The 338 Winchester Magnum Overlooked or Overhyped?

DOUGLAS D said:
...338 bore loses the ability to create hydrostatic shock and can produce slow kills on both light and heavy game as velocity drops below 2600fps. As velocity drops to 2400fps, wound channel diameters between the .338, .30’s and 8mm bores can be much the same

Hmmmmmmmmmm........so I need to press the muzzle against the critter before it's really effective at anything but point blank range.
Thank God for the internet.:popCorn:
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If you jab the gun forward when you shoot you can extend your range at least 40-50 yards.

emerson said:
Makes a guy wonder what on earth the 338Fed and 338-06 are good for, eh? (Sarcasm)
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Mice to moose, just have to lean out the window while road hunting at 150km/hr is all :p
 
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That book, by Nathan Foster is excellent. Its focus is on long range hunting. When he talks of hydrostatic shock, he is talking about nerve overload causing instantaneous coma and drt game performance.

What isnt being explained by who quoted it, and disingeniously being glossed over is his going through many common calibers from 22 high power to 375 H&H. He matches projectile weight and stoutness/frangibility at various distances and animal weights. The guy is a gunsmith and guide in New Zealand, culling animals such as feral goats, pigs....all the way to asiatic waterbuffalo.

He has shot many thousands of head, does autopsys to determine bullet performance and trauma. Much of his writing is available free online, its a good read and edumacationable.
 
Anyone who says that velocity has nothing to do with how well a bullet kills has not shot very much game. T

Well maybe you Sir, have shot more or maybe you have shot less.
Guess we will never know although my trophy walls are pretty much as full as are yours.

As far as you knocking the guts out of wolves and caribou with a 340 Bee I solute you.
I've done pretty much the same on coyotes and wolves and whitetail deer with .223 and 22-250 and 25-06 and 270 Win (all one shot kills)
Proof the .340 would have done better....?????

To date I've owned and hunted/shot 3-340 Weatherby's.
One plain ass sporter, one MK V pretty and a very nice stainless MK V. Two are still running in the hands of good friends who knock stuff down like there's no tomorrow.
No flies on that round and I've loaded hundreds of rounds for it.

Where you and I conflict is I have never seen a dimes worth of difference between a .338 WM and a .340 Bee on big game.
Maybe because I shoot (have shot) both to launch 240-250 grain bullets.
If I want to launch 200-210 grain bullets I've got the 300's .

If 200 fps makes you feel better, hey fill your boots.
The .340 Bee is a great round.

The .338 Win Mag is as well.
And as a practical hunting round never doubt it.
I've taken it to the Arctic for polar bear where my backup was a .303 Mk 4
I've taken it to Africa where my backup was a .458 Express. (RSA 3" 458 Lott)

Put 250 grain bullets in a little 3 inch square off hand and no one questions what's next.
Point. Shoot. Things die. EOS.
 
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nowarningshot said:
That book, by Nathan Foster is excellent. Its focus is on long range hunting. When he talks of hydrostatic shock, he is talking about nerve overload causing instantaneous coma and drt game performance.

What isnt being explained by who quoted it, and disingeniously being glossed over is his going through many common calibers from 22 high power to 375 H&H. He matches projectile weight and stoutness/frangibility at various distances and animal weights. The guy is a gunsmith and guide in New Zealand, culling animals such as feral goats, pigs....all the way to asiatic waterbuffalo.

He has shot many thousands of head, does autopsys to determine bullet performance and trauma. Much of his writing is available free online, its a good read and edumacationable.
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Possibly and I agree it's a very good read.
He claims 8500 kills. That amounts to 1.5 per day every day for the last 15 years. Plus cutting them up to explain wound channels. He's been busy.
I'll keep reading what he has to say but there's a lot of stuff so far that is at best...questionable.
JMHO
 
Papaclaude said:
Geeez, wait 'til someone tells the tens of thousands of elephants killed with 275 Rigby's, 7 X 57, 8 mm and 303 those guns were not big enough to kill an elk.
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You shoot elk with a solid?

Since the fascination of modern elephant hunting is confronting the elephant and firing a moment before it squashes you, is a pretty good argument against the use of small bore rifles for that particular duty, to say nothing of the legality of doing so. The days of killing elephants for the ivory market, by hiding in a tree and shooting them behind the ear with a .318 solid have faded into history.
 
