338s Are A Great Caliber

[CoElkHunter]

Unfortunately, Ruger decided to shorten the 375 Ruger brass to make it a "compact magnum," so it has capacity now slightly below that of the 30-06 if I am not mistaken. A true 338-375 Ruger has around 99gr H20 capacity, matching the 340 Weatherby.

The RCM line of brass has found some use as the basis for the 6.5 PRC, while the 300 PRC uses the proper, full-sized 375 Ruger case. If I did not have such an aversion to stubby fat cartridges, I would have a 6.5 PRC necked down to 6mm so I could match 240 Weatherby.

Well, unfortunately once again, it appears Ruger made a poor decision by shortening their .375 case to create the .338 RCM? When they created their .480 Ruger revolver cartridge, they shortened the .475 Linebaugh case to a .44 Remington Magnum case length, instead of a compromise length between the Linebaugh and .44 Magnum case length. In my opinion, a poor decision?

 

[CoElkHunter]

one thought.
225 gn 338 bullets and 250 gn 358 bullets both have a sectional density of about 0.280.
250 gn 338 bullets are about 0.31 from memory.
comparing same weights for the 2 calibers might not be fair.
my own experience with the 338 was not as good as others report.
i could only get 2800 from the 210 nosler partition, and 2600 from 250 gn bullets.
and then the partition turned out to be disappointing in reliability of terminal performance.
bruce.

Yes, I wouldn’t use the 210gr bullets in my .338WM on elk, due to the lesser sectional density and ballistic coefficient? Silly me!

 

[bruce moulds]

not silly at all.
the bullet might be good on white tail.
one of my failures was on a pig, where a good shot was wasted due to the bullet changing direction when the nose blew off.
the same shot with a 308 150 gn bullet or 270 130 gn sierra bullet would from experience have been a bang flop.
in fact the 200 gn speer proved a more reliable all round bullet than the 210 gn partition.
bruce.

 

[CoElkHunter]

CoElkHunter
The 338 RCM isn't even as good as the 338/06.
Bob

I guess it isn’t, since learning from Saul here that Ruger shortened their .375 case to create the .338 RCM? Since I have lots of .338WM brass, my choice would be a .375-.338WM? Find me a rifle already chambered for it! Ha! Ha!

 

[CoElkHunter]

not silly at all.
the bullet might be good on white tail.
one of my failures was on a pig, where a good shot was wasted due to the bullet changing direction when the nose blew off.
the same shot with a 308 150 gn bullet or 270 130 gn sierra bullet would from experience have been a bang flop.
in fact the 200 gn speer proved a more reliable all round bullet than the 210 gn partition.
bruce.

From my experience with Sierra bullets, is that they work real well on deer and pronghorn, but not so much on elk?

 

[bruce moulds]

i don't know about elk, but mid weight sierras are not enough for donkeys in 27, 28, and 30 cal, but then no bullet might in that range.
300 gn sierra in 375 make big mushrooms and work well.
bruce.

 

[CoElkHunter]

i don't know about elk, but mid weight sierras are not enough for donkeys in 27, 28, and 30 cal, but then no bullet might in that range.
300 gn sierra in 375 make big mushrooms and work well.
bruce.

Not me, but a hunting buddy. Three shots in a small, legal bull elk with 165gr Sierra Boattails at 25 yds. from his Browning BLR ‘06. Killed the elk, but it didn’t move. Same buddy and ammo, FIVE shots into a cow moose at 25yds., didn’t move. I told him, so great, but what if these animals are at 100 yds? I’ll use my .338WM!

 

[JimP]

I have found my bullet and loading for my 338 caliber rifle. A Barnes 225 grain TTSX at 3000 fps. It is lights out to everything that I have shot with it out to just under 800 yards. The smallest animal was a cottontail rabbit at 40 yards, a perfect head shot. The furthest was a bull elk just under 800 yards.

Every animal has been a one shot kill shot, but as everyone should know, if the animal is still standing you keep shooting. On the others that took more than one shot I blaim only myself

By the way my rifle is a 340 Weatherby MkV stainless made here in the USA packing a Leopold VXII 3.5-10x40

 

[CoElkHunter]

800 yds! I couldn’t see past 300yds WITH a scope! Ha! Ha! It’s hell getting old! Maybe you need more of a challenge and excersize shooting the Sierra Bullets and chasing wounded game all over the mountains! Ha! Ha!

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

I guess it isn’t, since learning from Saul here that Ruger shortened their .375 case to create the .338 RCM? Since I have lots of .338WM brass, my choice would be a .375-.338WM? Find me a rifle already chambered for it! Ha! Ha!

CoElkHunter
Why not just neck it up to 416 and have a 416 chatfield Taylor.
Bob

 

[Fastrig]

not silly at all.
the bullet might be good on white tail.
one of my failures was on a pig, where a good shot was wasted due to the bullet changing direction when the nose blew off.
the same shot with a 308 150 gn bullet or 270 130 gn sierra bullet would from experience have been a bang flop.
in fact the 200 gn speer proved a more reliable all round bullet than the 210 gn partition.
bruce.

