Are the .338s becoming pointless?

[19elkhunter51]

Oh well. May as jump in here. My 338 Edge weighs just under eleven pounds. 30" Broughton fluted barrel, heavy varmint contour with a brake made by the smith, tuned Remington action and trigger topped with a 4.5 X 14 X 56 Leupold LRT. Oh, laminate wood stock. It will only shoot .362 five shot groups with Barnes 280 LRX bullets but I can live with that. It is not that often (never) that I take over the horizon attempts at game.
There were multiple reasons for me building this rifle, some important, some just because this was the first "custom" rifle I had built. I am not sensitive to recoil, I use this rifle to go elk hunting and in my eye it is just a beautiful rifle.
I am a believer in heavier and faster for my big game hunting and the accuracy of this rifle will let me stretch my effective range as far as I am comfortable shooting. I believe in the smallest group size that you can possible get without spending five hours per case working up a load. In my mind, accuracy trumps speed. In my opinion, the 338 is the best compromise between terminal performance at ranges I consider for shooting elk, recoil, accuracy and portability.
I have what I consider a good range of calibers that complement my style of hunting. I would shoot a deer with my 338, but I can't imagine any deer knowing the difference between getting shot with my 300 RUM or my 338. Likewise I find it unbelievable that any antelope would be able to tell the difference between my 22-250 shooting seventy grain bullets and my 243 shooting eighty five grain bullets.
I guess in my little, small brain, for elk HUNTING at less than two miles. the 338's will NEVER be obsolete or relegated to a "second class" type of round.
If I ever get around to building another custom rifle, it will be a 416 Rigby. Only because I can dream about going to Africa.

P.S. I finally decided to add some pictures of my 338 Edge. The smith was Tom Donahoe in Carson City, NV. He has since retired, much to my dismay.

 

[bdyal1972]

Without even knowing what an enablr is, I'll wager it has a powder capacity approaching or exceeding 150 grains. Again, apples to oranges. I'm sure there are all kinds of crazy wildcats with ultra capacity cases for special purposes, but none are necessary for hunting anything in North America. If it makes you feel better to carry and shoot something like that, then it's fine. But you can't make an argument that it's "necessary". Nothing in North America that a .416 Rigby or less can't take care of in short order.

Actually

Its a elr specific cartridge designed brian litz and applied ballistics for 1 to 2 mile competition.


I want to shoot cape buffalo and blactail deer and hit a b27 silhouette at 2 miles with the same rifle....

Sooo


I am making plans...

 

[bdyal1972]

Oh well. May as jump in here. My 338 Edge weighs just under eleven pounds. 30" Broughton fluted barrel, heavy varmint contour with a brake made by the smith, tuned Remington action and trigger topped with a 4.5 X 14 X 56 Leupold LRT. Oh, laminate wood stock. It will only shoot .362 five shot groups with Barnes 280 LRX bullets but I can live with that. It is not that often (never) that I take over the horizon attempts at game.
There were multiple reasons for me building this rifle, some important, some just because this was the first "custom" rifle I had built. I am not sensitive to recoil, I use this rifle to go elk hunting and in my eye it is just a beautiful rifle.
I am a believer in heavier and faster for my big game hunting and the accuracy of this rifle will let me stretch my effective range as far as I am comfortable shooting. I believe in the smallest group size that you can possible get without spending five hours per case working up a load. In my mind, accuracy trumps speed. In my opinion, the 338 is the best compromise between terminal performance at ranges I consider for shooting elk, recoil, accuracy and portability.
I have what I consider a good range of calibers that complement my style of hunting. I would shoot a deer with my 338, but I can't imagine any deer knowing the difference between getting shot with my 300 RUM or my 338. Likewise I find it unbelievable that any antelope would be able to tell the difference between my 22-250 shooting seventy grain bullets and my 243 shooting eighty five grain bullets.
I guess in my little, small brain, for elk HUNTING at less than two miles. the 338's will NEVER be obsolete or relegated to a "second class" type of round.
If I ever get around to building another custom rifle, it will be a 416 Rigby. Only because I can dream about going to Africa.

In the dictionary under "frigging awesome"



YOUR RIFLE!!!!


KUDOS

 

[.300 Dakota]

Aw crap! News I wasn't aware of! I'll get a list ready, of my .338's and list them for sale so I won't have a bunch of useless rifles. That list will include a 388 Win mag Browning A-bolt, a 340 Weatherby mag, a 338-378 Weatherby mag, and a 338 wildcat based on the .416 Rigby necked down and body taper removed. I guess I need to follow up with an apology to the animals that have expired at the hands of these rifles, including elk, moose, and deer.

I'll take them off your hand to "dispose" of them "properly!"

Actually

Its a elr specific cartridge designed brian litz and applied ballistics for 1 to 2 mile competition.


I want to shoot cape buffalo and blactail deer and hit a b27 silhouette at 2 miles with the same rifle....

Sooo


I am making plans...

2 miles? Yep, you need it! lol. The poor blacktail will be collateral damage when the shell explodes. ha.

