338 for elk hunting- Build a lightweight rifle

[Elk Hunter 338]

Bakpakr,Mines a Defiance,Lonewolf summit stock,Saturn ABS wrap.March 3-24x52.In use ten years,8 3/4 loaded with safari sling, Seeking rail for Atlas.I use it for everything

regular 338 norma ??

 

[Rum Man]

I've got two ammo cans of higher end ammo for my .338 RUM, and former .338 Lapua. I sold the Lapua a while back due to the weight of the "tacti-cool" setup I had done....ya know, when I unbox the rounds and look at them side by side.....$2.00 for the RUM, and $5 or more for the Lapua....then I take stock of all the deer I've shot over the last 37 years....the farthest was at 330 yards, the average was about 100. In a bit of a quandary these days. Going to keep the .338 because it's a nice lightweight setup, but maybe I need to pay more attention to the less expensive in my quiver for antelope....like the 6.5 Grendel I spent a metric f-ton, on. Hmmmm, see, now you also have me thinking about the .338 Win Mag...dang you.

Lots of Love at my place for the 338 Ultra! But we are shooting out to 1200 yrds on game and past 2500 yards on steel !

Rum Man

 

[doghunter]

I bought an xbolt 338win several years ago had light weight elk rifle in mind. First one didn't shoot sent to browning, second shoots great. Nice light gun kicks pretty hard with a heavy loaded 225 gr., Light loaded some 180's for my son to shoot real pleasant to shoot. My theory is to build a good heavy load for long range elk load on the lead sled. When that shot comes in the field the recoil is not gonna matter much. I get tired of carrying an over under shotgun in the field pheasant hunting for a month let alone carrying a heavy rifle in the mountains. Best of luck.

 

[doghunter]

I bought an xbolt 338win several years ago had light weight elk rifle in mind. First one didn't shoot sent to browning, second shoots great. Nice light gun kicks pretty hard with a heavy loaded 225 gr., Light loaded some 180's for my son to shoot real pleasant to shoot. My theory is to build a good heavy load for long range elk load on the lead sled. When that shot comes in the field the recoil is not gonna matter much. I get tired of carrying an over under shotgun in the field pheasant hunting for a month let alone carrying a heavy rifle in the mountains. Best of luck.

Also caution heavy scopes. Some premium scopes add 2 pounds pretty easy.

 

[Redslug]

I bought an xbolt 338win several years ago had light weight elk rifle in mind. First one didn't shoot sent to browning, second shoots great. Nice light gun kicks pretty hard with a heavy loaded 225 gr., Light loaded some 180's for my son to shoot real pleasant to shoot. My theory is to build a good heavy load for long range elk load on the lead sled. When that shot comes in the field the recoil is not gonna matter much. I get tired of carrying an over under shotgun in the field pheasant hunting for a month let alone carrying a heavy rifle in the mountains. Best of luck.

Put a muzzle brake on it will solve everything

And yes it will be loud

Try and get a t4 Terminator

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Unfortunately I did not find this thread until it was 12 pages in, so at the risk or repeating what others have said and this post being somewhat pointless, I will give my input and some thoughts on some of the very intelligent people here, including Alex Wheelers accurate assessment on .338 rifle weight.

I built my .338 Norma mag to be light, scoped with March 2.5-25x52, loaded with 3 rounds, with 10" area 419 arca rail attached ready to hunt is 9.6 lbs. Now to touch on some points for the o.p.....

Anyone saying that a largeish .338 in this weight range will have ridiculous, unmanageable recoil, or will be unable to spot shots, is likely in one of these categories-

1. Thinking of an unbraked rifle (would have heavy, likely painful recoil)

2. Thinking of a supressed rifle (would be all but impossible to spot shots, but would almost certainly be more than 9.5 lbs with can)

3. Is using a muzzle brake that is not doing the best possible job (would make it hard to see impacts, and if inefficient enough, like a radial brake, may still be painful to shoot)

4. Has a stock that is not very conducive to staying on target (I find standard sporter stocks harder to see impacts with vs high cheek weld vertices grip stocks)

4. Has no actual hands on experience and is just taking (hopefully educated) guesses.

A rifle with these build parameters needs to have significant thought put into it if you want an effective long range rig that you can spot your own impacts with. First off, the most effective brake possible needs to be installed, there are only a couple I would consider. I put a 5 port MBM Beast brake on my rifle, and from field positions this hunting season I was able to watch the bullet impact on every animal taken, my deer at 560 yards and my elk at 887 yards, and my 5'4" wife was able to see her bullet hit on a pronghorn at 330 yards. I was on my pronghorn I shot at 200 yards right at or barely after impact, I did not have to search for it, and I saw the reaction to the shot as well as dirt kick up behind it. These were all on 20x or higher as well.

Second, the stock needs to be well fitted to the shooter. This is going to be different for every shooter, but a good consistent cheek weld is important, and I prefer a vertical grip. On my rifle, I use a Manners EH-1.

