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

338 RUM.

M700 LSS 338 RUM w/ Mark 4 4.5-14x40mm


JD338

As long as I can get brass, I'll stick with the 338 RUM. My factory barreled Rem 700 has liked every bullet and powder I've fed it so far. Uses standard magnum bolt face, shorter than the 340 Wby (a fine round in itself), enough case capacity to shoot 300 gr bullets at 2700 fps if one is so inclined. What's not to like?

Having said that, the 340 Wby has been getting it done for several decades now and it would be hard to go wrong with it either.

Hi, I have used the 340 Wby for 22 years. I have made brass from 300 Wby, 8mm Rem mag, 300 H&H blown out to 300 Wby and sized. The Rem 300 Wby brass now is the best bet. The difference between the 338 RUM and the 340 Wby is 3.60 OAL RUM, 3.650 OAL Wby a total of 0.050 inches! The 340 is easy to load for, yes it kicks but so does the 338 RUM. I also have a very accurate 338-378 KT that I have pushed a 250 gr to 3150 fps! In it most of my loads are with IMR 7828 at low 340 velocity, 2800 fps. A 340 can be built on the Rem 700, just cut the OAL to fit the mag. Randy

For hunting - the 340.

Lapua is really orientated toward military use. Twist rates and bullet types reflect that mission.

The 340 has brass options galore, the RUM is the better of the two in theory, but there are trade offs. Brass availability being one. I see lots of 340's for sale at good prices in the east, I guess that level of recoil isn't needed after the one elk hunt of the doctors life.

Wow all this talk about which is better or cheaper.
You have a beautiful rifle made by one of the best manufacturers in the world. It would be cheaper for you to buy 200 cases and reload your 340 than buy a new rifle brass and dies to go with it. The 340 Weatherby will stand along side and above some of the rifles mentioned here. Love your gun that you're use to. Enjoy every round you put down the barrel. And know it's prettier than all the others mentioned here.

400 gr Min..

XZQ beat me to it, Mostly mine are 375 H&H WW cases w/lots of others mixed in. I use the Hodgdon book #25 old long stick H-4831 max load w/250 NPT's, stuff doesn't run away, even rabid gophers-Muddy

I didn't see any votes for the .330 Dakota, but it's ballisticly very good and the effect on game has been amazing in my experience...

HS Precision in 338 RUM, 250gr Swift A-Frame, 381 yards, Alaska.

Very nice, congrats!

Nice! Wish I was up there right now.....beautiful bear!

Had a chance to buy one identical to this but chose a T3 in 9.3 X 62 instead. I'd owned a .340 with a 26" that gave an honest 3000 fps from 90.5 grs of RL-22. Never a problem with brass. I was given 5 boxes of once fired .375 H&H (Remington and Winchester).I just fired formed with a 200gr load at 2200 fps (a great deer load and accurate). That brass never failed and cost nothing. After 10 reloads I just chucked them. Shot a nice moose with the 250 Nos Part at 3000 fps.

Bob

www.bigbores.ca

My 338 Lapua is built on a Rem 700 action. I would not call that a monster action.

Exactly why I went Lapua

If the 338 RUM won't get it done then you need something bigger than the 338 cal. The only thing the Lapua offers over the RUM is the cool factor and higher priced brass, performance wise not worth the effort. My LH SS 700 338RUM

How can the excalibur go from 3250 fps to 2660 at 1000yds?

I haven't used the Lapua or RUM 338's but did use the 340 B for about twenty years. The belt issue isn't one; it's just fashionable to say a case without one is a better design. IMHO, same thing is true with the round Wby shoulder. All three are in the same class power-wise so there is no real distinction there which is to say they are phenomenal on large, soft skinned game judging from my experience with the Wby.

My experience is that Wby brass cost is really not an issue as you can reload it a good number of times; this is no varmint round. A hundred cases will last you awhile. Remington actually sold 300 Wby brass for awhile and maybe still do; I simply necked it up for a more economical option. Someone mentioned or inferred you couldn't chamber it in a Rem 700 action. Yes, you can. My was built on a Rem action with an AR extractor, 3-pos safety and was in a Brown Precision stock. 8.5 lbs with a Leupold 2.5-8 VX3 in QR rings.

I could boot a 210-gr Nos Part at 3200 fps from my 24" barrel; a 225-gr at 3050 and a 250-grainer at 2950 fps. Killed ten bull elk with it, caribou, and several deer. I killed three bulls between four and five hundred yards. It is a great cross-canyon elk cartridge if you can shoot it. The bull that traveled the furtherest went about thirty yards.

I just didn't find the aforementioned disadvantages to the 340 Wby to be of any consequence. I kind of miss it.

My favorite Wby round is the 240 Wby with the 340 Wby a close second . I load all my Belted Cases to head space of the shoulder and not the belt.

Wanted one once - the 240.

The 240 Wby is a great deer round and one of my favorite.