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I'll play by the rules!

Budget?

W

39 years old... 338 WM...



I'm pretty certain, all variables put in a computer, there's no finer cartridge for killing elk than the 338 WM... problem is I don't want to carry one or the computer that thinks it's so great (grin).

That's the dream brad ! Nice animal.
Rifle budget in the 1000 range? Then optics. What can you make if that?

An M70 in a McMillan Edge would work...

Ditto a Ruger M77 in a Bansner.

Also, a Remington 700 in a McMillan Edge of some sort if you don't have my crf prejudice...

Easiest way is a Kimber 8400 MT... cut the barrel to 22 or 23" and you're good to go.

Under 1K that's how I'd go...

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=264722035

very nice...................

w

That belongs in a display case. I don't think I could take that out in the elements. I have a hard time using very nice firearms.

Nice job on coming in under budget

As others have said both will do the job just fine as will any other of the less common 338's. If you don't reload you may want to stay with the 338wm for ease of availability of ammo... and cost.

I built a 338wm a few years ago and havn't looked back. It's taken whitetails, mule deer, moose, elk, black bear and grizzly. I can't swear it kill's any better than a 3006 but it does seem to damage less meat than the fast 300's or fast 7's.

I've also found it to be a very accurate rifle out to 500 yards. I'm sure it can be effective at further range but that is as far as I have gained proficiency to at this time.

Mine was based on a New Haven SS Model 70 classic. It has a Pacnor SS super matchgrade barrel cut at 26" in a #4 sporter contour. The action has been trued. It is glass bedded in a McMillan Hunter stock. I think mine is around 9 pounds all up. I shoot 72 grains of H4831 with 250 grain Swift Aframes for hunting and 250 grn interlocks for plinking.

What can I say, for me this rifle works very well. If I was buying one right now I think I would get the new Winchester Extreme Weather in 338wm.

One of the things I've enjoyed a lot about the various 33's is how easy they are to get to shoot. I've had 3 340 barrels and all have shot balls out. (and been around a few more 340 tubes, pretty much all Schneiders)

Dober

I'd pick up a used Ruger Mark II ($450-$500)

Purchase a Mc Millan or any good quality fiberglass stock($425 plus)

For optics a Leupold 3-9x40 with the LR reticle would be a good start


I wouldnt cut the barrel . I like at least 24" on any magnum to keep the muzzle blast as far away from your face as possible.

If you want to lighten it I would have the barrel recontoured, but going to light with a 338 isnt a real good idea.

Ive been shooting 338s since I was in my 20s, near 50 now.I've had 10 different 338s over the years. I Like Rugers the best.Know matter how old I am there will always be a 338 in my safe. My hunting mentor, former boss and one of my best friends is in his 70s now and still shoots a 338. Hes hunted world wide and has 100s of wild game animals in his trophy romm (It is amazing). When you ask him what his favorite round is he responds " 338 win mag, is there anything else"

Thats a beauty, if I could get that up here I would buy it off you in a heartbeat.

I bought my .338 Winchester Magnum in 1960 or so about two years after it was introduced. Naturally, my Model 70 is a "pre-'64" rifle since it was purchased in 1960 or 1961... not sure which year.

I began handloading for the .338 WM soon after I purchased it because of the cost of factory loads and my desire to make my rifle as accurate as possible... and back in the early '60s, that was via handloading.

I hunted everything with that rifle... mule deer, elk and bear in snow almost up to my hips in the Gunnison Mountains in Colorado, deer in Nebraska, Michigan and Pennsylvania, moose in upper Canada... and one thing always "bothered" me. Shooting the Model 70 using my "hot" handloads off the bench-rest wasn't too bad for the first 16 rounds, but #17 always "hurt"... and every round thereafter always HURT, too!

Now I'm no "panty-waist" when it comes to recoil, but to be perfectly honest, I can't figure out why anyone would wanna or need to shoot the bigger .338s like the .340 Weatherby or the other huge .338s!

