Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska 338 WSM VS 358 WSM

When my brother gets back from Iraq, he wants to rebarrel his Savage Weather Warrior which is currently wearing a 7mm WSM.

We have discussed both the 338 WSM and the 358 WSM


Between the two, which would you steer him into, and why..?



Sincerely,
Scott

I would do neither. Just sell the rifle and buy a 338 Winchester Mag. Thou there is no flies on the 7mm WSM its an almost 7mm Remington Mag and its not a bad place to be. I was never much for wildcat cartridges. To much of a pain and they really never live up to expectations and then there is resale if you have to, you end up really taking it in the shorts.

If those are the only two caliber choices, I would definitely go with the .338 caliber. Better bullet selection, sectional density, and penetration using the correct bullets. Either caliber would make for a fine rifle.

R

Pretty good answer! Only advantage of doing the WSM deal is if the OP wants a short action. If that is the case, I would go for the 358 WSM if for no other reason than that I have heard of some pretty impressive results from that round.

358 for sure!!!!!!!! what is the fun with running with a mob??? the 358 has the edge in bl. weight and cool factor . go for it and have a blast. he has been through enough allready and deserves to play and enjoy. big bears look out!! go man.

Well just thought I'd throw it out here in the "Alaskan" part of the Fire.

I'm pretty sure the little brother doesn't want to discard the 7mm, he's just lookin at something a little more chunky that he could screw onto that Savage action without having to complicate any other aspect of the rifle, like bolt face/head, magazine/clip, etc. He just wants to shoot a midbore and raise his "Taylor" numbers a little.

As for "Wildcats," he isn't afraid to load for them, we've been doing that for awhile now anyway.

It seems that the 338 WSM will shoot the 200 and 210 grain bullets as fast as the 358 will push the 225's, and will shoot the 225's as fast as the 358 WSM will move the 250's.

I kinda like my 358 WSM shooting 225's at 2930fps, and it will push the 250 and 280 grainers right along too.

I think a lot of the .338 as a very balanced cartridge, and admire it in every case from the 33 Winchester on up to the 340 Wby. (don't have any experience with the 338 RUM).
Then his 7mm already takes care of what his 300 Savage leaves for it, so maybe stepping on up to the .358 bore might be the way to go (not that I am in any way infulencing that choice).

Anyway, I'm just trying to gather some opinions for him, while he's taking care of some things for the rest of us.

Buy a .338 RCM. It's better; it's from the factory; cartridges and parts are readily available; and it's going to be around for a while.

And it works really nice...

Dennis

going with the savage theme of being able to switch out barrels with minimal drama, I'd go 338 WSM, love those 33's but my buddy james is a 35 whelin guy and will say go 358... go with your heart on this one I'd say.

358WSM, I would NOT sell the 7mm-WSM, nor would I waste time and try to change the rifle one iota. I am a big fan of the .338 Winchester magnum, which already has one heck of a track record. Plus buying ammo for this caliber is very easy compared to any WSM caliber.

I have killed more than my share of big game with both a 7mm Remington magnum and the .338 Winchester magnum and I can tell you without a doubt, that .338 Win mag with a 250 grain Swift A Frame bullet, will kill any big game on this earth.

I would pay a dollar to see the look on your face when you looked down the eyes of an unhappy Cape buffalo at 50 feet and all you had in your hands was a .338... .

Dennis

Yea the short action Idea vs the standard 30-06 size. All off maybe a 1/4 to a half inch on the bolt throw. Would be better off with a 300 WSM if you wanted to go that way. Hey its a free country or was. I just find that wildcats never live up to expectation except in print and on message boards. As for shooting Cape Buffalo in full charge at 50 feet with a 338 or a 577 Nitro is not going to matter a wit if you can't shoot, and if you are in that position in the first place, guess what you have a problem with field marksmanship. Your PH would have sorted it out long before he would let it go that far, to much video watching Mark S do his thing for the camera. In the end there is not a whole lot of dangerous game to hunt world wide, and with the current crop of excellent bullets, you could almost make the case that the 30-06 will do for most of what it left and able to do with enough money. All but a very few will ever shoot dangerous game such as brown bear or lion more that once in a life time for the most part we are deer hunters with an occasional black bear to shoot. And by deer,I mean deer sized game up to Elk and Moose.

1) The .338 RCM isn't a wildcat -- main reason I recommended it, as the original talked about .338 WSM vs .358 WSM. Both of them are wildcats, but mine is commercial and rather well distributed these days.