 

[Smithy62]

I have owned only two 338 caliber rifles, one 338 win mag and one 338 lapua. They recoil was fierce on the 7lb win mag, but not a problem at all with the 14lb lapua. I took a trip down the BC and impact velocity are all that matters road and sold almost all mo magnum calibers in favor of smaller lighter recoiling 22, 6, 6.5, 7mm cartridges. Last year changed my mind on this issue. I take several new hunters deer or antelope hunting every year. Last year my loaner gun was America's sweetheart The 6.5 creedmoor. It's easy to shoot has high bc bullets factory ammo shoots lights out and on and on and on... However, I noticed a trend last fall my 6.5 creedmoor claimed the lives of 8 deer and three antelope. Every animal, but one doe antelope Hit at 400yds, needed a second shot to finish the job. I watched two drop instantly and then get back up and start walking away. I've never witnessed this with my other bigger calibers. Everything from 270 up has anchored deer and antelope with a single shot. My new course of action, based upon my experience over the last couple years with small light calibers, is to build a 338 edge. (Actually primarily for elk) I will keep the 6mm and 6.5mm for steel shooting and teaching new shooters but when it comes time for killing at long distance I'm going to be shooting a bigger harder hitting round.

To put it politely: I call 'bs' on that as I can look back on a world of different experience & knowledge on that issue!
I've been hunting (aswell as gunmaking) for over 44 yrs and having built, owned and used most calibers under the sun, I always seem to go back to 6.5's & 7mm bores. However: by far my most used go to calibers have always been in some kind of 6.5 bore during my approx. 23 yrs of living, working and hunting in mainly NZ's alpine South Island. As you all most likely know by now, which country, with a couple of exclusions, doesn't have any closed seasons on most introduced big or small game species and most hunters hunt year round! All depending on weather conditions; either alone or along with my hunting buddies, we would usually be out hunting each weekend or at least each forthnight! Sometimes we even hunted several times a week, whenever the weather had been bad for weeks in a row, with less then ideal hunting conditions! Doing these times we tend to shoot loads of reds, elk, chamois, thar, goats and yes, big mud-covered wild pigs with always the same outcome! I might even go asfar as saying: chances are that some of us would be shooting more game in one or two yrs, then most of you are able to shoot in a lifetime! Granted that most shots were done at short ranges while bush-stalking, considerable nrs were taken over longer distances; especially so during the mountain hunting. Fact is: knock on wood, asfar as I'm concerned, the first one not dying instantly on the spot or getting away still has to occur! My advice; check your hunters shooting abilities and familiarity with their rifle & caliber combination before you head out, practice proper shooting distances, proper shot placement and using the right bullets for the job! Although: I've since moved on from NZ a decade and a half ago and live now in : I still nourish countless fond NZ memmories! The lesser fond ones were at times when I helped out with guiding, whenever the gunwork was slowing down during NZ's Winters. This where mostly US, Australian & the odd Canadian hunters, who would usually like clockwork arrive with some kind of big bore magnum! Frankly; I've never observed more chances missed due to maybe the unfamiliarity with terrain, climate and habitats of NZ's game animals, more animals missed, animals wounded & running off just to be tracked later with dogs and some, not all, just to be recovered at these times, then on any other hunting occasions before! Usually caused by the few that didn't bother doing any test-firing at our local range, who would end up blaming their guns, their equipment, which had supposedly suffered some kind of damage during transport! So you tell me, what conclusion should I need to draw from this? From experience; I know the .25's, 6.5's, .270's 7mm, .30's & .338's are equally capable in the right hands and I'm convinced in the case of 6.5's some 135 plus yrs generations of Scandic Moose hunters would agree with me! In fact: any caliber from .223 & up are very capable game getters in the right hands, the right situation, using the right load combination and using plain common sense as for distance and shot opportunity! Yes, bigger bores produce bigger holes, but they don't necessarily makeup for better killing-power! With that kind of logic one would also have to assume that the US military & Nato must have been really screwing up big time back then, by adapting a .223 bore size, right? Surprisingly: my 'go to' calibers these days here in haven't changed much: despite the fact that most hunters opt for bigger bores out of fear of running into big predators, while hunting in grizzly country and am personally having experiencing several grizzly encounters each season: they still are the 6.5Grendel, 6.5 Swede, 6.5CM, 6.5-284, 7x57Msr, 7mmRSAUM & on occasion the old trusted .308Win.! Just my 2 cts worth on opinion & experiences!

 

[skipglo]

I think the 338 lapua IS a league apart in some ways. You are only wrong if you cannot match the accuracy of the hyped newcomers with a dialed in 338 round, which is quite possible because in the end, you have to dial in any recipe. The OP title though, for those that enjoy many different calibers, is much like asking a chef, "what is your favorite food" or a musician "what is your favorite song?" It's mostly for the inexperienced. I would guess a 1000 yard 308 master or 338 sniper, could articulate this much better. It's me, not you.

You are right! Everyone has "A" favorite...all personal choice... unfortunately or fortunately for me.....I have 7! Lmao and one of them is definitely a .338! All depends on what we are targeting! The other 43 are functional ART. ( So I tell my wife at least......" But honey...you have pictures of your kids all over the house!)

