Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 338 win mag for Moose

Our favourite is 225Accubond,75 gr of RL22 or N-560,2775-2800.An Accubond is nice accurate shooting, expanding bullet.The quicker that moose goes down,the less likely it will make it to the water.

I would start with RL 19 but also try IMR 4350 and RL 22 with a Nosler 225 gr PT.

JD338

Got results from my second round at the range and I am happy with the results. I didn't want to change the powder, IMR 4831, untill I tried it some more. What I came up with is as follows. All are average speeds and the spread between all shots for each round were around 25 fps which is way better than the factory spread of 85 fps. 69 gr - 2636 fps. 70 gr - 2676 fps. 71 gr 2740 fps. 72 gr - 2803 fps. 72.5 gr - 2813. With all of these I still used cci and winchester primers but with this batch of shots there was a noticeable difference between the two with the winchester primers giving an average of 17.8 fps faster speed not much but the rest of my reloading will be with the winchesters. All shots were at 100 yards and by the time I was finished 90 percent of the shots could have been covered by two quarters. My next round I will start to fine tune for accuracy now that I have gotten to and past the factory speed of 2737 fps avg. I think I am going to load 71.6, 72 and 72.4 and see which gives the best group and go with that. Thanks for all your help. I will post results after my next round.

First of all their are indeed a half dozen or so powders that will get the job done using a .338 Win mag caliber rifle. Also several bullets too! I been shooting a .338 Win mag for 20 years now, ever since I laid down the .300 Win mag of mine.

The .338 caliber is just a better killer of big game in my eyes and hits with more authority too, at least those elk and moose seem to show more body language when struck by a .338 225 or 250 grain bullet.

Now in the bullet department I like those Swift A Frames and Trophy Bonded Bear Claws for getting the job done on elk or moose, bear etc. Powders have been IMR-4831, 73grn's gave a velocity of 2840fps. RL-19 is another good pick of powders and once again the 72 grn's will get you 2800fps.

I have owned a .338 since the day it was born..I load the 210 Nosler at 3005 FPS with 75 grs. of H-4350 and some old army surplus 4831 also called 4350 Data powder,

My other load is the 300 gr. Woodleigh at 2500 FPS with H-1000 or almost that with H-4831.

My gun has a 26 inch barrel btw..

I have tried a lot of different combinations in the the .338 but the above have worked so well that it has been all I have used for years...

RL-19 and RL-22 have given me excellent results also, but I have seen a lot of varition in RL-19 from batch to batch in the .338. I don't know if that is true in all calibers or not.

RL 19 is what I have used in all the 338wm that I have had. works great and I was always able to get it to shoot.

My .338 would only shot imr4831 well. If I deviated, the fits returned. My load was the book max of IMR 4831 with a 200g speer hot cor for 3060fps. I loaned it to a buddy who spanked bullwinkle with it, he didn't go far.

Just got back from my Moose hunt and I am glad to say I was success-full on the opening day with a 560 lb. dressed, 30" rack bull. We busted brush till about 1:30 and took a break at the truck to have a little something to eat. While sitting there here come this, it looked like a giant woolly mammoth to me, bull stopping just off the edge of the woods looking at us. I jumped out of the truck, grabbed a few rounds and get one in the chamber, getting to the edge of the road asking Giby, my uncles brother in law who was guiding me, if it looked like a shooter and he said it looked good and if I was going to shoot do it now before another car came up the road and it took off back the way it came. The location of it made my decision for me so I took the shot, he was quartering towards me so I got the shot as close to the shoulder as I could. He just walked out like nothing happened. The next one he was crossing directly across and the I put the shot right thru both lungs, he shuttered a little and walked away. I put another one in the same spot and he just walked into the woods like nothing happened. All this happened in 20-30 seconds max. Going back to the truck we decide to wait a little prior to going after him. My father in law went up to where he went into the woods and said we don't have to wait he was right there. 100 feet into the woods exactly, that is the length of the cable on the winch we used to get him out. Here are a few Pics.

When did Winchester start putting the "Boss" system on their rifles?
I thought Browning did a few years back� but I thought they stopped.
Do you like the Boss system? Are the putting them on their new rifles?

I think in 1996-1998 they teamed up with Browning, pretty sure the only years they did it. Classic Sporter BOSS is what they call them. The BOSS seems to work, When I first purchased it I went to the range with a variety of rounds with heads ranging from 180-250 grains and adjusting the "sweet spot" (the boss has markings similar to a caliper, where the weight of the ported portion be moved out or in on the barrel,corresponding to the weight of the bullet)the point of impact didn't seem to move. Instead of adjusting the scope for different weight heads the barrel is adjusted.

ONe thing you can depend on with a moose, he will die only when he gets damn good and ready to die, regardless of the caliber!

ONe thing you can depend on with a moose, he will die only when he gets damn good and ready to die, regardless of the caliber!

I remember sticking one with a 375 H&H twice in the shoulder, he just stood there and started grazing again..then knelt on his knees and down on his hindquarters and was grazing again..I finally stuck one in the ear and he rolled over...The are incrdibly tuff at times and I don't think they have nerves.

Last year I watched a nice moose hit the ground with 225 Hornady with 70gr of IMR-4831. I believe 70gr of IMR-4350 would do the same job.

I found H4831 to be too slow in my 338 with 225 grain SSTs and IBs to get max velocities.
Switched to 70 grains of H4350 for 2900 fps with good accuracy.

I loaded up a box at 72.6 and that seemed to get the job done, got good groups, my Chrony was acting up while at the range testing them so I didn't get good readings.I fired an e-mail off to Chrony and they got back that day asking for the unit so they could fix it. If I had found the H4350 in time prior to the trip I would have liked to try it. I will as soon as I get to a gun shop at the right time. It seemed that every time I went around to the shops, at one of them I "just missed the last can". I will get around to testing other Recipe's and post results as I get to them. Thank you everyone.

For what its worth - My Rem. 700 with a factory muzzle brake likes 76 gr. R22 with F215mag. primers. This is pretty much a universal load for everything from 200 to 250 grains. (It is starting to get a little stiff with the 250's.)

The majority of my shooting is with the 225 Hornadys and I hunt with Nosler Ptn's of the same weight. Velocity is right around 2800 fps.

Jim