Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 338 federal or 280 rem

.280 rem 160 partition, accubond. Kilt many elk with those two bullets from my 280, mostly from the partition because they were around longer. All ranges, sometimes not the best angles but a dead elk was made very quickly. Been running a .280 26 years off and on for elk and have done very well with it.

The federal factory 150 Nosler partition load works rather well in a buddies .280 a sleek M-70 feather weight. Same story, just dead game.

Neither one!

When hunting far from home I want two rifles chambered for popular cartridges. If you need more ammo those are not everywhere.

Also there are better actions such as the Mauser, M70, Ruger etc.

The retard speaks....someone quote me so he can see it

Here you go! Mentally impaired people can't help the way they are. He can. He's just an idiot.

I have a pair of barrels in 7mm to play with.
Shot out .30/06 is in with the 'smith to rebarrel to 280 AI and after I play with that, it will be rebarrled to standard 280.

After an informed decision is made, it will either stay 280, be rechambered to the AI or revert back to .30/06.

Rifle is a Model 70 Festherweight and, we have traveled some. My shelves are breeding 7mm bullets so I need more 7mm disposal units.

A true idiot would scoff at these two rounds for elk. Availability issues or not...... Elk-less Goons.

Better cartridges for said task, maybe. I love an accurate 338 win mag or 338 fed, 25-06 just as much as an accurate .280 rem. Wich one do you think the general public WILL shoot better?

Shot placement is the first step after finding an elk to kill it anyhow.

Also very little to do with action type....Do to my 1895 marlin 45-70 being accurate and aimed correctly then fired, elk have tipped over where they stood also. Does not make it a better action/caliber for elk hunting.

As far as one 'loosing' ammo in transit, has not happened to me. But who is to say it will happen one day... I also load ALOT of ammo for away safaris, to anticipate sighters and other flubs.

Either.

But I'm partial to the .280 with a good 150gr bullet.

Well you are pretty much comparing a 308 to a 30-06, either one will do and do just fine for any sort of reasonable shot on Elk or anything else for that matter! The question becomes what is a reasonable distance to shoot? That is up to you and no one else, since chances are there is going to be nobody watching when you get or if you get a shot! Take the one you think you can carry all day for about a week and still hit a basket ball off hand at 50 to a 100 yards with. As I get older two things are happening in my hunting, I don't like to carry more that I need to of anything, A day pack of about 15 to 25 lbs and a sub 8 lb rifle is about all I want to carry, Have a great hunt!

Darick: I own both calibers you are considering.
I have not killed an Elk yet with my 338 Federal so won't comment on it.
I have though killed a nifty 5x5 Bull Elk with my custom 280 Remington. I was Hunting Mule Deer at the time but an Elk opportunity came up and I mortified that Bull with a Nosler 140 grain Partition.
IF... I were specifically Hunting Bull Elk with the 280 Remington I would definitely use 160 grain Nosler Partitions in peppy loads!
I have killed other Bull Elk with the 7m/m Remington Magnum and these 160 grain Nosler Partitions.
Best of luck to you on your Montana Hunt.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Darick I shoot a 7x57Ackley but have always said if I was starting over I would build 7.5lb 280Remington and call it good. Now that I'm on the down hill side of my hunting I'm going to have a 338Federal built to finish off my hunting career. Both will work fine out to 400yds if you can shoot. powdr

My choice would be (is) the .280. Bullets of choice are either the Barnes 140 gr. TSX or the Nosler Accubond.
The .280 can be had, or built, in a lightweight, low recoiling rifle with plenty of punch for elk or anything else you care to hunt, shy of the big bears.

Either one, with confidence.

My 22� .338WM launches a 225g AB @ 2750fps. A .338 Fed can launch the same bullet well past 2350, but even at that velocity it will retain 1500fpe past 550 yards. Given a 200 yard zero, a 36� drop (roughly the height from brisket to back on a mature animal) gives you a range of 425 yards. Maximum Point Blank Range for a 6� target would be about 240 yards.

By contrast my .280 Rem pushes a 140g AB to 3038fps (26� barrel on a Ruger #1, so same overall length as most rifles with a 24�� barrel). That load retains 1500fpe another 25 yards, to 575. Zeroed for 260 yards, MPBR is about 305 yards and a 36� drop occurs slightly past 525 yards.

If those won�t suffice for 99% of your elk hunting you�re doing something very different than most people.

Given that the 338 Fed launches a 160 TTSX at ~3030 and a 280ai launches a 160 at the mid 2900's, I don't think the difference will be measurable at any normal range. Both will do quite well.

Just about any reasonable cartridge will kill elk as long as bullets go where they need to be.

In my opinion, the .280 Remington is the best cartridge EVER designed. That's because of properties of .284 caliber bullets. A 160 grain .284 bullet has superior sectional density and ballistic coefficients than 180 grain .308 caliber bullets.

.284 caliber caliber bullets are legendary for penetration. A long ago living fella up and culled darn near a thousand elephants with a 7x57.

Nothing in North American will be long for this world were it to take a 175 grain Partition leaving a .280 Remington's barrel at 2800 FPS as long as that bullet goes in the right place. Please keep in mind that bigger cartridges will not compensate for bad shooting.

I don't have a dog in this race. I when I was much older and knew everything about everything, knowing anything about the .280 Remington musta slipped my all-knowing mind. As I've acquired wisdom, I've come to recognize that there's magic in .284 caliber bullets, and the .280 Remington won't beat the heck outta bench shooters, which is where rifle confidence is made.

I do own a 7MM Rem Mag. It does live up to its reputation. But truth be told, there ain't spittin' difference between the 7MM Rem Mag & .280 Rem.

In my opinion, the .280 Rem is the quintessential one-rifle-battery for ALL North American hunting.

Were I accorded a rifle do-over, I'd buy the best rifle I could afford (hopefully a Sako) in .280 Rem and spend the rest of my money creating hunting memories.

Question: 338 federal or 280 rem
Answer: Yes.

I hunt elk with a 30-06 and 180 grain Nosler Partitions hand-loaded to perform like a .300 magnum (61 grains RL22 � 2,870 fps). BTW the trajectory is identical to Federal Premium 30-06, 150 grain Sierra Game King BTSP so I can use the same rifle for deer and elk without adjusting my scope.

I think the middle calibers, anything from as small as .270 to as big as .338 magnum, are best suited for hunting elk. I recommend a minimum of 150 grain premium controlled expansion bullets. It�s my opinion that anything bigger than a .338mag is more gun than necessary and I don�t enjoy the recoil of those big calibers. A well placed shot from just about any legal caliber will kill an elk but nothing will work right with bad bullet placement, so one needs to use a caliber with which they are comfortable and proficient and take the time to get it right the first time.

KC

Lots of excellent advice in boomwack's post.

I'd bring them both if you can. Carry the Federal if you're hunting in the thick stuff and bring the 280 if you anticipate a long shot.

.338-06

Don't internet much got a life, hunt'n season and what not. But to follow up late on sanssouci response to my post, thank you sanssouci. Question... do you know a fella that would answer to the nick-name of hodge??

"Hodge" would argue the point of the .280 also.... He has ran one almost as long as me

When I hunted elk, I used a .338 Win Mag with Nosler partition bullets, mostly the 250-grain.

My brother-in-law usually hunted with me and used a .280 Remington and various factory-loaded ammo. He killed his elk just as dead with the .280 as I did with the .338 Win Mag.

That being said, I'd rather use a .280 Remington for elk hunting than a .338 Federal because, as other posters have noted, the .280 will shoot flatter at the longer ranges.