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

Wow! 26 pages of repetition, all hail the .338....

I have used the .338 since its first year of production, it is the best N.A. big game cartridge out there IMO...I shoot the 210 Noslers at 3003 FPS av. and the 300 gr. Woodlighs at 2500 FPS, thats pretty hard to compete with for an all around caliber. I have used this caliber in Africa on all plainsgame and on several buffalo, In the USA on elk, deer and maybe an antelope or two?? I have shot Bison, bear, and Caribou with it...It has never failed me or even disapointed me...

There are a lot of other good calibers out there, but none are any better...not even my pet .375 H&H......

I just found this thread.. Wow lots of info on the .338. I admit I don't have any experience with it but have been thinking about adding one to the arsenal (before Obama bans it). Why not the .338 RUM? If you reload can you not tailor down the load? I thought I heard the RUM case was better designed that the original WM design? Am I way off base?

I think you're a ways off base, yeah.

There's a limit to how far you can download without getting into safety problems and sometimes accuracy problems. You can also wind up with collapsed case shoulders because there wasn't quite enough pressure to seal the neck during firing.

I had a .338 RUM for a while. On paper it was a good choice. It didn't work out.

I've had 3 sporters in .338 Win Mag. I'm on my 4th .375 H&H. The current .375 is in the same package my .338 RUM was in, the Remington 700 XCR.

Figure it like this. The .338 Win Mag, with the right bullets and an accurate platform, is at least a 500 yard cartridge. Dead is dead. The .338 RUM doesn't make them more dead. It's not more forgiving of sloppy shots. It just doesn't add anything at all until the .338 Winchester has run out of velocity to expand bullets downrange. 500 yards is a long shot. Reliable hits at that range require finessing the rifle and a lot of practice. You simply cannot finesse a rifle with the recoil level of the 700 XCR in .338 RUM. It will hurt you, hurt you bad.

I had two scopes, a Leupold 3-9X and their 2.5-8X which I tried on the .338 RUM. I've had both scopes a long time and had them on a number of rifles. I couldn't keep them off my forehead shooting normally from the bench. Standing was worse yet. The 3-9X is currently on my XCR .375 H&H, I've put hundreds of rounds through that, and not been so much as tapped by the scope. The .338 RUM typically hit me 2 out of 10 from ideal positions (positions I could not use for hunting) and would hit me every shot from hunting positions. That's a flinch maker. That's not the kind of thing you can do while finessing a gun past 500 yards.

What I'd like to see is Remington reintroduce the .338 RUM in a Sendero or maybe something a bit heavier yet.

Tom

Thanks, that was I looking for. I do not have any experience with the .338 family, your answer helped!

Eyeing an .338 WM XCR for $800.... Hoping someone does not beat me to the punch.... : )

Hey Tom,

Agreed on all points. Just as a data point- they DO offer the 338 RUM in the Sendero... at least they did when I was buying my Sendero II a while back. Pretty sure anyway <g>. I didn't really consider that chambering because, as you say, precision requires finesse which is sort of killed by brutal recoil.

hekin, my XCR in .338 is probably my "best" rifle. By best I mean in terms of stability across both several years of shooting, and stability across many different rests and sandbags and so on... sucker just SHOOTS. Could be an anomoly (though Tom's .338 RUM XCR shot really, really well as it was whackin' him to death, right Tom <g>?).

In the XCR stock I find the .338 WM to be extremely shootable...

Go forth and purchase! :-)

I had a 338RUM in the old Sendero.
The recoil was fairly stout(250gr @2900fps) -I should think a 338RUM in something as light as an XCR would be brutal.

I had one I sold it to get my 300 win back. Now aim looking for a .338 once more. Now Iam not saying the 300 wont do ANYTHING I ask of it but having a 338 in camp just feels right. I have two buddys that shoot them. BOOM dead critter......

