Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles .338-06 real world effectiveness.

I typed this up on another forum in response to the regular banter us gun guys constantly go through. Thought I'd share my opinion here as well.

To play off the other thread that is on page 2 now on the effectiveness of (insert one of 10000 different cartridges, this one just happens to be the .338-06) the .338-06, I can't help but wonder how many times us hunters and shooters can possibly hash this stuff out.

It's this simple.... Find a rifle that interests you. Make it accurate. Get the real world ballistic information of your accurate load. Practice. Then practice some more. Then determine how far YOU can make your rifle effective. Sure, some rifles are more effective than others. You're only going to be able to get so much out of a 30-30 and 170gr. flat points, and you're only going to be able to shoot a .338-378 Wby so much. Even with a brake the muzzle blast will eventually get to ya... So be real with what you want your rifle to do but the biggest factor on what your rifle is capable of is you!

Where I hunt and how I hunt, most of my shots are within 250 yards but if I'm not ready to shoot 400 yards at elk I won't be eating all the elk I like to, and I like to eat elk.

I recently traded into a .338-06. Let me preface this by saying that I am the worlds biggest 30-06 fan and the latest 6.5 Creedmoor sucker. But I've always been in want of a .338-06.

It's a sporterized Springfield 03A3 with a custom barrel and Timney trigger. I fit and bedded it to a Boyds stock and mounted a cheap Leupold Rifleman 4-12 with the Ballistic plex. Then I went about the work to making it accurate.



It will regularly shoot sub MOA with a 225 grain Hornady and a book max load of IMR4895 with TW mill surplus brass for right at 2700 FPS . Acutally it averages 2689 but I have no problem rounding up the 11 FPS..

I like to shoot several groups to make sure the accurate load is always accurate, then confirm zero.



I run the numbers through my ballistic program but I always confirm at actual yardages for my ballistic dots. The two rarely align.

The first dot is dead on at 300 yards.



300 yard group.



I like 2nd focal plane scopes because adjusting the power changes the MOA measurement of your dots. It took a few shots to find at what power my 2nd dot was actually dead on at 400 but I have zero qualms about stretching this melon thrower to 400 yards. If I back the power of my scope from 12x down to 9x the 2nd dot is dead on at 400 yards.





Somebody with more skill than I can get more out of it and some with less can't get as much but the 338-06 is definitely capable past 300 yards..

Happy hunting,

Todd

Great post, and summation especially. It doesn’t matter which gun or cartridge you think you identify with, you’re still gonna have to learn to use it someday, if you ever want to brag about it

I’ve always wanted to try the 338-06. I knew a few old timers who adopted it early and their confidence was certain. My own peer group was all about magnums at the time, but we also survived on our own lack of sleep during those days. Not sure if I should keep talking, ..so I won’t. Suffice to say, I still think the 338-06 made perfect sense to me

Great Post and she is a Look'r! What Boyd's stock is that? Had a 338RCM for several years and was well practiced out to 300M from field positions. Unfortunately it was a solid 2.5" gun after a lot of time and money invested. I have a Ruger donor action in a factory grey laminate stock that I can not decide to go 338-06 or 35 Whelen. I guess until I decide it will remain a 25Aught6:)

BTDT. Hart 23”. Throated for 250’s but ran 200 BTs at 2910 with IMR 4320 and 225’s at 2670 with same. 1/2 MOA using a 6x42 and 2.5-8x

FWIW the Hornady 225 and Sierra 215 slipped cores at the 200 backstop.

Nice mushrooms with Hornady but on Elk I would run either a Partition in 225 or a Barnes.

Absolutely Flattened deer with 200 Noz. Great round. Enjoy and you might try IMR 4320

Now that is a solid hunting rifle!

Sweet! I have a buddy here that uses only the Hornady 200 sp in his...has taken elk a tad past 400yds easily. I used my Duplex bottom post in my old Whelen AI's 1.5x5 for the same sight subtention...awesome!

Great post. I have always liked the idea of a 338-06, but the only one I have ever seen was a production Weatherby mark five that they built about 10 or 15 years ago for a time. Maybe I'll find one sometime?

Nice gun, especially like the stock. Very sharp looking.

Mine is a Model 70 rebored from 270...bought it brand new in Montana
at a Walmart, after Montana's elk season was over for $250 on close out.

$200 for the rebore, done by Bob West up in Eugene, before he passed...
He only did it, because I knew someone he knew...

usually he was only doing high profile celebrity's work...

so its accurate that's for sure...

for velocity and accuracy, H 380 was the powder of choice.. according to Bob
it proved to be so...

if you swap bullet weights around from 200 to 225, to 250 grain
50 grains of IMR 4064, gives you 2500 fps with all three bullet weights
and more than minute of deer at 100 yds...when compare POI on all
three on the same target...not that much different...

IMR 4895 is also an excellent powder, for accuracy and velocity...