Next, we have to address the issue that Mr. Alex Wheeler stated, about inconsistencies with big bullets, lots of powder and light guns. If you just want a consistent 1-1.5MOA rifle at range, this is doable as is, but if we build a long range .338, we are likely looking for better than that. And I'm not talking about from a bench or consistent shooting platform, you will likely do better than that, I'm talking about one shot laying prone in a grass field, and the next laying pointing down 30° in an awkward position resting on rocks. I want my rifle to do what I tell it no matter where I'm at. You can't replace having good shooter form, however if a rifle is put together correctly, you can make it more forgiving.

You simply can't get away from the point Alex made, but you can work around it. Most of us that would build a rifle like this are hunting back country, and spend a good amount of time behind binos or a spotter on a tripod. So, what I did was put an arca rail on the bottom of my rifle and ditched the bipod or "rest on your pack" method. I have my tripod with me anyway, so I use it. I mount my 9.6 lb rifle in my 3.2 lb tripod with arca head, and suddenly my 9.6 lb rifle has an effective weight of nearly 13 lbs, making it much more forgiving. It also gives it 4 points of contact to the ground, making it very steady, and also has a heavy drag weight, meaning that a rifle with 13 lbs of effective weight in a bipod vs my 13 lb of effective weight in a tripod, my rifle takes much more effort to slide along the ground than one in a bipod, and also tends to bounce less and slide more. This could be the angle of the legs as well, but whatever it is, I really think this helps with consistency.

Another thing I unintentionally did was instead of using the 300 grain Bergers (which I started with) is I used the 270 grain badlands mono bullets. The bc is nearly a match to the 300's, .403 G7, however they are almost 200 fps faster in my gun, and have less recoil. And with their release of the super bulldozer 2, the new 250 grain has a higher bc than the old 270 and very close to the 300 berger, G7 of .410, I will be switching to that for even less recoil with no loss in ballistics. So, bullet choice can play a roll as well. However, with my current set up, even with 300 Bergers I think I would be good.

Those are my observations from field use of a light big bore. Hope it's helpful!View attachment 244903View attachment 244904View attachment 244905

You make a pretty good point. I have never shot from a tripod like that. I could see that making quite a difference. I also agree on the Muzzle Brakes n More beast brake. You cant beat it for recoil reduction. Its between those and the terminators, nothing else I have tried is that good. Some are quite poor and have to be twice the size to equal those 2 brakes to spot hits.

 

[codyadams]

You make a pretty good point. I have never shot from a tripod like that. I could see that making quite a difference. I also agree on the Muzzle Brakes n More beast brake. You cant beat it for recoil reduction. Its between those and the terminators, nothing else I have tried is that good. Some are quite poor and have to be twice the size to equal those 2 brakes to spot hits.

I have put together two .338 Norma's, mine and my good friends, and while mine has a MBM Beast 5 port, his sports a Terminator T3 ha ha. His rifle is 12 lbs with the heavy Maven RS.4, nearly 13 with a bipod, which is what he runs for now. This year, he used it to take his cow elk at 1002 yards with a 300 Berger going 2835 out of his 28" barrel, that gun flat shoots ha ha.

 

[lejuch]

My 338 lapua ai is 10 pounds w/nightforce and bipod.

300 gr. Berger's @ 3000 FPS.

Kelbly atlas action
McMillan game warden
Proof barrel
NXS w/NF ultralight's
Hawkins oberndorf BDL

STRAIGHT HAMMERS game!

Sweet setup!

 

[Bret GRAVELINE Graveline]

Something not talked about a lot these days is certain stocks absorb a lot of the felt recoil, stocks like brown precision six interpises and a few others while one cannot feel the butt of the stock flex it actually gives a little acting like a 14 recoil reducer, just my opinion but a 8lb rifle with the right stock is more pleasant to shoot than a 10lb rifle with a wood or rigid synthetic stocked rifle, coupled with a good muzzle break I think you will find recoil comparable to that of a traditional set up for a 338 Winchester, 20 plus years ago when 338 Lapua brass became available I Ackley Improved the lapua case and built A rifle around a ruger tang safety M77, fitted with a 26 inch sportter weight barrel with muzzle break cut into the barrel and fitted with a Leopold 4.5x14 3 rounds of ammo plus sling rifle weighs in at a even 8 lbs, shooting Barnes 225 gr x bullets muzzle velocity is 3340 fps, the rifle clover leafs a multitude of bullets but I'm fond of the barnes, at 8lbs this rifle is one of my heaviest along with a 8 lb 416 built on a mauser

 

[Elk Hunter 338]

You make a pretty good point. I have never shot from a tripod like that. I could see that making quite a difference. I also agree on the Muzzle Brakes n More beast brake. You cant beat it for recoil reduction. Its between those and the terminators, nothing else I have tried is that good. Some are quite poor and have to be twice the size to equal those 2 brakes to spot hits.

@Alexwheeler you should give the Ti pro and SRS brakes a try .. my new favorites

 

[sp6x6]

Some days I cant figure what Norma to take out

 

[RH300UM]

Some days I cant figure what Norma to take out

Me too
But the 338 gets the preference most of the time

 

[sp6x6]

Man I have to expand my Norma horizons

 

[Rum Man]

View attachment 321276View attachment 321275
Me too
But the 338 gets the preference most of the time

I'm definitely going to expand my Rum's !

Rum Man