 

[.300 Dakota]

To put it politely: that's total 'bs! I've been hunting (aswell as gunmaking) for over 44 yrs and have built, owned and used most calibers under the sun; however my most used go to calibers have always been in some kind of 6.5 bore! Approximately 23 yrs of that was living, working and hunting in NZ's South Island were, depending on weather conditions, we literally tried hunting each weekend; sometimes even several times a week, when the weather had been faul for weeks in a row! Doing this we shot loads of reds & elk: no doubt more in one or two yrs then most of you in a lifetime! My observation: the first one not dying instantly on the spot or running away still has to occur! My advice; teach your hunters proper shot placement and using the right bullets for the job! Although I moved on and live in now: I also did some guiding at times when gunwork was slow in NZ' Winters: this where mostly US, Australian & the odd Canadian hunters with their big bore magnums! Frankly; I've never observed more animals missed, wounded and running off at these times then on any occasions before, so you tell me, what conclusion do I need to draw?

A hunter who has never shot anything larger than .270 or not in many years, is more of a liability than he is well-equipped with a .338 shoved in his hands. However, a great friend of mine who was also a rifle maker and elk guide from New Mexico to Alaska for some 35 years and had taken more than 100 elk himself over a lifetime with 5 times that taken by his guided clients INSISTED that one must use a .338 at MINIMUM (and he preferred .358s) to put an elk down quickly every time. Could it be the old American wapiti is a little tougher than similar animals around the world??

 

[.300 Dakota]

A hunter who has never shot anything larger than .270 or not in many years, is more of a liability than he is well-equipped with a .338 shoved in his hands. However, a great friend of mine who was also a rifle maker and elk guide from New Mexico to Alaska for some 35 years and had taken more than 100 elk himself over a lifetime with 5 times that taken by his guided clients INSISTED that one must use a .338 at MINIMUM (and he preferred .358s) to put an elk down quickly every time. Could it be the old American wapiti is a little tougher than similar animals around the world??

Agreed, it DOES take someone who is very well practiced with their weapon to handle the recoil and blast of a .338 and up reliably. I would speculate that many of the "Western" hunters you experienced wounding and missing with larger calibers bought that rifle just for that hunt or had not used it more than a handful of times in the last 10 years. They had just enough experience to know it kicked h*ll out of them when they fired it!

 

[judgebill]

When I began reading about guns and calibers, when the dinosaurs were roaming the land, the 22 Hornet and 218 Bee and 219 Zipper were "hot" varmint cartridges. Along came the .222 and .223 and even the venerable 257 Roberts was replaced by the .243 Winchester (and the late .244 Rem). Weatherby was wildly successful promoting his Wby Magnums and finally the arms manufacturers caught on to the idea of publicity and advertising and began to promote "new" calibers and "new" designs. As more people came into the shooting/hunting game, people who hadn't read about the old timers, they believed the hoopla and baloney and bought into the idea that each new cartridge was better than sliced bread. Somehow the animals we all were hunting developed tougher and harder-to-kill bodies just as somehow the old-timers who did most everything with a 270 or 30/06 couldn't possibly have been as successful as their stories would have us believe. If the .338 caliber is to die, it will...because it will be replaced by calibers and cartridge designs and powder and bullet improvements that make it "old fashioned". Time will tell and unless Biden wins this year we will see a continuation of development in all areas. What bothers me more is the loss of nice figured walnut in nice-looking stocks.

 

[RD57]

I love to load and shoot my 338 but unless I'm going after Bison or Grizzly (if ever approved) it doesn't get used for anything in the lower 48. I prefer standard long and short action cartridges for everything in the lower 48, they appear to have done a fine job for most hunters since the late 1800s. I'd say using the term "Obsolete or Pointless" is really stretching it and I wouldn't use it for a cartridge I really like and on occasion use.

 

[6.5x300 WBY]

When I hunted in New Zealand last summer, I was bummed to learn I could not hunt there with handguns. So I decided to use my guides rifle. i do own rifles, but didn't want to go through the hassle. 338 Lapua, at over 600 yards. It worked fine. Yes, I have killed stuff with a rifle!

What is going on here. you took game with a rifle. Thats it I'm done. The world is over. Total BLASPHEMY. GOOD JOB NOT SHOWING THE RIFLE

 

[Buster Hemlock]

Something I haven't seen mentioned is "splash", the .338 is much easier to spot misses and make corrections at distance than a 7mm or 30 cal. .375's are easier to spot misses than the .338 And so on.

 

[Baker Alvin]

338 Federal, 338 06 A Square, 338 Win Mag All in the family. Enjoy them all.

 

[TXAoudadKlr]

I had a 338LM. I built it too light therefore I didn't like shooting it which meant wasn't good at driving it.
With that the few times I did turn it loose in the field, it was obvious 338's just hit harder than anything under them.

I now have a Lapua magnum based 300 which I absolutely love and not much will run with my 300 Raptor pushing 245's just shy of 3400fps