300 PRC or 338 Lapua for bigger animals?

[Pdvdh]

Recoil is still an "issue" with a brake; it's just lessened. A braked prc will kick less than a braked lapua.

And brakes don't give you a free lunch, even with hearing protection, it's noticeably and significantly louder shooting a braked magnum than a non braked, especially if you're not the shooter and are the spotter seated to the side of the shooter, where most of the sound gets directed from a brake. If you only hunt by yourself it's not as big of an issue, but my ears are my money makers, I work on pianos for a living. If my ears get damaged I'm out a lot of luck for a lot of my job.

All that doesn't stop me from wanting a lapua based gun, I'm slowly acquiring parts for a 300 terminator as we speak (with various home improvements delaying the process) but still it's something to think about for the people that recoil does matter for, and the biggest downside to lapua, even above recoil and noise; is weight. If you cut down on that then you amplify the recoil. Have to choose one or the other, for me, I chose adding recoil to save weight

My big game hunting is still 90% backpack hunting in Alaska mountains. Getting to the end of that road due to age and physical limitations that come with it. I've always built rifles weighing less than most guys seem to prefer for LRH. Due to the wear and tear of having to pack them from the beginning to the end of each hunt. I've never enjoyed hunts spent cussing my rifle's weight. Not even successful hunts. Done that once. Almost twice... So I suppose I prefer recoil and noise, to running out of energy and cussing an overly heavy rifle.

Lighter rifles are more difficult to shoot well. No doubt about it. Yet I've never shot a muzzle braked backpacking weight rifle with intimidating recoil. My 10 lb 338 Lapua AI recoils less harshly than my 280 AI rifles, which have no muzzle brakes.

Recoil tolerance is definitely shooter specific. Before a guy commits $4-7K for an outfitted custom rifle, sure be good to confirm the recoil of the selected cartridge/rifle is tolerable, and won't prevent putting bullets on target.

I currently own two 300 PRC Improved rifles, one 300 Win Mag, and two 338 LAI rifles. All rifles are muzzle braked. Recoil and muzzle blast play no role in which rifle I select for a hunt. Rifle weight does. Backpacking hunts hiking up and down mountains for goat, Dall sheep, or black bear, it's always the lighter weight rifles. The 30 cal magnums.

Milder hunts involving less extreme physical exertion, or hunts targeting AK brown bear and moose. Always gonna be one of the 338s.

 

[Marky_mark]

My big game hunting is still 90% backpack hunting in Alaska mountains. Getting to the end of that road due to age and physical limitations that come with it. I've always built rifles weighing less than most guys seem to prefer for LRH. Due to the wear and tear of having to pack them from the beginning to the end of each hunt. I've never enjoyed hunts spent cussing my rifles weight. Not even successful hunts. Done that once. Almost twice... So I suppose I prefer recoil and noise, to running out of energy and cussing an overly heavy rifle.

Lighter rifles are more difficult to shoot well. No doubt about it. Yet I've never shot a muzzle braked backpacking weight rifle with intimidating recoil. My 10 lb 338 Lapua AI recoils less harshly than my 280 AI rifles, which have no muzzle brakes.

Recoil tolerance is definitely shooter specific. Before a guy commits $4-7K for an outfitted custom rifle, sure be good to confirm the recoil of the selected cartridge/rifle is tolerable, and won't prevent putting bullets on target.

I currently own two 300 PRC Improved rifles, one 300 Win Mag, and two 338 LAI rifles. All rifles are muzzle braked. Recoil and muzzle blast play no role in which rifle I select for a hunt. Rifle weight does. Backpacking hunts hiking up and down mountains for goat, Dall sheep, or black bear, it's always the lighter weight rifles. The 30 cal magnums.

Milder hunts involving less extreme physical exertion, or hunts targeting AK brown bear and moose. Always gonna be one of the 338s.

100%
Your a fool if you dont use a muzzle brake on 99% of the rifles out there

 

[sp6x6]

After 35 years of mountain hunting, with a 340 WBY.I built my perfect mountain light weight 338NM.Id hunt anything with it

 

[FEENIX]

Trying to decide on my next hunting gun. This will be used for either larger buck deer, mule deer, elk, moose, grizzly. I was thinking of either the 338 Lapua with 250 grain bullets or the 300 PRC with 212-220 grain bullets.
Leaning towards a Savage Long Range Hunter. Both have 26" barrels.

I saw your concern about having longer COAL in your other post. The .338 LM needs near the 4" COAL range to take advantage of those long high BC bullets. This requirement is one of the reasons I am building a .338 NMI instead.

I have a 300 WBY, but it really can only handle bullets up to 190 grains for mag length. Thanks

My SAKO M995 in .300 WM propels the 190 Berger VLD at 3043 FPS with a COAL of 3.62," and the only reason I am not going heavier is that it has a 1:11" barrel twist. On the other hand, my .300 WSM propels the 215 Berger at 2850 FPS. Both are no slouch up to 1KY. Your .300 WBY should be able to push the 215s faster than my .300 WSM.