It was so effective, that I never have really used any bullets besides the
3 Hornady SPs....200, 225 and 250... I do like the 250 grain RN a lot...
but then I am a Round Nose fan.. old school, I know...

My two 338 mags have spent a lot of time in the safe ever since I got
a 338/06 done... really the only Wildcat I have until I did a 20 Practical.

Never saw the need for a Whelen after getting the 338/06 done...

What makes the .338-06 so interesting to me is the great number of factory .33-caliber bullets one can use. One can load lighter-weight bullets to shoot farther, or heavier bullets to shoot closer. An example is the .338 Sabi, which's case holds a little more powder than the .338-06, but was designed to shoot the heavier .33-caliber bullets. For years I have thought of switching to the .338-06 from my .338WM for hunting in Alaska, but he .338 works so well for me that it's hard to change

http://www.sabirifles.co.za/338sabi.htm

little more than a .338 Federal, little Less than a 338 Win mag.... but you can dang near overlap either if your try hard enough =]

thanks for the good writeup OP---- I just run the ballistics on my scopes with dots at their highest power and then write that down. For me knowing my 3rd dot is at 325 yards and the bottom of the thin part of the duplex is 425 when maxed out (where I'm probably going to set it to shoot that far), is just as valuable as knowing the third dot is right at 400 on 6.5X (not so much where I'd prefer shoot it at). Besides, most animals don't know they are going to be shot or else they wouldn't be there... they definitely don't line up at perfect yardage increments =]

But it is an interesting method that I will have to consider a little longer before deciding on how I feel about it. dots in a scope are always a compromise. You gain speed, and give up a little bit of precision to dialing elevation which is generally OK at hunting ranges shooting at large critters. But if I'm pulling my head out from behind the scope and resetting the Magnification, I don't know how much faster that is than just dialing the drop???

I have made a lot of them. It's still a pretty popular caliber in Central Wyoming for elk. I killed a nice bull with one about 15 years ago and it worked as well as any other round I have ever shot any elk with, and better then some. A "bang-flop" at about 165 yards with an exit. The shot was quartering way strongly, and the bullet hit in the mid body, and came out a the front of the chest where neck and chest meet. It was a 275 grain Speer bullet, no long made. But 250 grain Nosler Partitions work just as well.

In fact the 210 gr Nosler partition seems "made for" the 338-06.

Thank you all. Some very nice input thrown in!

The stock is a Boyds Platnum model with laser engraved snake skin checkering in coyote.

I like it. It’s a bit loud but I really do think it looks great.

Todd

Are these Hornady SST's or Interlocks? I was going to try the 225 Interlocks.

Hawk Driver - thought hard about a .338-06 a few years ago UNTIL I heard about and researched a nifty 'lil number called the 9.3 X 62mm. Sure the 'foreign' round is harder to find i.e. brass and bullets BUT it can be used to hunt DG (up to a point)
in Africa while the other one can't. The trick is winning a lottery somewhere so I can afford the trip LOL. Meantime 286 grain slug is nothing to sneeze at on an elk hunt (again, trusting to luck for the $$$). besides the 9.3 has "panache" the other can't match.
Homesteader

Wow! I like the sound of that. If I could pick any rifle for a 338-06 it would be an M70(current production for me) with a Mickey stock. I think I would probably like to shoot 210 or 225 Partitions-so maybe I would go with a Featherweight?
The closest thing I have to a 338-06 is a 9.3x62-which I really like.

I shot my first Colorado bull about 25 years ago with a .338-06 using a 225 grain Hornady Spire Point. That bullet, with either IMR4320 or 4064 shot so accurately I never tried another bullet. I finally lost interest in all wildcat chamberings and got rid of the rifle. It's a fine cartridge, but I truly don't know if it has any advantage over a .30-06 and a stout 180 or 200 grain bullet. However, more experienced might have some comments.

Unsure if I like the stock more or the denim sand bags. Both are cool.

I built a 338-06 in 1999. Neat round. Never took game with it, though I used a 22” 338 WM through the 90’s a fair bit. The 338 WM certainly makes an impression on elk, but at the end of the day, as I’ve gotten older, dislike recoil more, and have seen enough big game killed, I’d sooner pack a 30-06 than either. Or better yet a 308 (couldn’t resist).

[quote=Hawk_Driver][quote=65BR]

The IL. Odds are it will kill fine. Better than say the 215 Sierra but I would use a cup core to practice and on deer, and pay for and use Partitions or Barnes for Elk. I would want the confidence that if I have to go stem to stern or bust shoulders etc it will do as needed.

210 PTs have a reputation and following but run #’s and a 225 version only drops 2” more at 400 using a 200 Zero. More energy and SD. Better trajectory in the -06 than 250’s. For deer the 200 will surprise many. Flat and the BT/AB has decent BC and can give 2900+

Very solid performer but not to take away a like bullet in 30-06 in 180-200 can catch up downrange and will drop game well.

For a mid bore a 338-06 and 9.3 are my faves for use in North America if ranges are under 400 yds.