Which Caliber?

[hbnac]

I am new to this site and joined so I could get some opinions on what to build. I have a freind in Alaska that I go hunt with and we found a nice spot to hunt from. I am going to be hunting moose and will have shots up to 1000yrds.

What caliber do I use?
338 RUM
338 EDGE
338 Allen Mag (can I get a picture of this round)

Do you really trust the 300 sierra or is there another bullet to use?

Thanks for your help

 

[trebark]

IMHO any of those three calibers would work for you out to 1k on moose. In terms of bullet choice, I'll leave that to those who have more experience with bullet performance on such a big animal at that range.

 

[Long Time Long Ranger]

The 338 Allen is way to heavy to hunt with. Any of the others are fine. I have hunted Alaska for 30 years and mostly shot a 338-378 wby using various bullets. One year I took a 72" moose at 1100 yards with a 338 win mag. Another year some nice animals with a 300 ultramag and 150 grain SST's. 300 wby with 180 and 200 grain bullets. Any will take moose just fine but now always go with the 338 as minimum because of the bears.

 

[TheReeper]

If you reload, go with a 338 Lapua Improved with no turn match chamber set up for the Lapua brass. With a 28" barrel, you will get between 2950fps to 3000fps with a 300grn bullet depending on how much you push it. That's the good thing about the 338 Lapua, the brass can take the extra pressure. I am going to build my next hunting rifle around the 338 Lapua Improved. However, the 338 Edge is an awesome round too. You can't go wrong with the Edge. You may also want to look at the 7mm Allen Mag, Developed by Kirby Allen, now that would be an awesome cartridge. The 7mm Allen Mag is based off of the 338 Lapua Mag necked down to 7mm and than Improved. I believe it will shoot a 180grn bullet at around 3500fps to 3600fps and a 200grn bullet at around 3300fps to 3400fps. I would highly recommend talking to Kirby Allen (Fifty). I think this would be the ultimate 1000 to 1500 yard hunting rig for big game. I would have one built, but I already have the barrel for my 338 Lapua Improved project, plus about 500 peices of 338 Lapua brass, 300 250grn SMK's, about 1000 300grn SMK's, Reamer and dies, so I am pretty dead set on the 338 Lapua Improved or I would have done the 7mm Allen Mag.

 

[Derek M.]

If you want to build something....go with the edge. If you want to stick with factory stuff...338 RUM is the ticket.

I'd suggest you get in contact with Shawn Carlock and discuss differences b/w the two.

Good luck and please post pics if you kill something!

 

[Long Time Long Ranger]

Basically the 338 RUM, 338-300 RUM that some on here call edge, and the 340 wby are all so close there is not a lot of difference and either will do what you want in Alaska. In this performance range you can go with a factory rifle at much less cost and should be fine. If you want to step it up to the next level then get a wby accumark 338-378 wby and then you are at the top of the performance spectrum in a hunting weight rifle. It will easily outperform any of the ones mentioned here. The accumark is a very good rifle but you must way the extra cost when you can get a 338 RUM for much less. To me the accumark is well worth the extra cost both in velocity and overall performance when you consider an action that is the strongest for a big cartridge, great trigger, and is long enough to seat your bullets out a bit. Several other things make the accumark a lot more gun than the lesser priced ones. A custom is not neccesary unless you just want to go that route. I guarantee I could take Roy's factory 338RUM and be happy in Alaska or anywhere else with it.