Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters recoil options for mid 70's / win 70- 338 wm

i'm looking for some options for recoil...mid 70's/win. 338
i'v been shooting a "bar" 7mm w/m for yrs, and decided to go to a larger cal.(i'm passing my bar down to 16 yr. old grandson) as our hunting area requires 3 to 400 yrd shots, for elk, and 250 to 350 for l/h sheep
as of yet, i haven't developed a "flinch" in my shooting, and would like to keep it that way.......so if i can tame this 338 wm down, eather (porting or brake)some one please chime in !!

thanks....steven

Turn it into a 300 Win. mag. and shoot 150 gr. TTSX bullets.

I'd start with a good pad like a pachmayer decelerator or like and see how it does for you. You are used to a light recoiling bar so it's going to be a lot different in terms of recoil. I don't like the brakes as they are too noisy. My uncle uses a BAR and lives in your neck of the woods (prineville) . It's chambered in 338 win mag and it's a sweet low recoiling shooter to boot. Why didn't you go this route? Seems like a good option..

Not a good option. The 300 takes more of the same powder.

It doesn't take a hundred grains more.

No but recoil is so similar that it's rediculous to suggest that....

Really? A rough momentum balance needs a 150 to go 4500 fps to match a 250 at 2700.

It's obvious you've never shot a 300 win mag and 338 win mag side by side for a proper comparison. Why don't you get back to us afterwards. Like always, your math bs doesn't impress me much....

I own and have shot 300 Winchester and Weatherby magnums, and a 338 Mag to boot. I've even had them out to the range at the same time, shooting one while the others cooled.

You can disagree with the numbers if you like, but there's no need to be a dick in the process.

I hate to say you're right, but you're right.

If anything the felt recoil on the .338 WM is less because it seems to hit me "slower". .300s are "sharp."

Good recoil pad, a scope with enough eye relief you're not afraid of being hit, and lots of practice.

My recommendation is to take your .338 varmint shooting. Fire 20 carefully aimed rounds with it at the start of each trip, then switch back to a std varmint gun.

Tom

Also not dogpiling mathman but personally I'll shoot .338 all the live-long day over 300 WM. Now, that's with 200's or 225's. Can't speak to 250's.

To the OP: I think the 210-gn Partition is your huckleberry. A sterling on-game reputation. Also, while they are cosmetically suspect (they get gummy) the Limbsaver is a thing of beauty on a .338.

There's a lot to how particular stocks fit the shooter, the weight of rifles, and how blast is perceived as a part of recoil. A hot loaded 300 is blasty compared to my 338 with 250 grain bullets. But my Mk.V with 150s doesn't move anything like my 338 with 250s, even though the 300 is burning a good bit more powder.

Yeah, I sure can't compare a .338 with 250's to a .300 with 150's. The .338 may be a little slower on the comeback, but the slower is still harder!

Personally, when hunting with a .338 at ranges mentioned in the original question, I tend to use 200-grain bullets anymore. They kick a lot less than 250's and kill just as well, maybe even better!

I don't know much, but did own a Rem 700 .300 Win-Mag (model 700 BDL SS DM-B if I remember right) with a muzzle brake/ported. It was loud, with a sharpness to both the loudness and the recoil. Taking it to the range before hunting season really annoyed those around me, and I personally did not enjoy shooting it. I don't know anything about .338.

I've shot both. 300 is nastier. It has a sharp kick. The 338 with 250's it's more like a hard push. Not to say the 338 has light recoil.

Well if the recoil concerns you, there is two ways you can go on this, find somebody with a 338 that will let you shoot it. Or you can just buy another 7mm Remington Mag and call it good. 7mm RM is plenty cartridge for the game you are hunting. I would let you shoot my 338 but I am in CT. Mine is a Sako 75 SS that I have done nothing to other than sight it in when I got it in 1997.

On my Winchester .338 a Decelerator recoil pad and a synthetic classic style stock was plenty to control recoil enough to make it comfortable.

I had it cut back to 23" and a brake installed right after I bought it. I found it very noisy and removed it and never have replaced it. Nearly 20 years now.

Airplanes fly because of applied physics. Rockets are launched because of applied physics. Science doesn't lie.

Applied physics stipulates that 2 equal weight .338 WM rifles firing the SAME 250gr bullet at distinctly different velocities of only 100 fps (2700 vs 2600), while the slower one is burning 3 grains LESS of the SAME powder, will produce differences in recoil of about +11% for the faster load in barrels of equal length.

The problem is that differences in the shape and fit of the stocks MAY give the IMPRESSION that the lighter load is more vicious!

So anecdotal "evidence" that a 300 WM is more troublesome in the recoil department isn't supported by physics, but may certainly "feel" that way!

I've loaded and used many 300 Win Mags, a 300 WBY and a 300 Norma Magnum. The only one that produced comparable recoil to my 338 Win Mags was the 300 WBY. Many factors are involved, including how you load 'em.

Bob

www.bigbores.ca

The 338 with 200,210,and even 225 gr bullets always felt "slower" to me than a 300 Win Mag or Weatherby with 180-200 gr bullets.

But 250's in the 338,loaded to full potential,seemed to have more "crunch";heavier.

Neither one is a dream load from the recoil perspective.The 338 is no toy,and if a person is at all concerned about its' recoil,he may be better served with a 30/06.

YES INDEED - There can always be EXCEPTIONS.

I had a Ruger 77 tang safety, red butt pad, in 338 WM

I had loaded for a Rem 700 8 RM, which I now own.

The 338, I loaded w/225 gr bullets w/IMR 4350

The 8 RM I load w/220 gr. bullets w/IMR 4831

The 338 225 clocked @2900 fps

The 8 RM 220 clocked 2950 (thereabouts)

The 8 RM used SEVERAL more grains of powder than the 338

HOWEVER, that Ruger 338 kicked like a MAD MULE !!

The 8 RM was/is much more pleasant to shoot. (tame compared)

I was UNABLE to weigh both at that time; now the 338 is GONE !!

I speculate, maybe weight diff, stock fit, RECOIL PAD made the diff.