When speaking about massive cartridges for looking massive North American recreation, the .338 Winchester Magnum is a pure inclusion. It was launched in 1958 and, on the time, occupied a selected area of interest. The .338 pre-dates the .300 Win. Magazine. and 7mm Rem. Magazine., and was designed as an alternative choice to the long-cased .375 H&H. It promised to fill the function that the .375 did so effectively, and has been in style ever since. Contemplating the alternatives we’ve in the present day, nevertheless, there’s little purpose for a logic-driven hunter to decide on the .338 Winchester Magnum. It lacks the flexibility of the .30-caliber cartridges, and nonetheless beats the hell out of you with out supplying you with true .375 efficiency.
.338 Win. Magazine. Specs
- Mother or father Case: .375 H&H
- Shoulder: 25 levels
- Case Capability: about 86 grains of H2O
- SAAMI Cartridge Total Size: 3.340 inches
- Bullet Weights: 200 to 300 grains (200 to 250 grains is commonest in the present day)
Why the .338 Win. Magazine. Was A Winner
When it hit cabinets in 1958, the .338 Winchester Magnum was distinctive. It was America’s model of a cartridge to hunt the large critters of the world, a lot because the .375 H&H had been since 1912. It was initially supplied in 200-, 250-, and 300-grain hundreds — mirroring the 235-, 270-, and 300-grain a great deal of the .375. Actually, the .338 was made by shortening, and necking down, that belted .375 H&H case. It supplied a extra trendy 25-degree shoulder and fewer case taper.
Extra importantly, this cartridge would match into a normal long-action receiver. Each of the favored magnums of the time, the .375 and .300 H&H Magnums, required an extended magnum-length motion that added to the fee and diminished availability. This downside eased when Winchester adopted a magnum motion within the Mannequin 70 and Remington supplied H&H chamberings within the 721. However even in the present day, the long-action magnums are extra broadly accessible and reasonably priced than chamberings requiring a magnum-length motion.
The .338 Win. Magazine. compares fairly effectively to the .375 H&H, with each 250-grain .338 and 270-grain .375 bullets reaching about 2,650 fps from a 24-inch barrel. In frequent 26-inch barrels of the time, speeds have been even higher. It’s a stable performer on any North American massive recreation, and impressed sufficient confidence that it stays a well-liked possibility amongst hunters and guides for brown bear, grizzlies, moose, and elk. It tackled numerous jobs in addition to the .375, in a extra compact motion that was cheaper. In 1958, it made sense.
Why the .338 Win. Magazine. Sucks
For a few years, the .338 Winchester Magnum has lingered as a sub-optimal cartridge. I’ve used one usually, a Ruger Guide Gun I acquired in a commerce, and it’s all the time labored effectively. For some individuals, that’s inspiring sufficient. But I’ve all the time felt that the .338 is a cartridge that’s caught within the center. It falls in need of the efficiency of the .375 Ruger — which additionally matches in a normal lengthy motion — and it’s stubbornly rigid in comparison with the .30/06. Even the .300 Winchester Magnum, which adopted the .338, is comparable on harmful recreation whereas offering extra flexibility and flexibility. Contemplating a number of of the opposite trendy cartridges with comparable capabilities, we should conclude that the .338 has run its course.
Now this doesn’t imply that the cartridge doesn’t work — it continues to do many issues effectively, for lots of issues. You may interpret my lack of enthusiasm as me declaring it’s simply no good; many readers usually draw this conclusion. This isn’t all of the case.
Should you just like the .338 and also you’re invested within the ammo and {hardware}, maintain utilizing it. For the remainder of us, if we don’t have already got one, there’s merely no logical or compelling purpose to decide on the .338 Win. Magazine. for any activity. The first purpose mine has gotten a lot use is that it’s acquired a brief 20-inch threaded muzzle. I repeatedly pack it in my boat for creeping into lively bait websites and kicking the comb for bears which were shot. After deafening myself whereas placing the cease to a grizzly bear that was hoofing it my manner from 15 yards within the timber and rose brush, I put a suppressor on it. Now, recognizing that the .30/06 will fill that function nearly as effectively, I’m retiring the outdated lady.
Should you’re not satisfied, it could be useful to look at the .338’s capabilities in comparison with different selections we didn’t have again in 1958. We should ask ourselves: What job do we wish the .338 Win. Magazine. to do? And the way effectively does it try this job in comparison with the competitors?
The .338 as a Harmful-Recreation Stopper?
One of many basic roles of the .338 Win. Magazine. is a stopper of huge or harmful North American recreation. Ask the common American hunter what rifle they’d select in the event that they have been dropped into an alder thicket on Kodiak Island, and the .338 can be a standard reply. It may serve that goal. However if you would like an enormous gun that may knock out your fillings, there’s no purpose to decide on the .338 Win. Magazine. over a .375 Ruger or, for the actual daredevils, the .416 Ruger.