Give a 200 grain 338 Federal a go on big hogs. Some were ripping up stuff at my nieces place so brought my new 338 Federal AR-10 to help her husband clear them out a few days ago. He was using his 308 AR-10 with 165 grain rounds. I hit the first big hog, just shy of 330 lbs, and it stopped living in its tracks. He hit the next one, slightly bigger, and it went about 20 yards before falling over. The balance went down pretty much the same way with the 338 Fed dropping them instantly and the 308 killing them but they kept going a little bit before keeling over. My first 338 Federal and have to say it impressed me. Got it for hogs and bear, think she’s a keeper for those. White tail no problems, elk I think would drop like a rock as well inside of 300 yards.

 

[JimP]

800 yds! I couldn’t see past 300yds WITH a scope! Ha! Ha! It’s hell getting old! Maybe you need more of a challenge and excersize shooting the Sierra Bullets and chasing wounded game all over the mountains! Ha! Ha!

Nope I am done trying to find a new load that I like to shoot, at least in my 340.

Even on my South Africa hunt the furthest shot was 479 yards on my kudu. I was just getting ready to send another round when my PH said that he was down.

And I am like you are and getting older, I went on SS while in Africa in 2015. It seams that when I see my doctor I wonder what body parts need to be repaired

 

[CoElkHunter]

CoElkHunter
Why not just neck it up to 416 and have a 416 chatfield Taylor.
Bob

I have a Whitworth .416 Taylor. I’ve only shot about a dozen 400gr Barnes Original bullets through it. Work/life have gotten in the way of my reloading lately. But, I thought my next wet rifle dream would/could be a .375-.338 chambered rifle? No real sane reason for it as I have a .375 H and H, but there’s not much sanity here anyway when it comes to various wildcat cartridges, so what the heck? Shoot a lot of different stuff and prosper!

 

[bruce moulds]

all the more reason to try a 9.3 on a necked up 338 case.
bruce.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

all the more reason to try a 9.3 on a necked up 338 case.
bruce.

Bruce
It's already been done and on the 300WSM.

 

[bruce moulds]

bob,
it has also been done on the 338 case, which is almost dimensionally the same as the 9.3x64 but with a belt.
bruce.

 

[Newby]

@PaulT
If that's the superformance load what is the standard load doing
A 225 gr accubond out of my Whelen is doing a chronoed 2,850 fps while the 225 grainWoodleigh PPSP is doing a chronoed 2,950 fps..
So wouldn't the Whelen be just as good as the 338 out to 400 yards. Both loads cut clover leaf groups @100 yards.
Bob

YOUR Whelen might be comparable, but since your velocities are at least 200 to 250 fps above what could reasonably be expected from the average 35 Whelen at safe pressures, it isn't really a fair comparison.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

YOUR Whelen might be comparable, but since your velocities are at least 200 to 250 fps above what could reasonably be expected from the average 35 Whelen at safe pressures, it isn't really a fair comparison.

Newby
ALL my Whelen loads are at safe pressures and can be found on the Nosler and Speer reloading sites.
I would NEVER ADVOCATE the use of over pressure loads.
The Whelen was strangled at birth by Remington with low pressure loads. Loaded to normal pressure with modern powders any one can give the old cartridges like the 6x57, 30/06 and 280 Remington and the Whelen can be given a kick in the arse and bought into the real world safely.
Bob.

 

[Newby]

Newby
ALL my Whelen loads are at safe pressures and can be found on the Nosler and Speer reloading sites.
I would NEVER ADVOCATE the use of over pressure loads.
The Whelen was strangled at birth by Remington with low pressure loads. Loaded to normal pressure with modern powders any one can give the old cartridges like the 6x57, 30/06 and 280 Remington and the Whelen can be given a kick in the arse and bought into the real world safely.
Bob.

Well aware of all that Bob, and I don't doubt you.

The fact remains that your velocities are pretty much exactly in line with Noslers velocities for the same bullet in the much bigger cased 358 Norma Mag.

Whilst there can be big variations from barrel to barrel, reamer t0 reamer etc, there are no free lunches and if some one was to build a Whelen expecting to achieve those velocities, disappointment is more likely than not.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Well aware of all that Bob, and I don't doubt you.

The fact remains that your velocities are pretty much exactly in line with Noslers velocities for the same bullet in the much bigger cased 358 Norma Mag.

Whilst there can be big variations from barrel to barrel, reamer t0 reamer etc, there are no free lunches and if some one was to build a Whelen expecting to achieve those velocities, disappointment is more likely than not.

Newby
As I pointed out those velocities are available to Whelen users just check the two sites I told you about. My rifle is nothing special..
I felt the same as you but have changed my mind. Maybe new powders can give others a lift as well.
Using superformance in my 25 lifted the velocity 200 ++ fps with no increase in pressure. Just different burning characters. Instead of the standard parabolic curve it is a longer more sustained lower pressure curve . The curve has the same peak but tapers off over a longer period than normal.
Hope that explains things a bit for you.
Bob