.338 WinMag

[Mike Matteson]

With elk I have seen several brought down by 338. If wounded they seem to leave a better blood trail. Smaller rifle calibers don't open up as big a wound channel. Just enough bigger to do the job for whatever reason. The elks hair seem to plug up the hole and cut down on the blood trail. Not my elk, but others I have track all day only to loose them in the fall leaves in late afternoon or early evening. I hate losing animals even if they are not mine to start with. I try to make sure that I have a good shot and rested. I hate standing shots,and have seen more misses than hits by others. So the 338 Win Mag has become my go to rifle for big game. I am having another 338 being built with a 26" barrel and a brake. It will be interesting to see what I can get in velocity out of it. I getting 3230 out of my 338 presently, and almost the same hole at 100 yds. I like 26" barrel and hoping to get that velocity but with H4350 powder. My late friend and I couldn't get to what we could with 760 powder in his 24" barrel, weather effects the 760 more that the H4350.
SSS
Mike

 

[memtb]

Mike.....What bullet weight are you using to get 3230 FPS? memtb

 

[pig ranch deadeye]

I recently purchased a Ruger Guide Gun in .338 winmag.
I have always hunted deer with either my 7.62 or my 30-06 an ocasionally with my old .300wsm. I always used 180 gr in my 30-06/300 wsm for whitetails, as I found less meat damage than a lesser grain bullet. Of course bullet placement is everything.
My question is this, would my .388 win mag be way to much caliber for Whitetails? Im just curious on whether I should try it out at longer shots. I have used a .300 wsm 180gr bullet in the past and it was fine, but I no longer have that 300wsm. If I do use the new .338 what bullet would you recommend for deer. Most of my shots are anywhere from 50 to 200 yards.
Thank you
Jaime

The 200 grain Speer spitzer works great. Does not blow up, and makes a moderate wound channel. It penetrates great.

 

[Mike Matteson]

Mike.....What bullet weight are you using to get 3230 FPS? memtb

I using 200 gr Accubond Noslers, with Winchester 760 powder, Fed 210. in a Winchester case. The powder load is over 70 gr. The primers are flatten, but not creator. You will need to work up from there. There isn't any reloading data on 760 powder in most of the manual I have looked at for 338 W. Mag. I would chronograph as you shoot the rounds to see what you are achieving. I have two rifles that came up with the same thing on max load.
Several years back I was loading for a 308 Norma Mag. Using a 300 win. Mag neck sizing die. the necks on a 300 win is short than the 308 N Mag. I was turning all my necks on my cases, after first firing. Then sizing the case after that with 300 W. Mag neck sizing die. It only size about half the case neck leaving the balance at chamber size fire formed. It didn't hurt my accuracies and felt like it improved it. I was already at about .75" at 100 yards. Back then I would up loads at .1 of a gr. more than what the manuals called out for. Loaded 5 rounds per powder load weight to shot. It took one hell of a lot of time to get to 75.5 gr. in that load. You can move up about .1/2 a grs. per round, on a 70 gr case.
Stay save.
SSS
Mike

 

[memtb]

Thanks Mike, I was just curious what type and weight bullet you were using, that bullet is flat "smoke'n"! We're getting 2950 FPS with a 225 TTSX in the wife's rifle........and I thought that was gitt'n down the road in a hurry. We'll likely stay with the 225's for her, as we use one bullet for everything! For someone looking for a deer or antelope bullet.....that should be the "ticket"! memtb

 

[montana west]

The 338 win is good for all game in North America and for whitetail the speer 200 gr is the very best and for an afirican lion the same load .. a soft fast expanding bullet.

 

[Mike Matteson]

The best Bill ( may late friend) got with 225 gr was 2830 FPS. Yours is smoking too. I generally stay with one round in a rifle and that it's. Once I have the group and velocity I am looking for I stay with it. Thing are changing that for sure. Long Range Shooting sure has come on. It's been very interesting reading about whats going on. The faster twist rates, and the heaver bullets. Take care.

Mike

 

[Mike Matteson]

The 338 win is good for all game in North America and for whitetail the speer 200 gr is the very best and for an afirican lion the same load .. a soft fast expanding bullet.

I used my 338 in Africa, but not for the big 5.

 

[montana west]

Mlke I can agree with you , however I believe elanor kill a huge tiger with the 06 anyway the one you feel best with will do the job.. but you do need a soft bullet for the lion many hunters paid the price for to hard bullet in the big soft skin cats.

 

[montana west]

well I guess it is just the face that lead bullets open up better and they leave a better blood trail. If

you are using the right bullet for sure and the 338 with the serria gameking 215 will hume also and the bullet will perform very well.

Mike I shoot a 338/06AI and could not get veolcity with 760-414 so I went to reloader 15 wham-O. However in your magnum case you need to go up to a slower burner and I feel h-4350 wil be the go to. you also need a 215 primer with the 338. another go gitter may be Reloader 19.

 

[Mike Matteson]

I love H 4350SC, but for ever reason the 760 worked out the best for this rifle. We did load H4350 with a 210 gr barns, Fed 210 Velocity was 3050 FPS. We built loads from 175 grs to 250 grs rounds. With Mag primers and Non-Mag primers. The pet load for this rifle is the 200 Gr. with 760, and 210 primes. When I get the new rifle I will be trying H4350 powder in it. This time the barrel will be 26".

I leaned a long time ago about temper change as we got into summer time. I was used to use IMR 4350 and IMR 4831. I was running some hot loads to start with, but the summer heat brought the pressure up to over pressure. Got to doing some reading on H4350 and changed. Gave away my IMR powders.
Thanks for the info, and I will keep it in mind.
SSS
Mike

 

[JoeB1987]

I have a Kleinguenther 338 Win Mag I had built as an Elk gun that shoots so good I use it for everything including whitetails. Dead is dead.

Any interest in selling it?

 

[Wyowind]

JoeB -

You do realize that post from swe123 is nearly four years ago?

 

[FireFlyFishing]

I recently purchased a Ruger Guide Gun in .338 winmag.
I have always hunted deer with either my 7.62 or my 30-06 an ocasionally with my old .300wsm. I always used 180 gr in my 30-06/300 wsm for whitetails, as I found less meat damage than a lesser grain bullet. Of course bullet placement is everything.
My question is this, would my .388 win mag be way to much caliber for Whitetails? Im just curious on whether I should try it out at longer shots. I have used a .300 wsm 180gr bullet in the past and it was fine, but I no longer have that 300wsm. If I do use the new .338 what bullet would you recommend for deer. Most of my shots are anywhere from 50 to 200 yards.
Thank you
Jaime

If I owned a 458 Lott I would shoot it at a whitetail…