Oppinions on .338 Win Mag?

[bigngreen]

A car will stop of a steel jacketed 7.62 goes through the block.

An elephant probably won't stop until after something bad has happened to the shooter, guides, PH, trackers and sherpas. It's not about penetration alone....

On and yes, poachers have probably taken more elephants with 7x57 with than we would like to know about. 10,20,30 or more shots and it will eventually go down.

lightbulb

We all know the stories of W.D.M Bell, 1011 career elephants 800 with a 7x57 with 173gr bullets at 2400 fps some with a 6.5 and some with a .318 which hucked similar weight bullets as the 338 Win only 200fps slower. Bell specialized in shot placement over displacement.
At any rate NONE of this has any bearing on the use of a 338 Win in North America!!

 

[Pdvdh]

Re: Opinions on .338 Win Mag?

At any rate NONE of this has any bearing on the use of a 338 Win in North America!!

Exactly! I've never shot at an elephant since moving to Alaska in the mid-1970s.

And neither was the OP wasn't looking for an elephant cartridge:

Hey guys and gals. I just took on to trade a .338 Win Mag. In my mind it will be my anything in NA rifle as well as target practice. Thanks.

 

[Heetor]

I have shot this caliber for Bear and Moose in Canada for 15 years, it is my favorite caliber for out to 400 yards on heavy game. I used to shoot the 225 grain Barnes with it and have taken a handful of moose and bears over the years, none went too far, which can be important with these big critters.

I went down to the 185 grain Barnes to improve the velocity and can throw them at a little over 3000 fps, a lot of shots up there are under 100 yards in the bush so the low BC of the Barnes 185 grain is not an issue. Took a black bear with it 2 years ago at a little under 400 yards and he only went 30 yards.

Took this moose with this load 2 weeks ago, he dropped on the spot, my bull from last year only went 30 yards and piled up. Great caliber for larger big game out to medium ranges, does have a little recoil though.

With the lower BC's, (width of the bullet to weight ratio), not sure how much of a long range rig you could make out of this caliber. Berger does have a high BC 300 grain bullet, but probably too long/heavy for the Win Mag to shoot well. But a great short to medium range hunting caliber.

 

[WildRose]

WildRose,

Are you telling me that a .338 Win Mag with a solid will not shoot through-and-through the thorax of an elephant? Is that what you're telling me?

It ain't outfitters that prevent hunters from using minimum cartridges. It countries' laws. Last I heard, some countries have raised minimum caliber to .40, which leaves out the venerated .375 H&H.

BTW, a steel jacked 7.62 will shoot through-and-through the front end of a car, and that includes its engine block, and penetrate a cop's ballistic vest. A steel jacketed 7.62 would probably shoot through-and-through an elephant's thorax.

How many elephants would you suppose have been killed by the 7x57 and other similar cartridges?

You have reached the point at which I'm just going to say it, you haven't got the first clue what you are talking about here.

No it will not shoot through an Elephant. There are two shots to take at an elephant, the straight frontal head shot between the eyes and the side shot behind the ear.

You do not shoot for the heart/lungs of an elephant because you cannot get there with a bullet large enough to to kill them, they will run for miles before expiring after he has stomped you and your entire group to death.

The caliber limitations in some countries are by law and those laws exist for a reason, the reason is to greatly reduce the number of dead hunters and wasted game.

A steel jacket on a bullet would shred your barrel with only a handful of shots and no it would not pass through a car's engine block unless you managed to somehow miss every piece of steel in an aluminum blocked engine.

Even if you had a round big enough to do adequate damage passing through the heart/lungs you have between 3-4' that's feet, not inches of muscle and bone to get through before a bullet could exit.

You are so far out of your league here it's embarrassing so just stop.

 

[FEENIX]

lightbulbMoving right along and getting back on track ............................................................lightbulb

To the OP,

I have both the .300 Win Mag and .338 Win Mag

The .338 Win Mag is no slouch and is a very good chambering for it's intended purpose. It is still formidable but not considered an LR by most LRH members/practitioners but it is for most non-LR hunters/shooters.

Having said that, the .300 Win Mag is my go to chambering for elk size game and LRH.

Good luck!

 

[Timber338]

Also, would i be better off cost wise going with somthing like the 300 mag vs the 338? Or would it be pretty comparable?

A 338 win mag configured as a sporter weight hunting rifle would not be my choice to use as a target rifle, but I would also say the same thing about a 300 win mag. Based on cost they are the same.

For hunting I think the 338 win mag is an excellent cartridge. I love the 210 TTSX and the 225 TTSX and Accubond. Most people can manage this cartridge without a brake in a pack-weight rifle, and you can hunt anywhere in NA and you would never feel like you needed more gun. I personally think the 338 win mag is nearly the perfect elk cartridge.

Although like others have said, it does lack the velocity to be a true long range cartridge. But keep in mind what guys are doing to the super/ultra 338's to turn them into long range setups... extra long barrels, custom throats, 12-16 pounds. So much depends on how you plan on using the rifle and your style of hunting. If true long range is ever in the future then the 300 win mag would be a better choice of the two, at least in my opinion.

 

[sp6x6]

My generation in MT saw many a 338 at elk camp and many still use them. A few pushed them out there a bit,they had good energy. I had a teacher that favored one he took about 30 elk with his and he had a few other calibers he liked.I never had one I jumped from the 7 RM to the 340 Wby some 25 years ago. I saw friends get good accuracy, the ones that worked at it.