20yrs ago, David Tubb did his One Mile Rifle video. 6.5-20x Leupold teamed with a 6.5/284. Seems like he was shooting the 142gr smk or maybe it was developed later? Point is there are plenty of smaller caliber ctgs capable of longrange precision. Plenty more hotrod ctgs have been brought to fruition.
If you're a Hobbyist, the fun is in chasing all the new "developments". Yet, there is no such thing as free lunch. The smaller cals are all barrel-burners; have to be to get the velocity to cover the distance. Smaller bore diameters ("calibers") are touted to bridge the weight gap and perform through use of specialty bullets. Probably, they "work" more often than not. Yet, there is no completely reliable substitute for large diameter and bullet weight combined with proper placement.
While there are some great match and hunting bullets made for the smaller bores, the .338 simply has greater weight range and performance capability. In the past 15yrs, this bore diameter ("caliber") has come even further into its own with greatly increased bullet selection. After all, shooting is all about ammunition characteristics and bullet placement. Kind of like how playing the piano is all about striking the right key at the right moment to make a melody...
In my observation, ctg company designers aside from the Dakota ctg series, have never gotten it "right". The .338win mag was very often necked-down to .30cal to great result by early longrange competitors. Necking-up the .300win mag ctg to .338 produced the finest all-around .338ctg I've ever tried; although necking-down the .375ruger is very intriguing to me these days.
The .338/300win mag is right there in performance range of the .338dakota and .340wby. With a 40deg shoulder it might gain enough to get into RUM and Lap performance territory. A .338/375ruger would, very likely; yet still operate through a standard long action with .535" boltface.
Going with the .338/300win over the years, I chose the .30-06ackley instead of any .30magnum. It is a great performer with the heavy bullets I favor where I live in Alaska.
2mi shooting seems to be the province of the .50bmg, really a crew served weapon even when configured as a bolt or semi-auto rifle. I have owned rifles in the 18lb range configured with great glass for longrange precision, and several large .378wby variants, couple of RUMs, and a Lapua magnum. Gave them all up about 10yrs ago.
The .338cal rifle has the ideal bullet weight range for my situation, even when it comes to cast bullets. I also own a .338-06ai which enables .338win performance, but with 5rd capacity and greater loading versatility. Ammunition versatility is something lacking with most magnums, although I begain finding loads for my .338/300 18yrs ago by using .338win data. I found I could get close to Dakota/Wby loads using 250gr btsp Sierras. That is about 13gr of charge weight variance using xmr4350.
With a quality scope and reticle matched e&w it's a pretty capable combination. Not a 2mi rifle, for sure; but who's judging the wind over there in the next county before taking their shot? Maybe on some rifle range with kestrels located at every 50yds to the target and bluetooth linked to your ballistic app or laptop? If your game is small groups at great distance, have at it... Of course, my idea of golfing would be shooting golfballs with a rifle trying to chip them into the hole. That might be fun.
The old adage is "beware the man who owns only one rifle". I never had the will resist owning many friendly firearms, but if I only owned one, it would be a .338