2) I actually do know a little bit about what I'm talking about relative to shooting Cape buffalo -- and it's not really like you described -- at least not if it's really wild buffs in wild country. And bears live where I do, along with some other critters. So be a little careful with your criticism -- you may not really know it...



If you look carefully, you can see that I shot him in the nose, at 50 feet. We were about 60 or 75 Km from camp, out in the endless grass sea in Mozambique, so it wasn't real tame...

Dennis

I would go with the 358WSM, changin out savage barrels is real easy( changed my 30-06 to a 35 Whelen with no fuss) and it could be changed back to the 7 mm in 30 minutes.

338 is great but i just love 358" and like you said you could push a 270gr North Fork or 280gr Swift A-frame for the really big stuff. The 225gr accubond could be an all around long range lighter game bullet.

Fellas,

Lets not turn this into a "My rifle will beat up your Cape Buff better than your rifle will beat up my Cape Buff," kind of discussion.
I am tempted (to jump into the pissing contest) to put my 358 WSM "Wildcat" up against any 338 Winchester as for "Wildcats not living up to their expectations"...mine kind of exceeds them.
BTW, anything built of the old H&H case, is a "Wildcat."

This is not about buying another rifle, or even another proven cartridge.



Here, it is what it is.
My brother has a Savage.
He's not selling it.
And he's not buying another Left Handed rifle.., He "WANTS" another barrel for "This one."

It is designed to shoot the 7mm WSM.
Meaning it has a .532" bolt face/head, and a WSM magazine/follower.

"Those" are the parameters in which the question is asked.

Although I believe something along the lines of the 358 Winchester, or the 338-08 (Federal), would cover all the bases he might ever want to run... We are still limiting ourselves to how his gun is set up...so, without changing out the bolt head...we're looking at cartridges with the .532" diameter.


Okay, I like the 338 RCM. As for it being "Better" than the WSM...as a handloading proposition, I don't see it as "Better." What I do see is slightly less powder capacity than the WSM's, and a shorter O.A.L. It's almost .010" length basically gives us a "Fat" 338 Federal case.
Handloads for the 338 RCM put in the 338-06 catagory, and that's not a bad place to be.., it's right on the heels of the 350 Remington Mag/35 Whelen. So, the 338 RCM will come within 250-300fps of the 358 WSM. Better..? Maybe not, but plenty enough just the same.
Yes, factory loads are available for the 338 RCM. But again, we handload (everything), and there is no shortage of 300 WSM brass with which to use for the 338/358 WSM.

Originally, the question asked, "...between the two..." meaning the 338 WSM or the 358 WSM.(I'll let the 338 RCM squeeze into the mix).
So, I appreciate the thoughts about "another rifle," and "other cartridges." but let this one be answered within it's boundries.

Thanks...

My 338 rcm is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. It feeds well, handles well, and shoots well. I'm running 225's at 2650fps and 200's at 2800 fps handloaded from the 20" tube. A 338 WSM would outrun an RCM by a bit.

I've always liked WSMs too but have had more problems with them than any other round. Mostly feeding and ejection problems. But, I still haven't given up on them because I've had a few that were great. I seriously considering building 300WSM on a 10 twist brux with a wyatts box and setting it up for longish range. I'm thinking 208g Amax, 210 Bergers, or 200g AB's.

Bb

Although not exactly one of the choices you mentioned, I would consider re-barreling to 325WSM. A standard factory cartridge with goods bullets (Nosler PT, Barnes TSX) for heavy game. Dave Scovill did exactly this with an early Kimber. FWIW

A 366WSM would be cool

It sure would...

...and, although I would really enjoy that one (a lot), he wouldn't.

Can't forget the .411 either..Lol..!


Nice try Randy..!

To tell ya the truth the 325WSM would be my choice. I have one and it's done very good for me with 180gr TSX @3100fps.
The safe is full of guns that don't get any field time because the .325 Kimber Montana is always always in hand....

I'd go with the 358WSM... because I like .35-caliber. I've owned a couple 350RM and a 35 Whelen. A friend has a 358WSM and shoots 310gr Woodleighs at 2400 fps. Formerly, it was a Ruger 77 SS in 350RM. You can get his opinion at www.35cal.com/

250-grainers will leave the muzzle of his 22" tube well in excess of 2700 fps!

In essence, it's equal to a 358 Norma, and that's a lot of cartridge!

Bob

www.bigbores.ca