If you’re going to drop 10K on an elk hunt, or maybe even more than that on a moose hunt, and WAY more than either of those on an Alaskan brown hunt, you will absolutely have to factor those things in before you even think about booking your hunt.I’m not trying to discourage anyone away from the 3 fine cartridges which are the subject of the article, but if you are new-ish to shooting, or new to magnums, there is a very big difference in shooting them than there is for the non-magnum small bores (30-06 and smaller).
All other things equal, a heavier projectile of a given caliber will be longer and therefore have a higher sectional density and consequently penetrate deeper than projectiles with a lower mass and sectional density.A 270 grain .338″ bullet has a sectional density of .338 and a 300 grain .338″ bullet has a sectional density of .375. Shoots flat and right on the money and the professional hunters take them over anything else for plains game.Of the three I am considering getting the .338 Lapua-especially since I own two 325wsm rifles. I feel like I’ll be less of an idiot around my friends now. Of the three, I’d say to go with the .300 Win Mag since ammo is generally cheaper and it has less recoil than the others.Are you more sensitive to recoil?
Buy in stock 338 Winchester Magnum ammunition online. This reason, combined with the aforementioned shortcomings of the .338 Lapua with regards to rifle weight, recoil, and ammunition cost, are why many hunters instead gravitate toward cartridges like the .300 and .338 Win Mag (or even the .375 H&H) instead that are still plenty powerful, but have more manageable recoil in a lighter and easy to carry rifle.Do you primarily hunt black bear, deer, or hogs in an area where long distance shots past 200 yards are uncommon and bullet drop isn’t a big concern? load is designed for those who want the deepest possible penetration out of an expanding bullet fired from a 338 Win. I think most hunters would agree that the .300 Winchester Magnum, .338 Winchester Magnum, and .338 Lapua Magnum rounds are serious heavy hitters that can get the job done on big game. Nearly all modern cartridges are flat-shooting out to about 300 yards (assuming a 200 yard zero). It’s basically a shortened blown out lapua case akin to an up sized short mag(wsm/rsaum) About equal to a Nosler Mag but in a shorter fat case.
Remington sent shockwaves through the hunting and shooting worlds when they introduced the 7mm Remington Magnum in 1962, which also used a shortened and necked down .375 H&H case.
Spitzer. It will also really do a number on really big game like elk and moose with good shot placement.However, there are honestly very few hunting situations that require a cartridge as powerful as the .338 Lapua. I have been looking for just such an article comparing the 3 cartridges. However, the .338 Lapua can generally use heavier bullets than the .338 Win Mag. However, while there’s nothing necessarily wrong with using any of those cartridges in those sort of situations, if that’s the only sort of hunting you do, then none of them are strictly necessary and you could easily get away with something lighter. Or would you rather use a lighter, 8-10 pound .338 Lapua rifle that’s easier to carry, but with much more recoil?Remember when I talked earlier about how the designers of the .338 Lapua wanted a cartridge with good long range performance without requiring as large or heavy of a rifle as the .50 BMG? The ammo cost is pretty insane.Glad you enjoyed the article Ian! Heck, they would be effective on coastal bear. Not surprisingly, though there is a little bit of overlap in their best uses, the .300 Win Mag, .338 Win Mag, and .338 Lapua are all best suited for distinct tasks.In this article, I’m going to discuss the pros and cons of the 300 Win Mag vs 338 Lapua vs 338 Win Mag so you can make an informed decision regarding which cartridge fits your particular needs the best.Before we get started, I have an administrative note:Some of the links below are affiliate links. I live in the country and was looking for an interesting caliber to try. That time period saw a flood of new centerfire rifle cartridges like the .222 Remington, the .280 Remington, and the .308 Winchester (and it’s descendants the .243 Winchester and the 7mm-08 Remington).Around that same time, the “Magnum Era” also began in earnest when Winchester rolled out a line of new belted magnum cartridges utilizing a modified Those cartridges utilized a .375 H&H Magnum case necked down (or up, in the case of the .458 Win Mag) and shortened from 2.85″ to 2.5″ long. It’s not a hunting rifle.
Winchester picked up the gauntlet Remington had thrown down and responded the following year with the .300 Winchester Magnum (also known as the .300 Win Mag or .300 WM).Built using a modified .338 Winchester Magnum case, the .300 Winchester Magnum basically duplicated the performance of the other fast .30 caliber cartridges of the day like the .300 H&H Magnum and .308 Norma.
The 338 Lapua has nearly twice as much recoil energy though.Both cartridges shoot the same diameter bullets, but the 338 Lapua normally uses heavier and more aerodynamic bullets with a higher sectional density than the 338 Win Mag. Mag. Thank you.The Big Game Hunting Blog is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca and other Amazon stores worldwide.
The 30 Nosler.
It’s specifically designed for this sort of work and stands head and shoulders above almost all other rifle cartridges for long range precision shooting.Do you want an ideal cartridge for especially large game like red stag, Are you specifically hunting brown or grizzly bear?
Go with the .338 Lapua. To answer your question: no, you cannot shoot 338 Win Mag out of a 338 Lapua rifle.good read! This last year I've taken a brown bear @15yds, black bear @210yds and a moose at @320yds. Indeed, able to push a 225 grain bullet at 2,800 feet per second (3,918 ft-lbs of muzzle energy) the medium bore .338 Winchester is quite powerful and is capable of ethically taking almost any species of game in the world.Winchester didn’t stop with the .264, .338, and .458 Win Mag cartridges though. BUFFALO-BARNES PREMIUM LEAD-FREE 338 WIN. Magnum cartridges, including 7mm RM, don’t kill animals any deader inside 300 yds than non-magnums like 30-06, 308W, 270W, 280Rem, etc.