Are the .338s becoming pointless?

[Pdvdh]

338's look kinda pointy to me !

Now lets see a 7mm bullet with a 1.01 g1 bc, please .....

Gonna have to buy a tighter twist barrel for my 338 Rogue.

 

[Calvin45]

bdyal: I with you on this but there will always be those that cannot accept the 338 from "perceived" recoil even with a 12# rifle and muzzle brake. Most will not carry a rifle that heavy but I do and actually prefer the weight. Heck, I even like to shoot 1 1/4 oz slugs that I reload off bench just for fun of it. They step out at 1475 fps and the recoil from them makes the 338 "pleasant" . As far as I am concerned big bore with big bullets will always have a place, you just cannot replicate the impact of a big heavy bullet at velocity. What ever you hit with them knows it got hit!

I have a similar borderline masochistic relationship with guns. Its a powerful weapon...Kinda makes you smile to feel the deeper frequency kaboom in your chest that the smaller cartridges don't provide as gratifyingly and feel it hit you like it's something to take seriously . Inspires confidence even if it doesn't do anything you couldnt do with something more "user friendly". Also I get what you're saying about slugs. My dad has an old single shot 12 gauge, maybe six pounds if that, steel buttplate. No centerfire rifle I've touched off has been nearly as punishing and straight up painful as that thing with slugs. I'm 28 and could lose a few pounds now but it's vividly in my mind the first time I fired that gun, 12 years old and gangly as I'd ever be. Scrambled my brain real good and remember feeling confused by how all at once I was disoriented and in a lot of pain and high on the adrenaline of it, thinking "that hurt! that was awesome! I'm doing it again!"

 

[Calvin45]

338's look kinda pointy to me !

Now lets see a 7mm bullet with a 1.01 g1 bc, please .....

View attachment 212837

That looks like fun.
Not being contentious... actually want to know just for exterior ballistics anyways...how fast can those cases drive that bullet. I know from an exterior ballistics perspective the big 30s have to burn a lot more powder to match the 7mms trajectory wise. And i still chose my 300 win over the 7s as I just really wanted over 200 grain ability and I already have a 270 so the 7mms while different weren't so different to me as to make sense in a new rifle purchase. Higher bc isn't the last word if the velocity is far enough behind and the bc isn't a whole other world away. The 180 eld m has a .79 bc. Not 1.01 but if the .338s are hundreds of feet per second behind that's still some serious catching up to do when both options are high bc.

 

[Ernie]

Calvin45,
Glad to hear you are in the ministry.
Hang in there! Keep your family a priority even above school and ministry...Okay, I will get off the pulpit. I have killed a number of elk in the 550 yard range and below with the performance equivalent of a 7mm-08 with 140 Partitions. I prefer 7mm on up for elk, but my kids and I have killed elk with 6.5's as well. Shot placement trumps everything, followed by bullet performance, with enough impact velocity for the bullet to work within its design.

 

[bdyal1972]

I have a similar borderline masochistic relationship with guns. Its a powerful weapon...Kinda makes you smile to feel the deeper frequency kaboom in your chest that the smaller cartridges don't provide as gratifyingly and feel it hit you like it's something to take seriously . Inspires confidence even if it doesn't do anything you couldnt do with something more "user friendly". Also I get what you're saying about slugs. My dad has an old single shot 12 gauge, maybe six pounds if that, steel buttplate. No centerfire rifle I've touched off has been nearly as punishing and straight up painful as that thing with slugs. I'm 28 and could lose a few pounds now but it's vividly in my mind the first time I fired that gun, 12 years old and gangly as I'd ever be. Scrambled my brain real good and remember feeling confused by how all at once I was disoriented and in a lot of pain and high on the adrenaline of it, thinking "that hurt! that was awesome! I'm doing it again!"

Not sure which of these causes more "drain bamage" ALL OF THEM CAUSE "TIKS"

6# 300 RUM

7# RUGER #1 45/70 WITH 400GRAIN @2400

5# 3.5" 12GAUGE SHOOTING 11/4 OUNCE SLUGS.....

ALL MAKE THE LAST 458 LOTT I SHOT SEEM "PLEASANT"




LOL





SOMEDAY I WILL BLAME ONE OF THESE FOR A DETACHED RETINA

 

[bdyal1972]

bdyal: I with you on this but there will always be those that cannot accept the 338 from "perceived" recoil even with a 12# rifle and muzzle brake. Most will not carry a rifle that heavy but I do and actually prefer the weight. Heck, I even like to shoot 1 1/4 oz slugs that I reload off bench just for fun of it. They step out at 1475 fps and the recoil from them makes the 338 "pleasant" . As far as I am concerned big bore with big bullets will always have a place, you just cannot replicate the impact of a big heavy bullet at velocity. What ever you hit with them knows it got hit!

