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

.300 WM or .338 WM?

If you have both, take the one you shoot best. And the other as a backup.

If buying and you already have a .308, .30-06 or 7mm RM that shoots well, I'd go .338 WM.

Currently working up loads for the new 155g .284" Federal Terminal Ascent for my 7mm RM and .280 Rem with the intent to take them this fall. If the loads don't work out I may take them again anyway. Have not taken elk with the .280 but have taken more with a 7mm RM than all my other rifles combined.

Currently shooting Barnes 175g LRX in my .300 WM. Have not taken an elk with that load but did drop a nice mulie buck with it. The buck was on the ground before I recovered from the recoil. Nosler 225g AB are my choice for elk in my .338 WM, but unnecessary - I use 225g Hornady SSTs for practice and think they would work just fine.

The .338 WM provides noticeably more recoil than my .300 WM, although both rifles are essentially the same - Ruger actions and barrels, Ruger boat-paddle (skeleton) stocks. Calculated recoil for the .300 is around 29 ft-lbs while the .338 about 36. By comparison, my 7mm RM is at about 24 ft-lbs with either my 140g or 160g loads, My .280 Rem is around 18 ft-lbs with a 140g Nosler AB The .280 load delivers more velocity and energy at 500 yards than a typical 150g .30-30 delivers at 100. If I can get the Terminal Ascent up to 2850fps at the muzzle, which should be easy based on my tests so far, the .280 becomes a viable elk rifle well past the 600-yard limit of my practice. Daughter #1 will be carrying a .270 Win with a 150g Nosler ABLR in her .270 Win. With a calculated 18 ft-lbs recoil, half that of my .338 WM, that load is also good well past 600 yards. (Both the .280 Rem and .270 Win loads deliver over 2100fps and 1500fpe past 700 yards at 7000 feet altitude.)

The point is, you don't need to put up with a lot of recoil to have an effective elk rifle/cartridge combo at typical ranges. If long range is your game, the .300 WM would be my choice. A high B.C> bullet, like the 200g Terminal Ascent, launched at 2950fps will deliver 2000fps and 2000fpe past 875 yards at 7000 feet altitude.

Get or use a rifle you like. Headstamps and bullets matter, but so does enjoying the hunt.

I could like any and all of those myself.

I was going to type the same thing, but decided to sit on my fingers.

Glad someone said it...

To be honest I haven't shot an elk. But I've shot my share of moose and caribou. It works very well for both of those.

I personally have killed them with 30-06, 7wsm, 300 WSM, and 300 Rum. Also carried a 7 Dakota and a 300 Win Mag. I’d pick the 300. Better trajectory with an adequate bullet (likely a 200gr bonded or 165-180 mono). I do like the 7 Dakota for a flat shooting killer too. I choose flatter shooting calibers as it’s been a few elk since I’ve shot one on this side of 250 yards, 3-500 seemingly more common....

Both quite suitable

There is nothing wrong with the .300 win mag but the .338 is "special" for me. I really like 225 grain partitions and accubonds. I hunt a lot of heavy timber. The possible additional range of the .300 isn't really applicable. More bullet weight, more penetration is nice when the elk are in timber, standing / moving in strangely contorted positions, so there might be bigger bones than expected in places not really expected.

Tom

Brad,
You forgot the 416 Wby. With 300 TSX bullets it is speedy. Keep it under 7.5#.

Split the difference and get a 8mm Rem. Mag.

Yes, but....but....but...were they all fired through CRF actions?

Where are you hunting? How far are your shots?

For me, I use my .338WM the most because I don't get long shots hardly ever. With a 250gr Woodleigh Weldcore or a NPT it's plowed through even on off angled shots. In timber you don't get to pick your shots much so having confidence in deep penetration is nice. Out in the more open areas I've used lot's of different cartridges. Even .257" bullets have worked.

I see elk all the time on my ranch. I get landowner tags for 6 bulls every year. I'm 3 miles from the Jicarilla and about the same from the SFNF. I've killed many bulls and one is silly to use a cartridge like the 338WM. Elk can be killed efficiently with most 30 caliber rounds.

I can kill an elk with a 22lr too, so who the fu ck cares if you think using a 338 is "silly"?... Is every cartridge silly, if you can use a lesser cartridge to kill something? We might as well all just use a 223 rem, if we all thought that way. The 338 wm was made for killing elk. It does a damn fine job at it too. The main thing I've noticed about the 338wm, is it decisively puts them down. If I were in your position, though, I'd be using every cartridge I could, just to make things interesting. 6 bull tags a year? Damn, must be nice... I have to work my azz off to find them, while you can just sit in your field and pick them off like nothing.. Where I'm hunting (4% success rate area in public land), I don't want them to run off very far, or someone else is likely going to tag my bull. I use a 338wm.. Nuff said..

^^^^^^^^ This ^^^^^^^

I hate to continually agree with you......but, you’re right so damn often! memtb

I think someone on this forum, an individual of some repute decided that a lightweight 416 Remington was about the perfect elk rifle

Maybe he will chime in

Excellent choice for shots taken under 400 yards, beyond that.....maybe something that shoots a bit “flatter” for the longer shots! memtb

yep this reply made me chuckle & grin ! > best reply

I am envious of you big gunners. All afore mentioned rounds work just fine. Whatever gun you use, be proficient with it. All my elk were killed with my Marlin 30/30, iron sights. Troublesome basin, back when I was young!

Never hunted elk, but have shot eland ~2,000 lbs at just over 300 yards with a .338 (250 grain Woodleigh) as well as a leopard and other PG (225 Partition) and it worked well. On other hunts, shot lots of PG including waterbuck, zebra, kudu, etceteras with a .300 Win at various ranges (200 grain Swift A Frame) and it worked well, too. Took the .300 Win to Argentina and killed a large red stag decisively, same 200 grain A-Frame and it dropped at the shot. My buddy on the same hunt killed his red stag with a .338 (225 grain TSX). It was no deader than the one I killed with my .300.

If you are recoil sensitive, I took a .30/06 loaded with Barnes 168 TSX to Africa in 2018 on a cull hunt and was impressed with how well it killed various species, including waterbuck.

My conclusion is that careful bullet selection and shot placement are the critical factors, not bullet diameter. Pick the rifle and cartridge that you shoot the best.

Clearly rude behavior.