Thank God! some guys who don't shoot 243s! I have owned several 338s and they have always done the job. And the recoil is not bad with lighter bullets. My current 340 is a Gale McMillian custom
serial # is like 072 based on a mdl 700 action. I have a Brake on it wish I didn't. the guys in camp say "we knew that was you, Your rifle goes BOOM G--Damit!" the elk hate it! never had to shoot one twice or for that matter had to track one shot with a 338. I shoot 210 partition over 4350 right at 3150 + or minus with the 340. I have never had a lousy shooter in a .338 or 340. T/C,McMillian,tikka,sako,weatherby All shot really well.
Jeff I am glas to hear that XRC shoots so well. I was eyeballin a xrc dangerous game rifle in .375 the other day. priced right but it may be gone as it's elbow to elbow at the gun shops right now.

For those who are not familiar with the old FN Brownings, here are some photos of the Safari grade.

I think I only shot this on 5 or six times to sight in, but I guess it�s time to redo, as I just swapped scopes from the old Redfield, to a Burris.

Richard

[img][IMG]http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii281/Meatco1/Browning1.jpg[/img][/img]

[img]http://[IMG]http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii281/Meatco1/Browning4.jpg[/img][/img]

It's 338 time. I love mine. Once a year for a few days I get woolies, elk hunters and 338's out and play with them.

I'm rolling for the coast in about thirty minutes. I've got the .338/2.5-8 Leupy/225 TBBC HE. I know this combo works. It works so well I don't use much else for elk. I shoot a few deer with mine too but only by circumstance.

If it breaks I will have to make do with my .35 Whelen/2x7 Leupy/225 TBBC. That will work too.

I have two days to see what I can do on coastal elk. 4 days if I get on a herd and want my butt chewed by the wife. [JK-if I was on a herd I'm sure she would be ok with it.]

I haven't hunted the coast in five years. Can't say I have always enjoyed the weather. We will see.

Bump for BSA

BSA as in motorcycles? Well I sure like the .338 caliber's for killing big animals. I like em so frigging much, that I ended up collecting several rifles in .338 calibers.

ALL HAIL THE .338 CALIBER!!! Now I am not yelling Dober or anyone else undersand gentlemen. Thank You All...Cheer's

Jeff you get that thing back from it's opperation yet (sorry I owe you a call, perhaps tmrw)..

Dober

Yessir! Leaning against the bookcase as I type. Came out to 23" or maybe even a bit less. I am LOVING the handling now!

I've only shot it a bit. It's been rainy and windy here. It appears to have retained it's mojo; the last 4 I shot were about .8" if memory serves. But we'll see. I need to load up some more ammo for it...

The POI did move like 7" at 100 yards though! Left and down. Maybe the gunsmith bonked the scope or something. Cost me another strand of wire off the fence I shoot through at my 100-yd target <grin>.

I believe you will like it.

I had my M70 SS Classic bobbed to 23" right after I got it.

I really like it. I do wish I had went 22 in.

Who did the work for you?

Mine is probably more like 22.5" which is cool.

Mike Hill did it. He does good metalwork IMHO. That said, if I look real close I see tool marks in the "recess" cut. However, let me say that this was the $50 version of the job. The barrel wasn't taken off. For a bit more he said he could pull the barrel and do it on a lathe and then I'd be seeing no tooling marks... but he said taking an XCR's barrel off would likely mar the coating a bit. Anyway I opted for the cheap cut/recess/crown and short of getting right up on it with a flashlight, it looks very clean and tidy.

Hey DB what was it you used on that enormous elk you were lugging through the Sportsman's Show a few years ago?

Let us know how it perks and what the speed diffs are?

You'll love it @ 23", there's some kind of magic to it I'm telling you.

Dober

I will Mark! Probably tomorrow actually, it should be dry enough to set up the chrony.

Really liking how this rifle is set up now. M700 XCR, 23" tube, Neil Jones worked over the trigger and set to 2.5 lbs, Conquest 3-9x40 in Talley LW's. That's a perfect scope for a harder-kicking long action rifle... at least for myself with my deviant shooting style <g>.

It's also had a Leup 2.5-8 and Conquest 3.5-10 on it. The 3-9 Conquest on it now, is best by far.

Should of punched it to .340 and then...it'd of been perfecto

Dober