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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Model 70 SS, .338 WM...225 TTSX’s at 2950 fps! memtb
I try to stick with the basics, they do so well. Nothing fancy mind you, just plain jane will get it done with style. You want to see an animal drop right now? Shoot him in the ear hole. BSA MAGA
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Model 70 SS, .338 WM , 8 1/2 pounds (scoped, loaded, with sling), .225 TTSX’s at 2950 fps! memtb And she took elk with it at 400 yds and a black bear at 378 yds with it.
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You have a good memory! 👍 memtb
You should not use a rifle that will kill an animal when everything goes right; you should use one that will do the job when everything goes wrong." -Bob Hagel
“I’d like to be a good rifleman…..but, I prefer to be a good hunter”! memtb 2024
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Campfire Ranger
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Just mulling over the thread so I thought I'd add a bit here to illustrate my point about asking the wrong question and getting very detailed answers. The answer can be right, but the important point still missed.
Let's look at this scenario:
You have a family of 5, a wife 3 kids and you. You are asked to pick up the family at the movie house at 6:30 and you will all go to dinner shortly afterwords, about 10 blocks away.
So the questions is this............which vehicle is going to "beat" the other vehicle for the important task of picking up the family?
The Ford E350 All-Star Bus of the Toyota Full Size Avalon?
Before you answer remember the ONLY objective is only to get the family to dinner. There is NO competition at all involving how they get there, and no one but the driver will care how they got there by tomorrow morning.
You see......... "beat" is not even the right way to look at the question.
For one vehicle to "beat" the other there would have to be a contest between them, and there is none.
If the question were about the vehicles (ei. which one will do the 1/4 mile fastest, or which one will run a mountain road course better, or which one will carry more weight) we would have some subject matter to discuss.
When the question is asked about rifles and cartridges the numbers game is entertaining, but as soon as the focus is about killing elk, the issue is no longer about numbers, but about hunting. As soon as that became the focus of the thread (elk hunting) the question became misguided in my opinion. That opinion is based in 52 years of hunting in many states, and in 5 countries, and with personal kills numbering in the hundreds and with witnessed kills numbering about 3X to maybe even 5X more.
As a gunsmith and an avid shooter, I too like to do these comparisons, so I mean no disrespect in my posts here but I like to stay on point when a question is asked and that point is that the OPs rifle and cartridge is excellent for the purpose, but the distraction far more about ballistics and the rifle, and has very little to do with the killing of elk in the real world.
As I said above, nothing out there is going to "Beat" your choice of elk rifle and shell but your rifle and shell doesn't "Beat" others either. The objective is to kill an elk, just as the parallel is to get the family to dinner. Not to have a race or a competition with other rifles. To do that we'd need to know hunting methods and the area you hunt.
In the Selway, where I used to hunt and guide, I would say I'd rather have a 454 Casull handgun then a 340 Weatherby, because in my years of hunting there, and guiding hunters, I never had a shot, of saw a shot made past 60 yards. Not one! So for elk in that place a handgun was a far easier tool for me to kill elk with then my rifles, and that's the reason I quit even taking rifles with me for the last 2 years I hunted there. Here in Wyoming, the exact opposite would be true about my choices, if those 2 were the only 2 offered. I would choose your Weatherby every time if the objective was simply to kill an elk.
These days I hunt with a lot of "odd guns" just because I like them. I have killed so many animals with scope sighted rifles that the usual types hold little thrill for me now. I like old fashioned guns and despite my failing eyes I still like to go out with light weight iron-sighted guns and hunt. When and if I run short of time I still bring out the "old reliable" 270, 300 H&H or 375H&H, but I usually do that after I have been unable to get to "iron-sight range" a few days in a row, or if the weather is so bad the light will not allow me to see the front sight at all.
Anyway, just a different prospective I suppose, but I'd love to see input for other old-timers as to who agrees with me and who disagrees. That is what makes these kind of threads interesting. Comparison of experience and prospective. That's called education. No one of us has all the info, so comparing the information we do have is how we all learn without having to make all our own mistakes one at a time.
Everything else is just petty "object worship".
