock a few years ago, but it don't get rode hard and put up wet like it did when I was guiding, it sported a B&C stock in those days.


always wanted a .375, and still do somewhat but not bad enuff to buy one.

.338 was second choice for me

but if I could only have one rifle for my uses up here it'd get the nod, over my 7 mag which is a pretty close second.

Hawk,
Rl25 in a 338?
Cool, I would have thought that -25 would have been too slow for a 338.
RL25 is about the only powder I use in my 340 these days.
Very good velocity and good accuracy-w/225's and 250s both.

Have always wanted a 338 Win Mag. but have never gotten around to adding it to the collection yet. Biggest problem is I can't decide which rifle to get it in. Would like to have a Kimber, but it seems everybody is always knocking them on here. I have brass, bullets, powder, and dies, all I need is a rifle!

Orion,
I have thought about a Kimber 338 myself. Specifically, A Montana.
I have never even seen one(8400L) 'in the flesh' but I hear that the long forearm and balance puts some people off of the 8400Ls.

I have had good luck with all my Kimbers, 84s and 8400s and I especially like the Montana.

Tim,


SU35 posted some results with it, so I tried it with 250's. Darned if I didn't get 2,700 and change after working up last summer. I believe my charge was 78 grains.

It also bulks up less than 22 does for some reason, so over compression isn't an issue. It was a lot more stable when the gun and ammo was hot than 22. No surprises with it.

I also run it in the 300 Winny; soon the 264, 7RM, and 7Wby.

Nate

I like the .338 bore.

Started by getting a Lh 700 rebored to .338-06 in about 1982. Found a custom .338 Win on a Sako that I just had to have and parted out the 700. But the Sako was way to heavy and didn't shoot so great, so I sold it. Ended up with a LH stainless Savage .338 Win mag somewhere along the way because nobody else was making lh stainless at the time. Currently have a .338 Win in a Lh stainless m70. I also have a 338 WSM that I built on a lh stainless MRC action back when most people were guessing that would be the above 30-caliber WSM cartridge.

I probably have more experience with the .338 bore than any other outside of .284. I like the thump-to-recoil ratio.

Nate,
2700 with a 250?- not bad at all.
Also good to know that 25 is more temp stable than 22 in your experience.
I have pretty much gone completely away from 22, though it does work very well in my 6.5 Swede and my 270 Roy.

Thanks for the info!

I've got two - a Classic blue/walnut and a Custom Classic blue/walnut..

Haven't used either yet...

My .338 is actually a .340. Ostensibly it was the "anything anywhere" rifle and outside of African DG it really can cover that. With 210gr bullets it's flat enough that I'll not be taking a shot it can't reach and with 250-275's if that won't stop it I probably shouldn't be trying to shoot it.

I don't think it kicks hard enough to bother me. OTOH I've gotten where it's not the caliber so much as the rifle. Carrying my Tikka T3 Lite stainless in .308 covers most things with aplomb and totes nicer than the big MKV.

STW: Mine sorta ended up like yours....shot a lot,hunted some;but ususally they came as a second rifle. I liked the 300 Winchester and 300 Weatherby better as elk rifles,and general all-rounders....both shot flatter for me to 500 and 600 (Jeff O is giving me lessons on the new 225 AB but then, with Partitions,the 300's went faster and shot flatter with Partitions and BBC's.

For Brown Bears I built a light 375,and once I learned what you could do with a premium bonded 250 in the 375,I could not justify a 338 at all....so all went down the road.

If I lived in Alaska or northern BC,I would think it's a great "shoot everything cartridge",and would likely own and use it.But these days if I want more than a big 7mm,I jump clear to the 375H&H.Not much you can't get done with that duo

Yep, I have one that I had put together earlier this year. It is supposed to be my "anything in North America" rifle. Took it to Idaho on an elk hunt (didn't even see an animal) and I am even hunting our deer season here in Alabama with it--already shot two does with it.

So far I am loving it. LH Model 70 bedded in a Bansner with Talley LW's and a Leupold VXIII 2.5-8x36. All up, it doesn't quite hit 8lbs. I am really pleased with how it turned out.

I see myself using this one for a while. Just bought a boat so I don't see myself building another rifle for a few years.

I have two of them and left both at home this year. My hunting needs have changed over the years.
Still using lots of .338 bullets in smaller cases.

I had a 338 Winchester in one form or another since 1979. My current rifle is a Sako 75 SS with a 3x-9X Ziess since 1997 and its been a very good rifle for the most part. For a while I though about maybe a 338-06, then after some thought why? The Winchester is the way to go in a 338. And this from a guy who played with and hunted with 340 Weatherby and 330 Dakota.