As a die hard elk hunter,I gave up my 7mm , 20 years ago.For a 340 wby.You say 800,then it turns out farther.Then you have a wounded elk.They dont do the job like a 338 PERIOD.
A elk is not going to be more dead with a 338 or a 7, the 7 just runs out of energy way faster than a 338. If you hit him good at 800 with either he will die(a 300 gr 338 might knock him down and the 7 will probably have to bleed out).
Because my 338 is packing way more energy,and it does to a much farther range.And your shots are not always perfect,no matter who you are.You will notice on here that a majority of serious LR elk hunters use a larger caliber.My elk rifle has 1200 #s @ 1700 yrds.Like I said I shot a 7mm for years,no comparison.I have been at 100's of elk kills,most of my hunting friends have taken 30-50 elk and use a 338 type or ultra.Why would the elk be wounded with the 7mm but not the .338? Just curious.
Do you have a large 338.And if you do do you have extensive experiance with it to base your opinion on?I'm thinking that if a 180gr VLD, a bullet known for fragmentation, hits the ribs at 2030fps at 800 yards, it's gonna shred that animal's lungs. If an animal's lungs and heart look like they lost a knife fight with Freddy Kruger, then that animal is going to die pronto, regardless of the diameter of the bullet that did the damage.
Another variable- what if the 7mm bullet breaks a shoulder on its way to the vitals, while the .338 bullet goes in behind the shoulder and hits nothing but ribs and lungs? I'd say the 7mm is more likely to drop the animal on the spot, in that case.
There are just too many variables to say that the .338 will always have a more pronounced effect. I'm not saying that the .338 can't be more dramatic in how game reacts to the shot, but to say that it is always superior to the 7mm is inaccurate, IME. Is the .338 a bigger gun? Yes. Is the increase in size always directly translated into effectiveness on game? Not always. Again, this is according to my experience. Others' may differ. Impact velocity and bullet integrity/construction are larger determinates in effectiveness on game, than is a slightly larger bullet, assuming that the bullet is large enough to damage a sufficient amount of vital tissue in the wound channel to cause rapid death. A .223 or .243 on elk might be questionable, in this regard, but a 7mm bullet is plenty for elk-sized game, as long as it hits vital tissue and expands properly.
The 195gr Berger EOL with a 0.796 BC should make the 7mm that much better as a LR game getter. Even pushing that bullet at 2850-2900fps from a 7WSM or 7RM would offer a heck of a lot of performance, considering how little it costs in terms of powder consumption, recoil, muzzle blast, etc. And if we're talking about a LW mountain rifle that is elk-capable, those factors mean a lot to me.