So you’re saying the Ford E350 beats an elk rifle. 😎
Curiosity Killed the Cat & The Prairie Dog “Molon Labe”
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I plan on using my 338 Lapua I had built to hunt elk with,which is about the same thing as a 340 Weatherby, yes you have a great choice on cartridge choice.my rifle with scope weighs 9 1/2 lbs. but it shoots very well and I don`t care about that extra pound I am bigger and taller than most people and as far as recoil a heavier rifle recoils less . You must have a hard time finding hunting clothes that fit you. 😎
Curiosity Killed the Cat & The Prairie Dog “Molon Labe”
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Model 70 SS, .338 WM , 8 1/2 pounds (scoped, loaded, with sling), .225 TTSX’s at 2950 fps! memtb And she took elk with it at 400 yds and a black bear at 378 yds with it. memtb wife is famous for rock’n a 338. She’s amazing! 😎
Curiosity Killed the Cat & The Prairie Dog “Molon Labe”
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Thanks! Pretty proud of her. But, she’d be the first one to tell you....she doesn’t like shooting it from the bench! memtb
You should not use a rifle that will kill an animal when everything goes right; you should use one that will do the job when everything goes wrong." -Bob Hagel
“I’d like to be a good rifleman…..but, I prefer to be a good hunter”! memtb 2024
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oh no, that won't work. I carefully looked at the picture, that is no Elk rifle, that is a MOOSE rifle.... you'll need to get a different rifle for elk... It's also a watermelon rifle: https://i.imgur.com/xMUu4AG.mp4Notice the moderate recoil. It's really just not that bad.
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Campfire Tracker
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I plan on using my 338 Lapua I had built to hunt elk with,which is about the same thing as a 340 Weatherby, yes you have a great choice on cartridge choice.my rifle with scope weighs 9 1/2 lbs. but it shoots very well and I don`t care about that extra pound I am bigger and taller than most people and as far as recoil a heavier rifle recoils less . So your 9-1/2 pound 338 lapoooa kicks less than my 6 pound 6.5 koolaidmoor? It's gotta be that Bunx barrel.
"Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way, you'll be a mile from them, and you'll have their shoes."
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I've had it bad for a .340 Weatherby ever since Ross Seyfried wrote about in G&A in the 80's. I read that article till the ink faded from the pages.
At the tender age of 51, I moved out west and had Kelly Mcmillian build me an Outdoorsman on his G30 action with a Schiender barrel with a Vais break in an Edge stock as a retirement present for myself. I could have had any caliber for my elk rifle and I chose a .338 Win Mag. Recoil at 51 just wasn't as fun as it was when I was 30ish. The older I got, the faster, and harder the big Weatherby's seem to come back into my shoulder. Among my legion of sins, I am a notorious stock crawler, and having a Swaro Z6i buried into my forehead is no longer my idea of a good time.
As I turn 60, the .375 H&H and the 338 WM is about where I want to be recoil wise for game the size of elk. Athough this 6.5 PRC has aroused my interest.
Last edited by Lee_Woiteshek; 08/14/18.
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I get it Lee. I'm 50. .338 WM and .375 H&H are great rounds. I, admittedly, am a glutton for punishment from the beginning. When I was 20 in 1988, I bought my first rifle. I worked half the summer running my own house-painting business to be able to afford it. Before, I had to use a 12-guage with slugs. I got a .300 Win Mag. Early on, I shot it a ton, and learned to ignore the recoil. I bought it because I had dreams of hunting big things. But I only got to use it on deer for the next 20 years before I started being able to go hunt Alaska. If I had a decent 30-06, I would be happy as a clam hunting elk. But, my Alaskan hunts were difficult logistically and financially, and I wanted there to be no chance of bullet failure/underperformance given what was at stake. So, I shot the .375 Wby over and over and over again. One time, I had been distracted by a conversation at the range, and didn't realize I had not chambered a round. I fired on an empty chamber, and my crosshairs were unmoved sitting steady on the bullseye. I used that as inspiration going forward. The gun is going to hit your shoulder (I do use the padded shoulder thingies at the range, which help). Big deal; squeeze the trigger and hold steady.