The .338 Win. Mag. is as "much rifle" as I'd ever wanna shoot off the bench. Now in the field, heck... you don't even notice the recoil when you've got the crosshairs on a trophy deer or big elk or Canadian bull moose like the one I got on a fly-in trip back into the Canadian bush next to an unnamed lake.

The hand-loaded 210 grain Nosler Partition bullet drove the large bull moose down like the "Hammer-of-Thor" as the rifle reared up in recoil.,, the bull was dead before he hit the ground and never moved a muscle once he was "down".

How much DEADER can an animal get?!?!? That rifle scored one shot kills on everything I ever pulled-a-trigger on during my first 40 years of my big game hunting.

Finally... when I passed the age of retirement (65) ten years ago... I started wishing for a big game rifle that didn't jar my back teeth loose when I shot it off the bench-rest... and since I then was only hunting whitetails, I had no need for a "Hammer-of-Thor" anymore... nor for it's 10� pounds (fully loaded with a heavy sling with a wide, leather pad where the sling met my shoulder + a 3-9x scope) of "carrying weight".

So the big Winchester was, like me, "retired" to an honored place in my gun-safe and I want on a campaign to find a lighter recoiling, less weight-y rifle.

On my next birthday, my bestest hunting buddy found what I wanted at a big regional gun show in Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh... and he and my children gave me a wonderful birthday present... a 1953, in like-new condition, Model 99 Savage lever-action rifle with a rotary magazine in .300 Savage caliber... a cartridge for which I now handload... and which I enjoy it's considerably less than HALF the amount of my .338 Win. Mag.'s recoil... and from which I can shoot 60 or 80 rounds of in a single afternoon if I wanna and not feel like my shoulder is broken the next day.

Seriously!!! I'm no "recoil weenie", buttttt... one afternoon, I shot just 40 rounds of my .338 WM handloads in .338 Winchester Magnum off the bench-rest... and my arm from the elbow up and the right half of my chest were black & blue with some "yellowing" around that place God made on our bodies to put a rifle's butt for TWO WHOLE WEEKS!!! THAT is when I decided to get a lighter recoiling rifle.

If you like to be "slugged" by a heavy-weight, then more power to ya, but as for me... I can easily handle and delight in the light 13 or 14 ft/lbs of recoil outta my Model 99... or out of my Ruger #1 RSI in 7x57 which has only slightly greater recoil with full-power loads designed for "modern rifles ONLY" yielding 2800 fps with a 140 grain Nosler Partition bullet.

After all, you can only kill a deer "so dead"!

Jus' my 2�...


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.

You don't see many .338 Winchesters in Africa, but it works quite well for all plains game. It is legal for lion and leopard in Zim and is my preference for leopard. I have two. One is a Blaser R93 (which has never seen Africa) and the other is a full custom built on a 1953 Winchester M70 action. Both are tackdrivers.

Boddington has written that his recommendation for a two rifle battery (assuming both PG and DG is on the menu) is a .338 and a .416. Sound advice, in my opinion.

You can't go wrong with a .338 Winchester for Kudu, Gemsbok, Wildebeest, Zebra, Leopard and even Eland. For Lion I would prefer a .375 or .416 and it is not legal for buffalo.

I shoot my .338 WM at 600 yards and can hit the steel gong with a high degree of regularity. Not so much with the clay pigeons at that range but I usually come pretty close. Aiming system is a Burris Fullfiled II with Ballistic Plex reticle, as it is with most of the bolt rifles I shoot at that range. Turrets or dots might help as some interpolation is required and the wind is generally blowing pretty good, usually crosswise.

That said, I foolishly accepted a less than stable position for the first shot at my elk this year and nearly missed. At 265 yards I hit above the spine and poked a hole though one of the process bones that stick up above the spine. After shifting position I put two within 2� and both where aimed, making two holes in the hide and one larger hole in the rib cage.


Recoil on my fairly lightweight WM (22� fluted barrel on a Ruger MKII in a �boat paddle� stock) is about all I want. With a RUM I would definitely want a heavier rifle and/or brake to help tame the recoil. Don�t like carrying heavy rifles while elk hunting, though, and really don�t care for brakes although they do an awesome job of taming recoil.
what I buy. Just asking for information sake.