Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only 338 Lapua or 340 Weatherby?

Which one and why?

I have narrowed down to one of the two and am looking for opinions.

.340 Weatherby--cause I have one and enjoy shooting it. It destroys anything in it's path/

What is the primary use for the big .338?

Targets/LR hunting= .338 Lapua

General purpose hunting= .340 Wby.

I have a .340 and I love it.

I would throw another option out there. If you really want a big 338 I would opt for the 338 RUM or 338 edge. The 338 Edge is just a 300 RUM necked up to 338, brass is easy to make and dies are redily available. Either of these will put you right in the same range of performance as the lapua or weather by.

The reasons I would go with the rum is three fold.

First is cost. For what 338 lapua ammo and components cost you could shoot a 50 bmg. Weatherby ammo is similarly expensive and only a few places load for it.

Brass. Weatherby and lapua brass is very expensive, 338 RUM or edge would be much less expensive brass. The 338 edge would be easiest because there is no shortage of 300 RUM brass out there and it is very easy to neck up.

The comercial rifles available in the 338 lapua and weather by are also very expensive. For the money you could get a remington 700 for much less in 338 RUM and easily have it bored out to 338 edge very reasonably.

While there really isn't anything wrong with a 340 weather by I'm not a big fan of belts or the weather by radius shoulders.

For me its really a no brainer if you want a big 338. If you want to load your own get the 338 edge in a remington 700, if you want to buy your ammo get the 338 RUM. They is nothing that the 338 lapua or 340 weather by will do that either of these won't do and you can have a nicer rifle for the money.

Did you have a tactical rifle in mind or a hunting style?

Ive used a 340wby for nearly 37 years, other than the fact the rifles a bit heavier than ideal to carry, its 100% dependable and accurate, and kills like thors lightning bolt and you appreciate the rifle weight once your actually shooting it

I would pick the Lapua because it is not a Weatherby.

LAPWAH paper, WBY meat.

Gunner

Originally Posted By: Josh Sorensen



+1 Great advice, especially considering brass availability and pricing for equal performance. My experience has been with the 338RUM but expect equivalent ballistics from the 338 Edge.

IMHO the greatest contributor to long range accuracy is the quality of the rifle build and of the ammo, rather than which of these cartridges you pick.

Right on, Brutha.

Here is yet ANOTHER idea. Do what I did and build what I call a 340 Tyrannosaur. 8mm RemMag necked up to 338. Kind of like an AI'ed 340 WBY. Inexpensive easy to find brass, and performance that is right there neck and neck with a Lapua without having to build such a monster of a rifle. Any action that can house a 7STW, 300WBY etc (like a model 70 classic, BIG hint in there somewhere) can be a 340 Tyrannosaur. Mine, with a mere 26 inch bbl, is pushing 225gr TTSX's out the snout at a full Chrono'ed 3100 FPS.

Gunner

Lots of info on the .338 EDGE here at the creator's website:

http://www.defensiveedge.net/

The 338 EDGE is a good one, basically a 2.85", FL 375 RUM case necked down with the same case capacity as the 338 Lapua but works without the larger boltface required by the Lapua case.

Or for max performance go to a FL 2.90", blown out Rigby case and gain another ~20gr H2O capacity.

Why limit youself??...nothing but personal bias/preference pulling the wagon otherwise.

I see very little difference in using the Edge, Lapua, Wby case for paper OR hunting...the Lapua and Edge have ~10% more case capacity than the WBY so do have a bit mo' bite.

My Savage 111 Long Ranger 338 Lapua cost ~$1000.00 and I WOULDN'T call it a "monster rifle". It does buck a bit but no more than my other larger cal, heavy bullet rifles. Brass for the Lapua and WBY is about the same price from Midway or Grafs...the RUM brass is cheaper...bullets cost the same...dies cost the same unless you go custom.

If you're chump changing the difference in the price of brass you probably need to stick with a 223, 308, RUM...

You can check component prices easy enough online.