I love the way you think

 

[6.5x300 WBY]

While I LOVE LOVE LOVE ANY AND ALL 7MM'S over everything I do feel the 338's are in the argument of the Best all around game getter that one can have if limited to 1 rifle for everything.
I had a 338 WM years ago in a ruger m77. And handloaded a 200 gr. HORNADY SP to around 3k. And went to PA and took my first deer ever in my life. So a 338 has a special place for me but as stupid does, I sold it off for now i cant remember.

338's won't ever be pointless as they are way too good at stopping critters that need to be stopped like right now. I probably won't ever own one again as I am a deer hunter and just don't need that for any whitetail I'll ever encounter.
As good as the 338's are all i have to say is long live the 7mm's.

 

[D.Camilleri]

As a kid I grew up watching my dad crumple deer with his 338 win mag loaded with 210 gr nosler partitions, the old ones, machined, not drawn. The stories around the table were of dad's biggest mule deer shot in Idaho in 1958, hit behind the shoulder with a 180 gr bullet from a 30-06. The deer kicked a leg and ran off. A day and a half later my dad found his deer while helping my uncle finish off a cripple with his pistol. A short time later, my dads older brother told dad that there was a new caliber out, the 338 win mag. My dad promptly bought one and never looked back. Shortly after dad bought his 338, my uncle had his pre 64 model 70 rechambered to 30-338. Both of these guns accounted for many, many big game kills. In the mid 70's the 7mm mag got popular and my uncles and my dad all bought 7mm's to try. When I started hunting I got a 30-06 on my 12th birthday and it served me well until I was 18 when I bought a 7mm mag. Loaded with a stout powder charge I was pushing 160 gr nosler partitions at 3150 and it was a step up from my old 06. Move forward a number of years and I spotted a large black bear at a guessed 600 yards away. I took a rest and sent the 160 gr partition and the bear bit at it's right shoulder and tumbled for 200 yards down a steep sidehill. I searched for that bear for 3 days never finding a drop of blood. I know the shot was good, but there was no blood trail.
Later that year I purchased a 338 win mag that I used up until 2001 when remington introduced the 338 RUM. I had to have one, so with little to no funds available, I traded my savage 30-06 and my remington 7mm mag along with a ruger super black hawk 44 mag and walked out of Scheels in Billings, Montana with my first 338 RUM. My load development peaked with a Barnes 210 gr XLC coming out of the barrel at a whopping 3400 fps, holy smokes, this gun was a game changer, everything crumpled at the shot. When I figured out how much I liked the rum, I had lost interest in the 338 win, so I had a gunsmith turn the 338 win into a 300 rum with an affordable stainless take off barrel. Now I had two RUMS and life was good. The 300 RUM was a great gun, but most of the time I reached for the 338. After I shot the barrel out on my 300 RUM two years ago, I had another 338 RUM barrel put on the action, because I like the cartridge so much, two is better than one. So now I have one 338 RUM set up to shoot 300 gr and 285 bullets for extra long range and the other is set up shooting 225 Accubonds driven at 3200 fps. I recently got another 300 RUM and I am getting it dialed in. In a week, I leave for a high country Western Wyoming mule deer hunt and I can't decide which gun to bring. It will probably be one of the 338 RUM's because they just work and in Griz country knowing I have fight stopper is a mental plus. Several years ago I watched a hunter harvest a very big muley and after 5 hits from a 6.5 CM the deer was down. Not my style, I will keep my 338's

 

[Swamplord]

I've had to step in a number of times with a 338 to stop a well hit moose with a 7mm from vanishing into the thick bogs in Alaska, after many previous search missions I no longer allow 7mm's or anything less in my moose camp... only one person gets away with it but I smash his animal down right after his shot, makes for quick and easy .... pull up on a 4-wheeler and load up job instead of MIA search for days, never again .....