The .338 Win. Magazine. most carefully imitates the efficiency of the .375 H&H when loaded with a 250-grain bullet which can typically be about 2,650 fps from a 24-inch barrel. Manufacturing facility hundreds in the present day vary between 200 and 250 grains, with the original-style 300-grain load now extraordinarily uncommon. Most .338-caliber bullets within the 275- to 300-grain vary in the present day aren’t perfect for the Win. Magazine., however supposed for extra trendy cartridges just like the .338 Lapua and .338 Norma. A baked-in downside with the .338 Win. Magazine. is that the chamber design and head top don’t enable for these lengthy bullets. One may definitely pay for a customized reamer to headspace off the shoulder, tighten and prolong the freebore to permit for these bullets. However then you definately’re taking a look at transferring as much as a magnum-length motion and that’s numerous bother to nonetheless are available in behind different normal trendy cartridges.
My chief grievance concerning the .338 Win. Magazine. as a possible rifle for this function is that, whereas it kicks practically as exhausting as a .375, it simply doesn’t supply what the .375 Ruger does by way of efficiency. Examine these recoil figures, calculated for an 8.25-pound rifle with a 20-inch barrel. In a information gun, the .338 has about 40 % extra recoil than the .30/06, and solely 27 % lower than a .375 Ruger. In follow, this checks out. Each the .338 and .375 are punishing to shoot from a bench, with the .375 kicking more durable, however not loads.
| Cartridge | .30/06 Springfield, 175-grain Lehigh Protection CC, 2,700 fps | .338 Win. Magazine., 250-grain Interlock RN, 2,530 fps | .375 Ruger, 270-grain Lehigh Protection CF, 2,670 fps |
| Recoil | 21.83 foot-pounds | 35.98 foot-pounds | 49.17 foot-pounds |
Total, I haven’t discovered the terminal efficiency of the .338 to be dramatically higher than the .30/06 — and it’s definitely not as versatile. Actually, when utilizing rigidly-constructed bullets, I’ve been a bit disillusioned in wound channels on black bears from my .338. For the black and grizzly bears I’m coping with in inside Alaska, my Information Gun in .30/06 will work simply as effectively, and is considerably extra nice to shoot. It’s loaded with 175-grain Lehigh Protection Managed Chaos bullets that are fracturing copper hole factors. I can let you know from expertise, these will shoot by way of a moose and depart an enormous wound channel when fired from a .308. If I really feel the necessity for extra, I’ll step as much as the .375 Ruger.
The .338 Win. Magazine. As A Looking Cartridge
The place the .338 actually begins to fall behind its contemporaries is at barely longer distances. It’s completely appropriate for lots of looking functions, however hardly ever preferable. As a result of the ammunition choice is restricted to lighter-for-caliber bullets nowadays — with 220- to 230-grain being commonest — influence velocity drops beneath 2,000 fps earlier than the heavy recoil would make you assume. Should you’re pairing the rifle with heartily-constructed bullets, that may spell disappointment. Traditional confirmed bullets just like the Swift A-Body, Nosler Accubond, and copper bullets just like the CX and TSX received’t increase a lot or create a dramatic wound cavity a lot beneath that threshold. Most of those have a broadcast minimal growth velocity of 1,800 or 1,900 fps, however you’re skating on skinny ice at that time.
Learn Subsequent: Townsend Whelen’s Top Big-Game Cartridges
With one of the ballistically environment friendly .338 Win. Magazine. Bullets accessible, the 230-grain Hornady ELD-X, the bullet drops beneath 2,000 fps at roughly 530 yards when fired from a 24-inch barrel at 2,750 fps at. For a 225-grain TTSX, that’s nearer to 425 yards. Examine that to the 212-grain ELD-X fired from the .300 PRC at 2,900 fps from an equal barrel. It doesn’t drop beneath 2,000 fps till about 680 yards — with about 10 % much less recoil. A 7mm Rem. Magazine. or 7mm PRC firing the 175-grain ELD-X at 2,900 will keep above 2,000 fps for about 710 yards. The takeaway is that whereas the .338 delivers a bit extra up entrance, there are numerous higher choices for probably longer photographs. Should you should use the heaviest sensible .338 bullets, choose a .338 Norma or Lapua and at the least receives a commission on your mind harm.
Should you’re solely looking up shut, higher cartridges are solely restricted by your creativeness. The lowly outdated .30/06 will kill something a .338 will kill inside 300 yards. So will a 6.5 Creedmoor for that matter. If you would like the nice and cozy and fuzzies from capturing heavier bullets, a 35 Whelen or 9.3 x 62 would ship passable outcomes with much less recoil than the .338 Win. Magazine.
Closing Ideas
Whereas the .338 Win. Magazine. introduced some actual benefits to the market when launched, time and know-how have caught up. From a 24- or 26-inch barrel, a superb 250-grain load continues to be on the heels of the .375 H&H, nevertheless it’s diminished in shorter barrels which have gotten the usual, and the beltless .375 Ruger delivers full H&H efficiency from a 20-inch barrel. The .338 is lauded for spectacular killing energy, however extra environment friendly cartridges and bullets ship higher influence velocities at longer distances, with much less recoil.
Although within the fading twilight of its profession, rifles and ammo for the .338 Win. Magazine. aren’t more likely to disappear quickly, and there’s not a compelling purpose to do away with yours for those who prefer it. However for those who’ve acquired a recently-contracted case of magnum fever, there are higher selections than the .338.
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