Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 338 replacement suggestions

Perhaps this is premature. I had to send my 338 RCM in for repairs and it won't be back in time for elk season. I got to thinking the long term prospects for this cartridge are anything but certain. SOOOOO, naturally I got to thinking perhaps a new rifle may be in the offing. I have a pile of 338 RCM brass and bullets; I could continue to reload for quite some time. On the other hand, I would not object to a shiny new toy for elk. What do you elk killers like in the 338 flavor? 338-06, 338 fed, or 338 WM? I would like to hear your reasons for your choices!!

Cheers,
Doc

I take my elk each year with a 6.5 & the Barnes 120gr TSX , complete pass thru..I realize this is hard to imagine for some one who shoots a large bore. A hunting buddy & his son use a 270 with the Barnes 130tsx & take elk cleanly with complete pass thru. Another friend uses a 7-08 with the Barnes 140gr TSX. Same results . Dead elk , one shot kills. It's about a tough deep penetrating bullet properly placed. These above cal's work with the bullets mentioned. There are ton's of used 270's available at great prices. Try one & see for your self.

If I wanted to stick with a .338 caliber and with your concern about long term prospects, I'd go with the .338 Win Mag and be done with it. It will do anything you might want and brass should be available for quite some time. No .338 cartridge is a big seller these days, so I would think the Win Mag would be the last one to go away. I'll not try to convince you that you can go to a smaller caliber since I'm sure you already know that. Personally, I love the 338WM for elk.

And it is no big thing to load a 338WM to 338-06 power levels. Accuracy can be good and you don't have to spend the money for a custom. Used 338WM rifles probably don't have the bores shot out.

How soon is your impending elk season? If you are running out of time and don't have a backup rifle, I would keep it simple and get something like a 30-06, 300 Win Mag, or 7mm Rem. Mag (or anything else you like that is fairly common and you deem adequate). That way, you would be able to find ammo easily and locally. Was your .338 scoped? If so, did you keep it? If so, you could drop that on the new rifle. You already know this, but you would need to find ammo that shoots well in your new rifle, which sometimes involves some guesswork and trial and error.

338 Win Mag. Readily available, lots of great 338 diameter bullets out there and as JPro said, you can always load it down a notch.

I do have a back up rifle; my trusty Ruger 77 in 7mm RM. I took my first 2 elk with this rifle. I bought the RCM because I was looking for a hard-hitting caliber in a short package. I really liked the RCM but
I have a bad feeling I'm going to get bad news from Ruger.

I wouldn't give up on Ruger just yet! I have sent a couple of rifle back to them for repair and stock replacement. Took more time in shipping ground then at the Ruger repair shop. I stepped up in caliber. My main elk rifle is a 375 Ruger Guide Gun and my back-up is my Remington 721 300 H&H.

This.


Okie John

"Elk killer"? Since you asked: 338WM. Hands down...

As several have said.....338 WM. A common factory round, in various bullet types and weights. Plenty of power ....without excessive recoil. Easy to load, from .338 Federal velocities to near .340 Weatherby performance.....what’s not to like! memtb

338 Win Mag. Common, generally not fussy and still reasonable to shoot if built right. Somebody on this forum convinced me to cut the barrels down to 22” on my two 338s. 😂 One got the chop, the other is getting rebarreled in a shilen #2. Like the new length so far.

Well said & never look back......................at one time I had 4 338's. It's a great cartridge.

MM

And.....for deer, antelope, bear, moose! Not so great for waterfowl! memtb

Yeah, ain't a hard choice. Ammo is on the shelf and most of them will shoot well if you can handle them. If you load your own, a 200 Accubond or Ballistic Tip at 2900 will do alot of work and not pound the shooter much more than a decent 30-06.

My 7mm RM has killed more elk than all my other rifles combined. You already have one so you should be ready to go for elk season.

If getting another .338, I'd go with the WM and never look back.

Agreed. I've used all kinds of .338 caliber rifles, loved them all. Awhile back, I had to sell off everything I owned just to pay taxes...another story. I replaced my treasures with a 7x57 Mod 70 FWT and an older Ruger 77 tang safety .338 WM. I handload ( when I finally get some time/discretionary funds) and will do as JPro and others have done...I'll start out with a 200 NBT (or similar) going anywhere from 2800-2900 and go from there. I do "like to have" a heavy bullet crusher load for the timber and runaway circus elephants (breaks my heart to see them worried to death by 9mm Glocks!).so the 250 Noslers( both PT & AB) will get pushed hard for that. If you like to play around with wildcats, look at the .338 Sherman LA round! Have a ball dude!

Thanks for all the replies. JPro, I hadn't thought of reduced loads for a WM, thanks for the idea. I had some time to do a little window shopping (the internet is truly wonderful). I really liked the Montana Rifle Co's x3.
I"m still hanging on to the 7mm for nostalgic reasons.

Doc

The 7mm will make a good “doorstop”....though a little light! memtb

Yessir, and were I to start over with my 338's, they'd be loaded full throttle 2900+ fps accurate with 225 gr TTSX's for all game, including elk to 500 yards.