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DOUGLAS D said:
Possibly and I agree it's a very good read.
He claims 8500 kills. That amounts to 1.5 per day every day for the last 15 years. Plus cutting them up to explain wound channels. He's been busy.
I'll keep reading what he has to say but there's a lot of stuff so far that is at best...questionable.
JMHO
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When you hunt in Africa or Australia, how many animals have you had the opportunity to take in a day? Consider a guy who lives in hilly game country, who can hunt year round, with those sort of opportunities, and you'll get the idea.
 
Boomer said:
When you hunt in Africa or Australia, how many animals have you had the opportunity to take in a day? Consider a guy who lives in hilly game country, who can hunt year round, with those sort of opportunities, and you'll get the idea.
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He told me once that he averages about a dozen game shots a week these days. That's either like being on an trip of a lifetime plains game hunt every day for the rest of your life, or to the right Kiwi its like going for a walk once in a while. Or the odd guy will cram one of those years into a barrel scorching week or two. So much depends on your point of view. :)
 
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I've got a little full stocked carbine in .338 win mag. It's sole purpose is calling elk in the hazelbrush. They come looking for you and frontal shots are the norm, usually doesn't take very long to pace off the shot. When sitting fields I'd agree a .300 is better.
 
Have had a few. 338WM, currently a Sako 75. Not the fastest or the heaviest projectile, but for me it just works. Has killed everything its been pointed at. 210gr TTSX and H4350 goodness.
 
I use the 210 ttsx with imr4350 in my 338 win. At near 3000 fps out of its 26” barrel it has taken elk out to 320 yards and at less than 50 yards. It has a few deer, a couple of black bears and a couple of sheep to it’s credit also. I picked the 338 over the 300 win mag because it’s a step up over my 30-06, not just a step faster. The only trouble I have had with an animal walking a long distance was because I shot too far back and gut shot a cow elk once. We managed to track it and found it 400 yards away for the finishing shot. I have dropped big bull moose and healthy big bull elk in there tracks with a 270win, 7 rem mag and the 338 win mag, I have used a few other popular calibers with great results. I like the 338 win the best out of all of the calibers.
 
For the country I hunt and the rifles I have shots over 300M are rare. I find shooting precisely from hasty field positions beyond that range a bit too variable for me, most days. I stepped up from a 30-06 to 338WM and 375H&H. I find it difficult to believe adding 50-120 grains to my projectile and maintaining similar velocities leaves me undergunned. My accuracy remained the same while stepping up in power. If my hunting style or geography changes and the budget allows I can see stepping up a few hundred fps, but recoil has a cost, thus why competive shooters love the 6.5/7mm class of cartridges. I expect a screaming 300/338/375 to be more difficult to shoot well. I may try to find a 416/458 caliber rifle this year to acclimatize. Not easy with a $1K budget though.
 
Owned a Browning A-bolt for along time and was always a dependable rifle that took it's share of Big bears, Elk and Moose. I've since been favoring my Tikka 3 .300 mag but will be getting another .338 again in the future.
 
Boomer said:
When you hunt in Africa or Australia, how many animals have you had the opportunity to take in a day? Consider a guy who lives in hilly game country, who can hunt year round, with those sort of opportunities, and you'll get the idea.
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Yes but consider....
If you and I were to shoot 1000 head of (lets say.......elk/eland/moose/yaks) and we use 12 different rifles.......lets say a 223 and a 243 and a 264 and a 270 and a 284 and a 308 and a 311 and a 323 and a 338 and a 358 and 366 and a 375
Range 50-500 yards.
Let's use a bullet from Speer and one from Nosler and one from Barnes and one from Sierra and one from Hornady. (lets leave out the other dozen or so because we won't live long enough)
Let's post our findings on the internet with our conclusions of what works best.

It doesn't work because you gut shot old # 327 with that damned 55/80/100/117/130/150/175/180/200/220/250/275/300 grain Nolser/Hornady/Barnes/Speer/Sierra which shall be forever damned. (hell the yak traveled 60 yards before it gave up and died...........bullet failed)


If you've not read it I'll recommend Kevin Robertson's "The Perfect Shot"
 
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