Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting .300 Win Mag or .338 for elk

There you go again, advocating a pest cartridge that just won’t work on raking shots. Far better off with a more assured solution. .416 RM will probably get the job done, but more oomph will be better.

Campfire counsel at its best!

Both are great and very capable cartridges with proper bullets. My wife has been very happy with her .338 WM since 1995......and counting! memtb

Ralphie, this is the reason I won’t let my wife participate on the “fire”.....she would discover that she can’t handle her .338WM! memtb

How do they compare? They both offer pretty much the same handicaps.

Flip a coin. Anyone who'd killed enough elk with BOTH chamberings so as to be a credible resource, is likely to tell you there isn't a statistically significant difference between them.

They’re both too big.



P

In the last 6 or so years the camp at which I’m a grateful attendee has killed elk with:

270 Win
7 Rem Mag
7 Mashburn
30-06
300 Win Mag
300 Weatherby
338 Win Mag

Bullets are mostly of the Partition, Accubond, Scirocco variety.

All elk died.

Amazing!

243
270
7mm-08
7 Rem mag
30-06
300WM
338-06
338WM
35 Whelen
375 H&H

Partitions, monos, trophy bonded, cup and cores

Have seen/used all of these combinations work. The only time there was a rodeo, is when the nut pulling the trigger did not do the job.

I like 338 for elk, not needed but I like it. I do have a 416, maybe I should dig that out the next time I go elk hunting.

I have both. I like the .338 more than the .300's I have. Mostly because I find the .300's have a faster sharper kick with 180's. I am trying some 200's this year to see how I like that recoil.

Truth be told I only use the .338 occasionally these days. Almost all my hunting ius with an '06.

I like the .338 for a couple of other reasons too.

First, I believe that I can see more reaction when I hit an elk with the .338 than the .30 cals. It may be my imagination but its mine.

Second, the ballistics of the .338 compared to my '06 is very close. The .300 mags, especially the .300 Weatherby are somewhat different.

I’ve never owned a .300 Winchester Mag but one .338 was simply less accurate than I could bear. I favor the .35 Whelen and 7mm and .300 Weatherby's most days, but I may switch to the perfectly adequate 7x57 on the downhill side. Any .300 Mag is more than adequate for elk beast as is your .338 WM. Heard that on the Campfire, too....

I've shot more elk with a 338 than all other cartridges combined. I always used 250 grain Nosler Partitions. Different versions depending on decade.

Having said that, I've sold my last 338 Win Mag (I've had 4) and a couple 300 Weatherby rifles. I'd use 180 or heavier Partitions in either of those and feel 100% comfortable.

But I know people that use 270's and are happy with those. I am not confident in being able to get a perfect broadside shot.

I’d put the 30-06 at the bottom. Heard that one barely died.....

Bugger,

If you believe "a perfect broadside shot" is necessary with the .270 Winchester (or even smaller cartridges) when shooting elk, then you are a victim of of the "lore" of mediocre cup-and-core bullets .

I wonder why I carry anything else! The Mashburn is pretty nice though.

The Mashburn is no good 'cause you can't buy ammo at 7-11.

I read that right here.

Amen to that. With good bullets it’s been very good to me. And man do they usually shoot pretty easy...




That’s a fact SP! Danged this is darned near useless!

I think elk are tough to kill particularly when they are on high alert or already have been shot at. While no doubt a 243 will do the job. I’m not a fan of a dedicated elk rifle that doesn’t start at 300 Win if you need to stop not just kill them.

Once there with good bullets it just doesn’t make enough difference to the elk so it is purely your preference.

The most rabid & knowledgeable public land elk hunter I know shuts his business down a month to hunt 3 states, practices at long range all year. He was using a 30-378 Weatherby and now uses a 7mm STW all personal preference.

Elk are tough critters

Either of the two are excellent

Big heavy boolits.......know how to to use the rifle

Most of all know your limitations

Another bit of useless trivia; since about 2005 our CO elk hunting gang has killed elk pretty dead with:

.308 Win
7mm Weatherby
7mm Rem Mag *
.338-06 (1)
.340 Weatherby (1)
.270 WSM
.30-06
.300 Win Mag *
.300 WSM *
.300 Weatherby *
.30-378 Weatherby
.35 Whelen

Might have missed one somewhere along the line. Most numerous recently(*). I think I’m the only one in recent memory that hunted with a .35 Whelen and 7mm Weatherby. The .340 Wby and .338-06 shooters have long since departed the pattern.
Happy Trails