Does the 338/358 offer any practical advantage over 308?
- Thread starter buckchaser
- Start date
I plan to get a Cooper in 35 Whelen down the road but I would like a light short action synthetic stocked bolt gun for all around general use that I can take in the boat truck or atv and drag thru snow and mud and don't care if I soak it in bug spray.
Since it will also double as a loaner gun I dont want the recoil of a magnum.
I prefer getting as close to game as possible but if a moose was 300 yards out in a clear cut I'd like to have the ability to put a hole thru him. Most likely it will be used on bears or wolf at less than 100 yards. I realize many animals have been shot with 308 at 300 yards but I like bigger heavier bullets.
Since it will also double as a loaner gun I dont want the recoil of a magnum.
I prefer getting as close to game as possible but if a moose was 300 yards out in a clear cut I'd like to have the ability to put a hole thru him. Most likely it will be used on bears or wolf at less than 100 yards. I realize many animals have been shot with 308 at 300 yards but I like bigger heavier bullets.
Tabacco Brook
Regular
- Location
- Nova Scotia
Go get yourself a Remington Model Seven synthetic and have it rebarreled in .358 winchester. Or get an X-Bolt stalker and rebarrel it to .358win. Or go get a BLR already made in 358win,..stainless laminate would be good.
If my choices were 308, 338fed, 358win,...I would pick the 358win every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
If my choices were 308, 338fed, 358win,...I would pick the 358win every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
BigUglyMan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- New Scotland
Can't use it on Sunday here....deer have to go to church unmolested by hunters, dontcha know!
Tabacco Brook
Regular
- Location
- Nova Scotia
It's funny you should say that ,...I know where there is a BLR 81 358 for sale, (mine is a pistol grip), and I have been thinking all day that I should sell something and go buy it. I would like to have both models,..one set up for bears and the other for deer. If I didn't have to answer to the wife, (lol), I would have already bought the 81.
Yep SC, my wife has given up trying to keep track of the comings and goings of long boxes around here. She has commented that there are many, many coming and very few going......... I told her that because my vault is so crowded that they are all racked too close together and when the lights are out shenanigans are going on and they keep reproducing. That's why there are big ones and then lots of little ones............I also said that the more time I spend in my room with the lights on the less chance for shenanigans, so........
I don't think she is buying a word of it, but it keeps the conversation spirited.
I don't think she is buying a word of it, but it keeps the conversation spirited.
That has always been my strategy... bit me in the azz last year though... my wife, quite by accident, added up my annual gun budget (or rather, lack of budget)... that was fun! Now it is EMT in, M.O out... for the most part... I got too complacent in the belief that she didn't notice or care about all the boxes in and out. Fortunately, she still doesn't recognize individual guns... the all look alike to her... small mercies.
Homesteader
CGN Regular
- Location
- In a Wallow West of Edmonton.
Lots of good replies. I've not owned a 358, or the 338 federal. I did have a Whelen and it did drop pretty good at 300. So since you mention ventilating a moose at that distance I vote for the plain jane 308. You need a minimum velocity to open up your bullet, and the 308 should carry the best of the three. I'm biased though as I still have two 308's for general duty.
The 358 Winchester is an underrated little number because people make the mistake of looking at published factory loads. When loaded to 308 Win or the newer 338 Fed pressures, it becomes a different beast! Loaded with the Sierra 225gr SBT or the 225gr Accubond (if your mag has room for a slightly longer AOL with the later bullet) it's a 400yd cartridge for most animals in NA except the biggest of bears! I'm having Herron Arms re-barrel a rifle to 358 Win for me here shortly...it'll go nicely with my 35 Whelen Remington 7600 Carbine!
Tabacco Brook
Regular
- Location
- Nova Scotia
It is far easier to ask forgiveness than to get permission............[/QUOTE]
Right on guys. I usually only buy 1 gun per year.
I have already bought 2 new ones in the past 3 months, although I did sell 2, but it still cost me another $700 or so for the new ones. So if I shelled out another $1000 for, as she calls it, a gun I don't need,..my azz is grass and she's the lawn mower,......HMMMMM,..if she's a lawn mower than I guess she'd be a ride on, ...but that's another topic,....anyway,.. I think I'll wait until the spring for my next gun purchase.
Right on guys. I usually only buy 1 gun per year.
I have already bought 2 new ones in the past 3 months, although I did sell 2, but it still cost me another $700 or so for the new ones. So if I shelled out another $1000 for, as she calls it, a gun I don't need,..my azz is grass and she's the lawn mower,......HMMMMM,..if she's a lawn mower than I guess she'd be a ride on, ...but that's another topic,....anyway,.. I think I'll wait until the spring for my next gun purchase.
I'll have to go look threw the ammo safe and see if I have any 250's still loaded and measure one for oal.
