Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 338 win mag recoil

Any magnum cartridge is going to get your attention off the bench, especially during a lengthy shooting session. I've always felt that Weatherby's handle big kickers as well or better than anyone else.

My two sons & I use elk rifles of similiar weight & size, but different brands & cartridges. My older boy shoots a Model 70 in 300 Win. Mag, & usually uses 180 gr. bullets. His younger brother shoots a Browning Stainless Stalker in 338 Win. Mag with Hornady Heavy Mag loads (230 gr. I believe). I shoot a Wby. Mark V in 7mm. Wby. Mag, with either 160"s or 175's.

I find the 338 to be very tolerable at the bench. My 7mm. Wby. is actually pleasant, & recoils about like my Ruger .270. The 300 Win. Mag. can be painful. Instead of a hard push, you get a severe jolt.

I've heard several other guys make similiar comments. While a 338 gives you that hard push common to many medium to large bores, the 300 punches you fast and severe.

Subjective recoil in my 338 win mag ruger is less than my 306 tikka t3 lite.
Randy

I haven't shot a .338WM in many years, but those who have shot them a great deal say the 9.3X62 recoils noticably less but kills just as well. My 9.3 is pleasant to shoot. When I used to shoot .338's and .375 H&H's fairly often I thought the typical .375 more comfortable to shoot than the typical .338WM.

I really have a thing for the 33's be they big or small. I've found them to be user friendly and generally incredibly accurate.

The factory 338's have all shot well and for the most part they've been easy to deal with recoil wise. As you go up in bullet weight they generally become a bit less friendly but I've also found the heavier bullets to shoot a bit better so I use them.

The 340 is the one I've used a bit and my first one @ 8.25 lbs with a 3-10 Leo on it was a bit cheeky when using the 250's-300's...but it was hell on chucks and yotes..

And it was one of the best elk rifles I've ever used. Rifles that have this much recoil bring committment into the equation. I don't know many people who've been committed enough to work with them in the long run. But, if one has the committment to work with them I feel that they've an incredible killing machine.

One other option if you're looking for a bigger gun is to look into a 375 (H&H or Ruger), build it to come in around 8lbs scoped and ready to rock. Now you'll really have something and it's bump won't be much if any different (especially true of the 340).

Best of luck to you in your decision.

Dober

And to address your Q about the diff tween light rifles recoil with a 338 vs a heavy rifle, yes there will be a considerable diff. But, I don't feel that the 338 has enough gas to it to be too caustic to most people. Try to keep that mzl dia in the .62"-.65" range and the gun should be fairly shootable if it has a good pad.

Lastly, it's my opinion that people have issues with recoil with the 338 (or other sizeable cals) cause of lack of experience with the big guns, cause their rifle is set up poorly (usually too much weight in the stock and not enough in the tube) and cause they're not committed to learn how to shoot the gun well. The bigger the gun the more commitment it takes to be really good with it. Or at least that's how I see it..

Dober

Whether it's light or heavy, the .338 is something you need to shoot year around to keep your hand in and tolerate the recoil. If you're gonna fire a couple or three shots thru it the week before hunting season and call it happy, you stand a good chance of being one of those "magnum shooters" that folks make fun of.

That's about it, the people I know who don't like the magnum recoil just don't want to shoot them often enough to learn how to. And that's fine as we can do most all we want in this world via an 06 or 270.

Dober

Must not be very many handloaders, or folks are trying to wring out every last ounce of velocity out of said cartridges.

I've noticed that loading the 338 Mag with mid range burn powders, you might give up 100 fps of max MV, but you will reduce the recoil level substantially ( or at least felt recoil).

I've also noticed a difference in felt recoil using regular large rifle primers vs the magnum primers, depending upon powder selected.

I use a stiff load of H 1000 powder in a 300 Win Mag ( A Bolt Browning), with a 220 grain RN, with an MV of 2950 to 2975 fps, and it feels like it has less recoil than many factory 300 Win Mag loads using 180 grain bullets.

Handloading can change a lot of those problems for shooters, if they are serious hunters.

the 338 is a pretty hard kicker but if you shoot it and practice you will be able to handle it just fine it an awsome cartridge i decided to build build me a old age elk rifle built a 340 weatherby on a pre 64 model 70 told the snit to not make the barre real heavy and as long as he could get fron the blank it was heavier tan the weatherby and shot great put a 1400 dollar ziess scope on it to make a long story short was the work kicking rifle i have ever shot even with the echols mcmillan stock on it rebarreled it to 375 h&h ent back to 84 grains 4350 behind a barnes 270 grain and as happy as can be