Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska 338 win mag expiriances

hi, i got a 338 win mag this year for moose hunting ive heard that the 338 is a hard hitting round. i was wondering is it true or is it only good balistics?

The 338 Win Mag is like a 308 Win on steroids. There are many great bullets in the caliber with few ways to mess up your selection. Just like the 308, it works when it's used properly. Of course, as with a steroid enhanced football player, there is a cost which the user has to pay to play in the "big league". There's nothing wrong with an extra 70 grains of mass on the terminal end though, especially when it's moving faster too.

Klikitarik hits it right. It has more "thump" but at a price of recoil. It is not magic and does not make up for poor shooting. I have used it for large African plains game...eland, kudu, gemsbok, Hartmann's zebra. The kudu ran 70 yds; the others were DRT.

I was shooting 225gr Partitions at 2800fps. A 300mag, 30-06, or 308 would have killed any of them. I suspect with the '06 or 308 they may not have been DRT.

I don't know what it takes to kill a moose, but I am sure you are not under gunned with a 338!

It is a hard hitting round (on both ends). But it's also very effective. Moose aren't that hard to kill if hit hard and in the right spot. I tend to think the 250 grain brings the best out in it and I use the Partitions. I haven't been disappointed on anything I've shot with it.

luisss:
My moose rifle is a .338 WM. It sports a Leupold 1.5-5x scope and my "go-to" bullet is a 225 gr. NorthFork. To me, the NF's are slightly more accurate than Partitions (nop flies there tho) and perform at least as good as the Partition. I have on my desk, a 225 gr. NF I found under the far side of the 1st moose I shot with it. That bullet is a perfect text book mushroom and weighs 218 grs. What's not to like. True, NF's are more expensive but you're not gonna shoot a box of them at the range either - use something else for that.
The recoil is an attention getter but I find that when shooting from the bench, I use a PAST recoil pad with no problem. While hunting, you won't notice the recoil.
Best of luck.
Bear in Fairbanks

I have a .338 and am new to the club. The only thing I can contribute is that recoil with the .338 Winchester is not that big a deal.

Now that said, I do have a decent recoil pad...
I am 6'3" and I weigh 230
I hit hard too

My .270 Browning kicked harder than my remington 06, 7mag and my .338. It was my first HP rifle so I've always wondered if there was a learning curve for me or if it really punched like I remember. IT's been along time now since I've shot it...all my guns "push" as opposed to a "smack" like that thing did.

I've become very fond of my .338 and it will see alot of field time this year.

For many years. the 338 Win Mag has shown, that it will handle any and all N/A big game, AND it has the terminal ballistics to more than support that.

If you do your job behind a 338 Win, the 338 Win will do likewise.

I`d own a 338 Win right now, but my 300 WSM and 375 Ruger both overlap game capabilities with the 338 Win.

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Luisss,---I believe, the 338 Win Mag is the 30-06's bigger brother. My opinion, "for my hunting", it is the best all-arounder for bigger game. I have a few other cartridge chamberings, larger and smaller; but to me the 338 Win Mag is the mythical all-arounder. Of course, this is with the usual qualifiers of using a good bullet and proper shot placement. No magic involved, just flat works. For me the 225 TSX is the bullet of choice. Yep, I am "a TSX believer", but each to his/her own. There are plenty of great bullets and factory loads for the 338 Win out there. As already mentioned, the 338 Win Mag flat works.

I have shot several bull elk with a .338 Win mag and 210, 225, 250 grain bullets. I noticed that hits with the .338 win mag caused the animal to show it was hit by body language. My .300 Win mag with 180 and 200 grain bullets never caused this to happen.

Now on moose I never noticed the body reaction as with the elk but they sure never went near as far after being hit. Shooting a moose with a 250 grain .338 Win mag, one does not have to worry about type of shot on the animal, any angle will take that moose with a .338 Win mag and 250 grain bullet. I have used Nosler Partitons, TBBC and Swift A Frame bullets.

One of the best out there, I'd take it over the 300 win mag any day of the year and twice on sunday. Doesn't seem to kick harder than my 300 IMHO.

Now those that don't really know, can use those 275 grn bullets that Swift A Frame has listed and it turns the .338 mag into better solution for those big bears when needed. In my one .338 winn, I use 2 bullet weights for big game, the Nosler 210 partition bullet and the 275 grn Swift A Frame bullet.

About five years ago I bought a used 338 and the pad is a bit old and hard, without a past pad or anything else, have shot up to 100 in a day working loads. slight neck ache is all that I com away with. 5'8, 200lbs.

All around bullet is at 250 gr. Ever see an elk with a bad day look on their face, just hit em with that.

Here's my experience with a 250 grain bullet. One of the first groups I shot with this gun. Not bad for a ruger m77 MKII.

For many years a pre'64 Winchester M/70 in .338WM was my elk rifle, it had a Canjar trigger in it when I purchased it and was the best shooting M/70 I've ever owned. Groups like the one posted above were easy to accomplish with my load of choice which consisted of a 275gr. Speer RN over a healthy dose of IMR4350. Recoil was stout but with a good recoil pad was manageable, a well placed shot put them down for keeps. I shot a mule deer behind the ear at 30yds. once, the result was an instant total lobotomy and a dead deer.

I'm going to show the Coyote that you took 2 days before the Moose with the 225 TSX from the 338 Win.









And the meat blown into the trees behind the Coyote

Taken with 338 win mag

The .338 Winchester magnum is one of the very finest big game calibers out there and very shootable with a little practice you betcha. I have hunted whitetail deer with 200 grn bullets and moose/elk with 250 and 225 grain bullets respectively.

The .338 is very much like a bigger '06. It will move suitable bullets fast enough that you can hit and stay on the animals, including deer to 300 yards without holding off the animal.

To move the heavier bullets faster than the 338 you need a lot more powder capacity and get a lot more recoil as a result.

I prefer the 225 grain bullets in the 338. I use Interlocks for practice and deer. I use Partitions and TBBC for bigger game.

I've used the 338 a bunch on all sorts of game. Grizzlys, Elk, and Deer. Plus a few coyotes. It works just as well as a number of other cartridges that have the same horsepower. I used a 300 Weatherby for about 10 years and I think my 338 kicks less than the Weatherby. All of these animals were killed with 210 grain Noslers. I love that bullet.











It works just fine, if you do.