Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles I want a .338 win mag...

I had a Rem 700 XCR in .338, cut to 23", black and white swirly, talleys and a VX3 2.5-8, went 8lbs 2oz. Shot great. Can't remember why I sold it, but it must have been for a reason...

Also had a 700 Classic, 24", in a B&C medalist, GunKoted Ti Gray. Sold it to buy the XCR.

Speaking only to the recoil part... I've a 7 3/4lb .375 Ruger (scoped, no sling or rounds) and recoil is not bad at all shooting 275's. I'd think a sub 8lb .338 would be slightly lighter in the recoil department.

The 338 Win Mag, it will always be special cartridge for me, no mystical powers, just always got it done and maybe a touch of good luck.
Back in the late 80's when I was working offshore and I had money burning a hole in my pocket; I found a Sako AV action in the white, I took it to Walt Sherman who put a 24" Shilen bbl on it and bedded it into a Sako laminated stock. Like all of Walt's guns it shot great, it was no featherweight (and as I have gotten older it seems heavier). It is 9 pounds all up.
I never noticed the recoil being too bad (I know,subjective) but it does shoot.
I have lots of bullets on the bench and tried lots of different powders, after all of the experimenting I practice with 225 Hornadys and hunt with 225 Partitions on top of H4350, no muss, no fuss.
It has worn several different scopes over the years, 1.5-6X32 B&L, 4X Zeiss, 3-9X36mm Swarovski AV and now a 2-7 Leupold VX 2; never a problem with any of them.
The rifle has been a great hunting companion, it's been to Africa twice (Namibia and RSA), Alaska several times, out west and Canada a bunch, it's been refinished once, there are more hunting dings than safe dings.
I think back to the Colorado 2nd Season years ago, a 5X6 raghorn that got in the way of my 225 partition at 387 yds, what a great hunt with great friends and family; and really good elk steaks.
Of all the guns that have come and gone in my life, this one stays until after I'm gone.

Sorry for rambling; if you want a 338 there are lots of great choices.

Thanks

I walked into a small local gun shop to buy a pound of powder, walked out with a Savage 110, .338 WinMag. lh. First thing i noticed was it was hardly used. After getting it home the second thing I noticed was the stock was cracked between the action screws. At the time Savage used a very light colored wood for its stocks and the crack was hard to see. I had a good friend who worked for Winchester and claimed that in the Mod. 70 the .338 was a notorious stock breaker. The gun shop fixed the break for free, and I looked for a fiberglass stock. Ended up with a Lee Six unfinished stock that we filled and sanded and painted black. The recoil of my hand-loads was to say brisk and I never could master that rifle. Something about the recoil speed or something, but I sold it after a couple years and picked up a 30-06. If you can shoot it its a great caliber.

Talk you out of a .338WM? Nope. A .338 WM was on my wish list for many years and I finally put one together from parts. As to killing elk, there is very little mine will do that I couldn't do with my 7mm RM or .300WM, but I like it anyway and it is going elk hunting in a couple months.

Bought a M70 XTR Winchester just before they sold out to US Repeating Arms in 338 Win Mag. Shiny finish ,small Monte Carlo cheak piece and the famous short toe to heal WW recoil pad. Fully capable of killing anything and anybody on both ends. Safe queen for years with occ use, put Limbsaver on it last winter that was a prefit model. Same gun but a whole lot more enjoyable to shoot, it will get some action again, this fall. Magnum Man

[/quote]They were surprisingly easy to shoot considering the horsepower,and very accurate,too, with mostly 210 or 225 gr bullets....250's had a higher "crunch" factor on the recoil end.

An 8 pound 338 is a good thing and pretty manageable. [/quote]

My current .338 is also a older Rem 700 with a Brown Precision stock, and it weighs 8.2 lbs with its 2.5x8 Conquest. It is a pleasure to carry, is quite accurate, and for me, is a very lucky gun (B&C grizzly, 340-class Az elk).

But, like others have mentioned, 250 bullets seem to punish my shoulder with resolve, whereas I can shoot the 210 Noslers all day long, no problem. It's all psychological, I'm sure, but that is my take on .338 recoil. I'm not sure why I even bother shooting bullets heavier than 210 gr, cuz things fall dead just as quick with the lighter bullet as they do with the heavier one..... YMMV.

