Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Anybody running a .338 Win Mag for deer???

Was wondering how many folks run a .338 for deer. What is meat damage like? What bullet and bullet weight do you shoot?
What ranges are you shooting?
Is this a brush busting gun for you or do you use it to buck the wind?

Thanks in advance,
David

Absolutely, loaded with the 210TSX's it's great deer medicine. Shot two bucks in S.Dakota-both mature-one behind the left shoulder and out in front of the right at 149yds-went two steps and zero damage to the meat and one that was bedded at 35yds-shot went in where the shoulder meets the neck straight on and out above the left ham-he did not get up and slight damage to the left backstrap. The .338Win shoots flatter than my .280 (loaded with 140TSX's) and recoil about like a .300Win or less.

The amount of meat damage depends more on the bullet than caliber.

I like the 250 Partition ad the 230 Failsafe.
Up close (under 100yds to 400 for deer/deer sized stuff).

I just like to use it. None seem to buck brush and there are better calibers for B.C. and hunting weight bullets.

The .338 Winchester Magnum works great on deer and similar-sized game. I used to hunt a lot with the .338 when hunting where any size game could turn up, whether in North America or Africa, so shot quite a few smaller animals with it as well. The 250 Nosler Partition is a good one for that job, as it expands easily yet penetrates really deeply.

If you are hunting only deer at normal ranges, a 200-grain bullet and around 60 grains of IMR or H4895 usually is accurate and works real well, not shooting up much meat but killing neatly. The 200 Speer Hot-Core, Hornady Interlock and Combined Technology Ballistic Silvertip all work well. Muzzle velocity is around 2650-2700 fps.

JB,

Have they discontinued the Ballistic Tip? I can find the Silvertip and the accubonds readily, but no sign of Ballistic Tips being carried by Midsouth or Midway.

Run a 225 TTSX @2900, very accurate, and punches a hole at any angle on deer, not a lot of meat damage. Just use for practice, 26" Kimber S.A., sweet rifle...Gunner

Not JB, but yes, the Combined Technology version is the only ballistic tip available. It is the same thing just in a coated and white tipped disguise.

Thanks man!

I've found that the 338 W.M. suits me well for open country hunting for elk & deer where shots are likely anywhere out to 400 yards. It's a flat shooter and once you're used to how it shoots, then deer, elk, coyote, etc. it doesn't matter. I'm not a reloader and shoot off the shelf Rem 250gr PPSP. It's just plain sweet.

This summer I was looking for a good used scope and picked up a nice leupold that had a 338RUM attached to it. and I've shot it and can handle it but I doubt if it will ever take the place of the Win mag. at least for me.

That Remington 250-grain ammo tends to shoot pretty well, in my experience. How does it do in your rifle?

I can usually expect 1" or smaller 3 shot groups with the Remington 250gr 338 Win Mag. ammo.

The stuff that really impresses me though is the premier 338 RUM with 250 gr swift A-Frames. I've only run about 50 rounds through it but 3/4" and smaller groups seems to be pretty typical. If I ever needed to reload a round, that's probably the one. I'm not sure the performance justifies the $89.00/box price and that's if I can find it around here. Go to the box stores and I can find 300 RUM and 375RUM but not so for the 338 RUM so I wonder if this round is headed for an early grave. I came to this round late and only because of a scope but I think it has some hidden talent in accuracy and down range performance on large animals.

210 or 225 versions of Barnes bullets. Very accurate, mild enough recoil, and very little meat damage if I actually do a body shot.

I've used the 225 accubond on a few deer with minimal meat damage out of my .338 win mag. In my experience the bigger rounds do very little meat damage, with my .375 H&H you can eat up to the hole. It goes without saying that a .338 isn't really needed for deer, but if you've got it and want to use it then why not? I doubt that there are many bullets that you can run through a .338 that are going to do a lot of meat damage on a deer, even the lighter weights are pretty stout bullets. Don't count on them busting brush, the best thing to do is not shoot through brush, there really isn't such a thing as a "brush busting" round. I think that most who use them on deer are just doing it because they can, they certainly aren't needed for deer.

I hunted deer for two seasons with my .338WM loaded with the 160 Barnes. It performed well, even on longer shots. Still did not recover a bullet, and there were a few heavy bone hits aways out.

R.

twas something like a 180 or 160 ballistic tip I loaded for a friend once..... I'd never shoot a deer with that bullet but he was tickled about how much damage it did.

Shooting 225 gr AB and it works well.

If your range isn't that great ( say under 200 yds) you really don't need the power of the 338 Mag..

however a good 200 grain bullet, loaded to a sedate 2200 to 2400 fps, will plow right thru any deer's vitals, without giving a bunch of blood shot meat in the process..

recoil is also similar to shooting a 308 with a 150 grain bullet..

I've been running one for a while on whitetail, use either federal 225 soft points or winchester 200 grain ballistic silvertips (all factory ammo). Meat damage is minimal and the deer like to drop and flop, or many times minus the flop as well. If you hit bone your going to see quite a bit of damage, but nothing worse than hitting the bone with a smaller cartridge.... If you talk to anyone that HAS ACTUALLY used one on whitetail for a while, they will all give you similar answers, save for the usual horror stories than can be associated with anything in life... Bigger slower moving rounds punch clean through, little to no blood shock.

I have shot a few deer with 338 win mags,ruined less meat than my 300 ultra for sure

If you can still find any, the nosler 180g Ballistic tip is a fantastic deer bullet when you don't like to see them run off into the swamp!