Is there really that much difference? A couple hundred fps? Hodgdon shows 2700 fps w/ a 250 gr in the latter; about the 2800 in the former.

I'd really like either, but have been recently leaning toward the latter.

Once the first part of this Q gets answered then we can move forward. I'm guessing that the Edge isn't gonna give him any real world edge for what he's wanting to use it for. But, I could be wrong...have been so many times b4

Dober

This is the load that is listed on Hodgdon web for the 250 grain bullet and H-1000 in the 338 Lapua

250 GR. HDY SP Hodgdon H1000 .338" 3.550" 88.0 2567 41,400 CUP 98.0C 2838 52,800 CUP

When I shoot 98 grains of H-1000 in Lapua cases lit by federal 215M, all behind a 250 grain SMK my rifle chrono's 3189 PS

You must have been having a moment of rectal-cranial inversion.........the cost's are not even close.

Yeah I was looking at the H load data after I put together my post and wondered why in the world one wouldn't just stick w/ the '06... IIRC I was getting 2600 fps from 250s for a TON less powder than the Bee or Lapua eat up.

There has GOT to be more heat available in those massive hulls or the ROI just wouldn't be there...

neither, 338 Ultra Mag

Case capacities...APPROXIMATE, your numbers may vary

340 WBY...~100 gr H2O
338 RUM(Rem Ultra Mag)...~107 gr H2O
338 Lapua...~115 gr H20
338 Edge...~113 gr H2O

338 Rigby FL 2.90" case...~135 gr H20
338-378 WBY...~138 gr H20

They're ALL GOOD.

FIRED case water weight can vary 4-9 gr depending on case brand, chamber size, actual case trimmed length.

What you are looking for is the maximum NET capacity with the specific bullet you want to use, seated to your specific COAL in a case trimmed to a specific length.

My fired Hornady cases averaged 117.2 gr H20 for 5 trimmed 2.720" UNSIZED cases...116.0 for SIZED cases...116.5 gr H2O for new, unfired trimmed to 2.722"....

That small difference in case volume means the chamber is very well matched to my sizing die and I'm VERY PLEASED about that!!!! The cases should last at least 10 firings. The neck is another story...it is a bit on the large size. I'm using RCBS dies while I break the barrel in, but when I go to load development I will buy a bushing style FL die.

The question of "efficiency" is always lurking. I won't even try to answer that one, in ANY shape or form. except to say Bigger is always better when it comes to driving heavier than "normal" bullets, but not necessarily true for light to normal bullet weights...but letting "efficiency" drive the wagon is a penny telling the dollar what to chew...totally illogical to me especially in the long ranger game where you're looking to keep both the velo AND the accuracy at the top end.

The arguments are always apples and corn fritters and usually make no sense to me at all...some powders work better than others but depends on the case volume/bullet weight...MANY powders overlap and which is the "best" is no more than personal bias.

There are so many variable that reflect in the velocity that it is very hard to pin down WHICH is the one driving the goat.

I use whichever powder, primer, and bullet that produces the highest level of accuracy at the highest velo I can get WITH those components for a specific purpose...but in many cases it ISN'T the highest velo I can achieve with that bullet...just the highest accuracy...I always try to get BOTH, but it doesn't always happen.

My choice for my purposes and my reasons is the Lapua, this being a dedicated long ranger paper/varmint puncher, and I've looking at using the full length Rigby case blown out to equal the 378 WBY case, that will hunt with the best if I want to poke a bite of venison/elk steak in my face.

Yeah...ain't no grass growing under the '06...and I never had any trouble collecting my deer/speed goats/elk with a 25-06 OR my 250 Sav AI...for even less powder.

It's just nice to have the choice of all these nice toys...

338 RUM holds 113 gr. Brass is far cheaper. Lapua has no real advantage except "cool" (wannabe sniper) factor.

Going to a longer barrel will get you far more than a few gr of powder.

Got a build underway for a 34" 3 groove nitrided barrel in 338 RUM on a Savage match action.

Betting on a minimum of 3300 w/Berger 300s.