Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Rethinking My "Big Gun"

If you're a handloader just load the big gun on down. Don't have to run magnum velocities just because of the headstamp you know. That's kind of the point of handloading, tailoring your loads to your need. You need light loads, so load them light.

Or buy another gun and a new cartridge and go looking for reloading supplies in the worst time to do so in the history of the world.

I must have misunderstood. When you said if you want a little more power use a 308 I thought you meant the 308 had enough more power to be significant, otherwise why suggest it.

A suppressed .308 Win. bolt action - preferably with a 20" barrel would be my choice - if legally usable.

I find that to be my answer to almost any question of this kind - so proceed with caution... LOL

Sorry to hear of your accident and hope for mending.

Yup ..... I could very easily hunt the rest of my days with nothing but a 7x57.

Either way, my guns have been getting smaller over the last couple yrs. My "big" one now is a 300H&H.

Lots of good info and I appreciate it.
A couple points:
A can is out. There's no way I could see creeping through the thick stuff still hunting with one of those hanging off the end.
I've pretty much determined a well balanced 7lb rifle is what I like best. So, adding weight to the .338-06 is out.
I have a "deer" load for the
338-06 that's more like a .338 Federal and it still kicks too much.
Through experimenting, I've determined a 160/ 165'ish bullet going between 2650- 2800fps is max , but comfortable enough for me to want to shoot it.
I reload and have a lifetime supply of 7mm and .308 bullets and 7mm-08/ .308 /.30-06 brass.

Before making the post, my guess was that the 7mm-08, 7x57 and. 308 would be the winners. Honorable mention to the 6.5's and .270, though I have no components for those.

I left all this out of my first post because I didn't want to influence opinions.

Put a BRAKE on it, your shoulder will love you.
Put ear plugs in first so you don't hear the report or the whiners whining !!!!!!!!!

To expand on what CRS said: use H4895 and a light but soft tipped bullet like the 210 gr partition to make a reduced load for your favorite 338-06.

https://hodgdon.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/h4895-reduced-rifle-loads.pdf

The trajectory may not be as flat but it would allow you to use one of your favorite rifles.

6.5 CM with a 125 Partition or 130 NAB.

But your 7-08 is all you need loaded with a 120-140 bullet.

Here's a funny little story. My son and I went back to Newfoundland in September. The plan was he would use my .338-06 for moose and I took my 7mm-08 hoping to pop a bear. The subject of moose cartridges came up with a bunch of the guides. Most of them use either a .303 or a .308. They consider the .308 Win with cheap 150's to be the best you can get for moose, an absolute dragon slayer, but almost fell over laughing at my 7mm-08 because it's a woman's gun!

There are no flies on a 7mm-08 with a 120gr TTSX for a do it all rifle.
I have shot a 300 Ultra since it was released for most all my hunting, but in the next year or so will be building a 7mm-08 semi LW rifle to finish out my hunting career.

Sounds like a lot of us are starting to build or buy a lighter rifle with lighter recoil for our general hunting purposes.
They still do the job splendidly but much easier on us old guys. I am in the same boat.
Just bought a 7x57 Mountain Rifle for this same purpose.

If you’re comfortable shooting your 7-08, you’re already there. Use good bullets for the big stuff.

Since physical issues seldom get better, but rather worse with time, be prepared to adjust later via a brake or other recoil- reducing stratagem.

Good luck.

What would be the recoil difference in a 308, 30/06, 338-06 using 160gr bullets out of 7lb rifles running 2650-2800...?

I am thinking the 308 would win with the smaller powder charge.

Might think about a 338 Federal or a 358 Winchester made up on an AR 10 style auto-loader.

They are not light as a rule, but getting one field ready at about 10 pound's is easy and a bit over 9 pounds is not too big a trick to preform. I have a 358 myself, and with it's muzzle break, the kick is mellow. The 338 Federal is a good choice if you are already set up for the 338-06 because you probably already have the bullets. My friend Randy has had his rotator cuff re-built and now can't use his 338-06 which I made for him several years ago. But he fired my AR in 358 about 4 weeks ago when he was here hunting, and loved it. So he's putting one together right now for himself. With the telescoping stock he can get the butt into the shoulder and towards the chest a bit, so the butt is into the chest a bit which also makes the kick very easy to deal with. They are not petty, but the AR type tele- stocks are VCERY versatile, and you can instantly adjust the LOP depending on the position you want to shoot from.
Both the 338 Fed and the 358 Win can be used with shorter barrels without much drop in velocity. Because of that, you can drop weight too. Used with coated bolts and carriers and mated to a stainless barrel, you'll find them to be very good for wet conditions, rugged and easy to use.
I am a traditionalist to my core, but I must admit the AR style rifles are worth of a look. They are super easy to use, can be built in calibers on the 15 lower from 17 Remington to 50 Beowulf and on the 10 lower from 243 to 358. They can be made very accurate, reliable and easy to scope, and can be made super friendly to left hand shooters. They just "look military" which is a turn-off to many, but if you can get past the look of an AR you'll find it has an awful lot of merit. As for the 338 Fed and the 358 Winchester cartridges, but are very useful and have far more merit then their popularity has reflected. For hunting big game in the real world (instead of playing the what-if game in the mind) both do very good work at most real-world ranges game is shot.
Both are quite good for the jobs they are asked to do.

As a side note:
My sister lives in Alaska and since 1992 she has been killing moose with a Winchester M88 lever action with a peep sight I got for her before she left to move up there. It's a standard 308. Loaded with 180 grain Partitions, she's killed every moose she's shot, and all with one round each.
So if you wanted to use a standard AR10 type rifle in the regular caliber, the 308 will do fine too.

It's far more about the man doing the shooting then what he shoots. In my opinion the shell and the gun are less important then the skill of the hunter and the bullets he using.
But the point is that an AR type with a good muzzle break gives you good levels of power and less kick then any bolt action, lever action, pump action, or single shot at any given weight, gun to gun.

I wouldn't have thought I'd like my light AR10 as much as I do, and it's partly due to the low level of perceived recoil.

Sorry if I missed it, but have you tried a 160 or 180 mono in your 338-06? A lighter bullet and a heavier scope/stock might make it work for you? If not, another vote for 270 or 7/08.

Or if an AR10 style isn't your cup of tea, maybe a BAR or Benelli R1 in 30-06/etc?

Those that don't know need to ask more questions.
Those that do know tend to be more quiet about it.
Those in between are still scratching their heads.

And it's before expansion.........