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Thanks for all of the comments, even the snarky ones. I have lighter rifles. I usually take my Wby Mk V Ultra Lightweight 7mm Wby when I go on backpacking hunts. It weighs 6-3/4 lbs / less than 8 lbs with scope/mounts. When I am hunting from a camp with a daypack, I generally take whatever I want. I use a safari sling that puts the rifle weight in front of me, which offsets the pack, and seems to make it feel lighter. I carried the .340 many miles over rough Alaskan terrain with no problem. Same for this 375 Wby on an earlier hunt, which is even heavier. I can’t recall being encumbered by its weight. Body weight + gun + gear/ pack is about 250 lbs. The extra weight of the 340 is less than 1% of that. Better to lose a few pounds on the waistline than worry about 1.5 lbs of rifle. Though, when I go heavy (backpacking), I bring the lighter 7mm. As to recoil, yeah, you really can ignore it if you don’t convince yourself otherwise. I just took the 340 to the range today and chronoed it again. I got an average of 3,163, bout the same as above. If I am going to flinch, it’s at the range, shooting from the bench. Still, I shot eight 3-shot groups from the .340 and all of them were under an inch at 100 yds. I was using a Labradar, and what’s interesting about it is that it records downrange velocities. So, you can check the claimed ballistic coefficients. The TTSX’s claimed BCs were right on. I wear a Cabaela’s version of the Past-style shoulder pad when sighting in at the bench. It makes a BIG difference. If I’m flinching at the range and getting sub-MOA groups, I’m never going to think of that when I am upright and viewing an animal through the crosshairs. The .338 RUM and Wby 338/378 may beat it by margins if you reload, but for available production loads, no. For example, Cor-Bon, which loads to the max, manufactures the load mentioned above, and they load the .338 RUM load for the same bullet at 100 fps less than for the .340 Wby. And the .338/375 loads (there are few) from Wby lists the .225gr TTSX as going 3,180—only 17 fps faster than the 340 I am getting. I’m sure you could reload the 338/378 faster than the .340 by a bit, but factory ammo options do not reflect this. There are plenty of great elk rifles from the .270 on up. But I think this one is pretty capable. And I can carry it. Never had a problem with a 26” barrel even in thick cover. Maybe it’s how I carry it. Nice Gbear!
Luck....is the residue of design...
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These are my three. None of them beat your 340 per se, but they are just my idea of perfect. I did get a little help with the blue print though. Well, I’ve got the old P64 that was rechambered to 300 Weatherby with 180 Swift’s hopefully. Still working on this one. The new Mashburn isn’t quite blooded yet. 175 BBCs for this one this year. Or my always faithful P64 338 Win Mag. 210 Swift’s for this one. First time in a long time I’ve attempted a 308 in the lineup since I ran a 300 Win for so many years. I do have the P64 30-06 and 270 ready though.
Semper Fi
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Such a strange thread Nothing inherently wrong or right with the 340 Wby choice. I could think of a situation or two where it might be “just right.” However, almost none of those situations would be found on any elk hunt the way I do it, and even in those one or two instances I would chose something different. So yeah, I can think of a dozen rifles that will “beat” that 340...
“Perfection is Achieved Not When There Is Nothing More to Add, But When There Is Nothing Left to Take Away” Antoine de Saint-Exupery
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Campfire Ranger
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But these are the responses you get including mine when someone asks can this rifle be bear....
Certain situations it's likely perfect, other it may be far from it....
Nice bear OP!
- Greg
Success is found at the intersection of planning, hard work, and stubbornness.
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Lee, that same Seyfried article in G&A started me out on the 340 which lasted some twenty years and resulted in some 9 or ten bulls and some other game. Mine was based off a Rem 700 which I modified here and there but probably the best thing I did was put it in a Brown Prec Classic stock with a good Pachmayr Decelerator pad. I really liked the set-up and loved the cartridge.
This “elk-rifle-can’t-be-beat” stuff is always interesting but is the conclusion of experiences highly subjective to the shooter. From cocktail-time cartridges on either end of the spectrum to a pile of them in between, with the right projectiles, there are many right answers as I see it.
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I’m figuring a rifle can and should be beat-otherwise there would be no need for gun safes. We’d all have one rifle, one shotgun, one 22 LR and....😎
Curiosity Killed the Cat & The Prairie Dog “Molon Labe”
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Very nice bear. Looks like a Volkswagen lying on its side. 😉
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I would carry the .340 WB in a New York second if I thought I could do MOA or better with it. It would replace both my .375 H&H and .338 WM. For me its just too much of a good thing, and I have to admit I'm a bit jealous that I'm not in Alaska where that round shines.
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Lee, Mine with the various loads I tried, I found to be a 1.25 MOA gun at best. However, in its app to five hundred yards on elk-sized beasties, that is altogether enough.
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