Are the .338s becoming pointless?

[Pdvdh]

Not my experiences with big bears but each had their own experiences. The big brownies have another level of tenacity unmatched by any hooved animal I've encountered. All thing being equal!

I've seen it both ways with brown bear, and it can be dumbfounding.

A bear that's sleeping, relaxed, and unaware of your presence? They will sometimes flop like a deflated balloon, provided the first bullet hit has substantial energy release and is well placed in the chest cavity.
A bear that's high strung, scared, mad (as in sow with itty bitty cubs, or a bear on a meat cache), or been wounded with a marginal shot(s)..., they can take a merciless pounding and keep on going (or coming).

Other brown bear hunters tell me they've also observed this when hunting and shooting brown bear. I think it boils down to adrenalin. After their adrenalin starts pumping, they're much tougher to stop. Their tenacity for life goes up proportional to their adrenalin concentration, IMO.

 

[PBR driver]

Look at the SD numbers more than BC.
I do not care how flat they fly if when the bullet gets there it can not penetrate.
The .338's have good SD's.
I do not own a .338 but am thinking of building a .338-06 A Square, I do not need a magnum .338, there is nothing where I live that I can not kill cleanly with a .338 non magnum.
If going to Alaska or Africa then maybe a .338 magnum of some type.
To get back to the question It seems the smaller cartridges are easier to manage and kill very well but there will always be a place for the .338 Winchester Magnum and the .340 Weatherby.

 

[Ol' Red]

Next thing you know the 45 will be replaced by 9mm (I say bigger is better) its the sock wave they just can't overcome

The military has replaced the 45 with a 9mm, as have the police departments. I think that's why we hear about how many times the criminal was shot. You are right about the sock wave also. 5 days on the tundra wearing hip waders and I finally found my clean socks. Nobody in the tent could take the sock wave

 

[VLD Pilot]

This was last night, with my 300 RUM I can plug em under my treestand and at the farthest end of the swamp at around 550 yards, and I've done both over the years , and I've got a spot close by this one where you can shoot out to a mile if you wanted to

doubt the 45-70 or 30-30 would be of any use here, I would never set myself up for failure on a moose hunt before I even left the house.

my 100% moose hunting success rate over the last 30+ years is largely due to cartridge choice .... power dominates
View attachment 214402View attachment 214403

That's heavy.

 

[blueprairiedog]

The military has replaced the 45 with a 9mm, as have the police departments. I think that's why we hear about how many times the criminal was shot. You are right about the sock wave also. 5 days on the tundra wearing hip waders and I finally found my clean socks. Nobody in the tent could take the sock wave

One of these days I am going to turn off spell check and buy a 6.5 creedmoor

 

[Ol' Red]

One of these days I am going to turn off spell check and buy a 6.5 creedmoor

That would take all the fun out of it. I used to think before speaking, but now I'm just as surprised as everyone else.

 

[Swamplord]

you spelled it wrong

.....

 

[Pdvdh]

Excellence in truth.

Here's photos of an excellent closer range moose bullet, should anyone head out with an undercaliber wanna-be moose cartridge. Recovered from a bull last week. The ones I've recovered generally all look like this, when recovered from game. 2X expansion & 90% weight retention. Picture perfect performance. Helps turn a gopher cartridge into an almost moose cartridge. But I don't think there's any hope for the 6.5 Needmore... LMAO

 

[VLD Pilot]

you spelled it wrong

.....View attachment 214557

I'm always dogging the 6.5CM when in reality it's actually a great little round. Don't personally own one but a buddy does. My .260 is my 6.5CM. I guess I mostly just get tired of Hornady publishing load data that's so under powered for the .260. Then thumb to the 6.5CM page and the load data shows performance better than the .260. Hornady loves tooting there own horn so much that they make it easy for me to dog out that cartridge. It's all in fun really. I'd probably own one if I didn't already have a superior 6.5 cartridge to the CM.

 

[montana west]

the development of the 458 winchester started the new time for hunting cal .. and the 264-338 the rem 7mm mag and the 300 win. well not really any improvements in hunting round since the 300 win.. and there is nothing in notht america that the 338 win won't put down and I mean down. and nothing in Africa the 458 will not put down and the only real improvement is the 416 ruger which give you the same energy as the 458 with a bit more range.

 

[Swamplord]

Got a batch of the new Super Bulldozer ll headed my way, if they show up by this weekend I'm gonna load some up for moose ,

30 caliber, 205 gr with .815 g1 bc
not too heavy, just right for high velocity with a high bc, along with the new "death star" hollow point inner skiving for reliable expansion at even lower velocity than the original and a super slick aluminum tip

probably start a new thread dedicated to the testing of that bullet

 

[Pdvdh]

Got a batch of the new Super Bulldozer ll headed my way, if they show up by this weekend I'm gonna load some up for moose ,

30 caliber, 205 gr with .815 g1 bc
not too heavy, just right for high velocity with a high bc, along with the new "death star" hollow point inner skiving for reliable expansion at even lower velocity than the original and a super slick aluminum tip

probably start a new thread dedicated to the testing of that bullet

Nice,
Look forward to your findings.
Twist rate requirement?

 

[Swamplord]

Nice,
Look forward to your findings.
Twist rate requirement?

8 twist minimum

got a wildcat and rifle for this bullet, won't be long now for this 2+ year project

even had super tough factory brass made for the project, for a joke I call it the 2 inch 300 Wby since it duplicates it in power ! 300 Prc ? never heard of the beesnatch, ha

 

[Pdvdh]

I look's like another killer cartridge.
I have an 8.5 twist blank ready to be threaded. I think that'll do it, with the aluminum tips. I believe the lightweight tips reduce the twist rate requirement by at least 1/2". Could you provide a bullet length? I'd like to run it thru my tipped bullet stabilization calculator.

I'm stabilizing the 275gr 338 BD with a 10-twist, and they call for a 9-twist with that bullet.