 

[Sanford338]

As a kid I grew up watching my dad crumple deer with his 338 win mag loaded with 210 gr nosler partitions, the old ones, machined, not drawn. The stories around the table were of dad's biggest mule deer shot in Idaho in 1958, hit behind the shoulder with a 180 gr bullet from a 30-06. The deer kicked a leg and ran off. A day and a half later my dad found his deer while helping my uncle finish off a cripple with his pistol. A short time later, my dads older brother told dad that there was a new caliber out, the 338 win mag. My dad promptly bought one and never looked back. Shortly after dad bought his 338, my uncle had his pre 64 model 70 rechambered to 30-338. Both of these guns accounted for many, many big game kills. In the mid 70's the 7mm mag got popular and my uncles and my dad all bought 7mm's to try. When I started hunting I got a 30-06 on my 12th birthday and it served me well until I was 18 when I bought a 7mm mag. Loaded with a stout powder charge I was pushing 160 gr nosler partitions at 3150 and it was a step up from my old 06. Move forward a number of years and I spotted a large black bear at a guessed 600 yards away. I took a rest and sent the 160 gr partition and the bear bit at it's right shoulder and tumbled for 200 yards down a steep sidehill. I searched for that bear for 3 days never finding a drop of blood. I know the shot was good, but there was no blood trail.
Later that year I purchased a 338 win mag that I used up until 2001 when remington introduced the 338 RUM. I had to have one, so with little to no funds available, I traded my savage 30-06 and my remington 7mm mag along with a ruger super black hawk 44 mag and walked out of Scheels in Billings, Montana with my first 338 RUM. My load development peaked with a Barnes 210 gr XLC coming out of the barrel at a whopping 3400 fps, holy smokes, this gun was a game changer, everything crumpled at the shot. When I figured out how much I liked the rum, I had lost interest in the 338 win, so I had a gunsmith turn the 338 win into a 300 rum with an affordable stainless take off barrel. Now I had two RUMS and life was good. The 300 RUM was a great gun, but most of the time I reached for the 338. After I shot the barrel out on my 300 RUM two years ago, I had another 338 RUM barrel put on the action, because I like the cartridge so much, two is better than one. So now I have one 338 RUM set up to shoot 300 gr and 285 bullets for extra long range and the other is set up shooting 225 Accubonds driven at 3200 fps. I recently got another 300 RUM and I am getting it dialed in. In a week, I leave for a high country Western Wyoming mule deer hunt and I can't decide which gun to bring. It will probably be one of the 338 RUM's because they just work and in Griz country knowing I have fight stopper is a mental plus. Several years ago I watched a hunter harvest a very big muley and after 5 hits from a 6.5 CM the deer was down. Not my style, I will keep my 338's

Well said... love my 338 RUM

 

[nikonNUT]

Love my .338LM so not pointless to me. Is it the best? Don't know but I like the oomph that that 300gr bullet offers!

 

[zb338]

People will learn over time that big bullets moving fast will kill better than little light
bullets moving fast.

Z

 

[RH300UM]

Not looking to offend or claim they're not effective, BUT...it used to be that the .338 lapua was regarded as in a league apart compared to .300 and 7mms because of the bcs on the 338 bullets. Now this is definitely a thing of the past, with high .7 and even .8 range g1 bc 7mm and .308" bullets that can be driven faster all things equal For true extreme range the big .375s are dominant. For tactical purposes all of the above are way more than adequate antipersonell rounds, body armour or not. None of the above are truly suitable anti material caliber. The way it seems now is that the .33s don't have an advantage over the 7 and 30 trajectory wise and can't match the 375s out of similar size rifles. Nothing wrong with .338 cartridges but not a whole lot I see that would make me choose one with things as they are now. Show me if I'm wrong!

it takes more then BC to kill
Long range or short range
Your post eludes to military uses and not hunting uses. I have used and seen elk killed with 243 with 105's to 375's with 300's
Did all of them kill? Yes
Did some kill better? Yes
Was every shot a perfect shot? No
Do you always get the perfect shot in hunts? No
Show you, as you state, to change your veiw?
Get a high powered .338 setup to hunt take it out for 3-4 seasons on elk at long range.
Then come back and tell us what you experienced.
Ballistic apps and internet hype are just a type of fodder that fills the forums and the posts.
Physics are always a constant. I've tried so many ways to cheat this but as stated earlier
And I believe it .....,
Nothing replaces horsepower and cubic inches!

Edit: I'll add as a side note that I guide in Alaska and I've seen a lot of different things with people, abilities, situations and scenarios. Because hunting is a very dynamic and interesting input changing variable horsepower and cubic inches matter!

 

[Pdvdh]

I've had to step in a number of times with a 338 to stop a well hit moose with a 7mm from vanishing into the thick bogs in Alaska, after many previous search missions I no longer allow 7mm's or anything less in my moose camp... only one person gets away with it but I smash his animal down right after his shot, makes for quick and easy .... pull up on a 4-wheeler and load up job instead of MIA search for days, never again .....

Been there - done that. Except I finished with a 375 Weatherby.