My first 340 was a 700 with a 23" 4.5 wt Schneider and with a 3-10 Leo on top it too was a fairy bit cheekier with the 250-275's.

But...it was a heck of a Yote round...grin

Dober

What about going 340 Weatherby? Id go with that or even better a 338 ultra. That 338 Ultra in a long action Remington 700 or Model 70 is a thing of beauty. I wish the 300 ultra used the same case to give one a little more COL latitude.

For the price of the Savage you can get a used Sako which is an easier sell should you decide the .338 isn't for you.

I have a XCR II in 338 Win mag and am happy with it

I just sold off a Rem 700 Sendero in 300 Ultra Mag. I've been thinking of getting a 338WM. How would you guys compare the recoil of the 300RUM to the 338WM in similar weight rifles? The RUM was stout off the bench but not intolerable.

I find the RUM to be sharper recoil. 338 is more of a push and the 300 a slap. Thats how I see it.

I just finished up going through my third .338 WIN MAG phase (already sold the M70 Classic and most of the bullets). Nice and accurate, but much more than needed in this area - actually need had nothing to do with it - I wanted another one. PM me when you have your new .338WM - I will make you a deal on some nearly new Hornady New Dimension dies and the few boxes of bullets and new brass I have left.

I love .338's! If I could only have two rifles, one would be a .338 of some sort.

I have three 338WMs. A Savage 116, Ruger 77 MKII boat paddle and a custom 98 Mauser. Over the next two weeks I plan to test all three from different shooting positions to see which one fits me the best. From the bench the Savage shoots the best. But the Ruger feels the best when I handle it. No doubt the Mauser with it�s trigger is the toughest and will hold up the longest in the field. Had the Savage for a few years and have shot some Texas deer with it. The Ruger and Mauser are both new-to-me this year. I plan to take one of these hog hunting next week. We have seen tracks of what must be a 350 or 400 pounder at one of the water troughs.

There are no cattle on the property this year. With the lack of rain here in Texas they would not do well. We are trucking water in to hold the deer and hogs on the place. With the cost of corn, protein and the cost of hauling water, hunting in Texas is real expensive. I don�t find the recoil of the Savage 338WM to be bad at all. Just pull it into your shoulder real tight and hold on. It will kick but it won�t hurt.

Years ago I had a gunsmith buddy of mine screw a 338 WM barrel on a 700 action, then I had Bob and lone Wolf stock it with a Summit. Whole rifle went 7 3/4 pounds all up, and it was a handful... I ended up selling it to Uncle Gus, who still uses it and lends it to clients. He never noticed that you can't kill everything there is to kill in Montana with a rifle that isn't a CRF

My big bitch was, it was a blued action with a stainless barrel, and I never noticed game shot with it was any deader than the 30-06 I was using....


Then my buddy Ed decided that he needed a hunting rifle (he has about two of everything any country ever fought a war with) He called me up and said, "If you were going to kill everything with one rifle, and mostly after Elk, can you see anything wrong with the logic that a 338 WM Montana 8400 will handle it all???" I said, "I bet it'd kill the hell out of Antelope too" It does spooky things with 225 Accubombs and good old IMR4831

Sounds like a nice 338 Dan, did you take any rig with the rig?

Build a 375 like that and then...you'd have something.

Dober

Well my current 338 Winchester Mag is a Sako 75 SS that I bought in 1997 some 14 years ago. While I lived in Alaska, I shot a lot of game with it. I zeroed it in when I bought it. And since then I just check with a couple of shots and go hunt. Its one of the rifles I kept when I paired down my collection. You can't go wrong with one as its a hunters cartridge, that is not fussy. My current favorite bullet is 210 gr Barnes X. I couldn't get the Nosler Partitons at the time so 5 boxes of those came my way. They shoot well and they work on game very very well.

Once I put together a 338/06, my need for a 338 Mag declined a lot...

They certainly do the job... but so will a lot of other calibers that kick substantially less and the average shooter can shoot them better...