which big boy of the 338's

[mjbskwim]

That's the thing, some people have the data, equipment, knowledge and skill to take the variables out of it.

So they make equipment to check the wind sheet in that canyon you are shooting across?
And to make the animal not move while the bullet is flying ?
Most of the shows that some yeahoo is shooting at rediculouse distances,they are loosing some of the animals cause they aren't getting good hits.
Cause the animal can move quite a bit it the flight time of the bullet at 1000 yards.
Learn to hunt instead of making these long shots.
It is everyone's business when hunters injure animals because they don't know how to shoot at any distances. Very few can shoot at 300,like you refered to,let alone 1000 yards.
Learn to hunt and get closer.

 

[tkdguy]

Very well stated.

 

[No_Regerts]

So they make equipment to check the wind sheet in that canyon you are shooting across?
And to make the animal not move while the bullet is flying ?
Most of the shows that some yeahoo is shooting at rediculouse distances,they are loosing some of the animals cause they aren't getting good hits.
Cause the animal can move quite a bit it the flight time of the bullet at 1000 yards.
Learn to hunt instead of making these long shots.
It is everyone's business when hunters injure animals because they don't know how to shoot at any distances. Very few can shoot at 300,like you refered to,let alone 1000 yards.
Learn to hunt and get closer.

This ethics police stuff kills me. The flight time of a bullet fired from a proper long range cartridge is less than that of an arrow at 40 yards and I see way morr lost animals due to archers than anyone else. Most dedicated LR hunters I know have wind indicators set up at various ranges. The definition of hunting is the legal taking of game. Stalking and hunting are not the same. Hunting is a privilege and being divided is not how we successfully lobby for our privilege.

 

[Certaindeaf]

So they make equipment to check the wind sheet in that canyon you are shooting across?
And to make the animal not move while the bullet is flying ?
Most of the shows that some yeahoo is shooting at rediculouse distances,they are loosing some of the animals cause they aren't getting good hits.
Cause the animal can move quite a bit it the flight time of the bullet at 1000 yards.
Learn to hunt instead of making these long shots.
It is everyone's business when hunters injure animals because they don't know how to shoot at any distances. Very few can shoot at 300,like you refered to,let alone 1000 yards.
Learn to hunt and get closer.

Yeabut I have a beard! come on

 

[mjbskwim]

This ethics police stuff kills me. The flight time of a bullet fired from a proper long range cartridge is less than that of an arrow at 40 yards and I see way morr lost animals due to archers than anyone else. Most dedicated LR hunters I know have wind indicators set up at various ranges. The definition of hunting is the legal taking of game. Stalking and hunting are not the same. Hunting is a privilege and being divided is not how we successfully lobby for our privilege.

I'll have to disagree that a bullet traveling 1000 yards is taking the same time as a arrow at 40.
And I have to laugh. You're saying that long range hunters set up wind flags before they shoot at an animal at 1000 yards?
If you are using a magnum caliber bet to DRT an elk at say 4-500 yards I can see that. No chasing the beast. But just to reach out to 7,8,900,1000 yards seems lazy to me.
And I believe in America I can disagree with anyone I want.
The main thing that irks me about this is it gets those folks with more money that shooting abilities buying these guns cause they're too lazy to get closer.
And they have self confidence problems
But that's just my opinion.
I'll be hunting elk with my muzzle gun this weekend
Under 100 yards. Otherwise I won't care if I don't get one.

 

[No_Regerts]

They absolutely do place flags ahead of time. It takes a lot of scouting and time in the field to know where the land will allow you to pull off a shot like that. Impomptu glags are everywhere such as marker flags on fencelines.

Some hunters are as much into mastering their rifle as they are hunting. Meticulous reloading, custom rifles, optics that run over 2k, and more range time than most people will ever see.

BTW, flight time for a 75gr Amax fired at 2750fps from a 223 is 1.8 seconds to 1000 and a 105gr Amax fired at 2950 from a 243 gets to 1000 in 1.6 seconds.

 

[Who The F R U]

What's the big Problem ??
If someone has the ability to take game @ 1000 Yard's good for them.

My Buddy Steve @ Alaska Custom has Goat hunted every year as long as I can remember.
I don't think he has EVER taken one down under 1000 yard's.
Doe's that make him lazy or is that you just cant get up on them ? You still have to go get it.

Either way this thread is a dead end on opinion's. No one is going to change their mind about what is a right and wrong range for a shot.

In the end it's about putting food on the table NOT who is the coolest kid.

 

[orygun]

33 Nosler looks interesting. In fact, all of the Nosler line looks interesting.

 

[Sstrand]

Let ask once more:
What range can a get from a .338 Win Mag? I'd like to try my hand at long-range steel plates.

Sheldon

 

[orygun]

Let ask once more:
What range can a get from a .338 Win Mag? I'd like to try my hand at long-range steel plates.

Sheldon

That's a good question. A decent 225gr bullet at 2800fps with a 100 yard zero. (as printed in a recent Nosler manual) will drop 28" at 400yd, 51" at 500yd and 82" at 600yd. I'm thinking that 500-600 is where an inexperienced long range shooter would run into trouble making hits. Drop can be corrected with the twist of a turret and range measured, but things get pretty small by then and very hard to hit.
An Appleseed event, especially a Known Distance version, is a great way to deal with shots up to 400 yards without a bench or bi-pod. The 338 would be kind of expensive to shoot and the cumulative recoil might beat you into submission, but you can always take a break.

 

[Sstrand]

Thanks, orygun

Sheldon

 

[Vaultman]

Let ask once more:
What range can a get from a .338 Win Mag? I'd like to try my hand at long-range steel plates.

Sheldon

Pretty much the reason I asked the original question. It really wasn't about hunting or ethics. More about practicing at long ranges. At least for a few years then knowing what my limits truly are.
All you that say "____ yds to far" are so off as to the original question you couldn't hit the broad side of a barn within rock throwing range.

 

[BiggerHammer]

I had the same decision to make several years ago. I decided to go with the .338 Edge. Simply a .300 RUM necked up to .338. I used standard .338 RUM dies to load for it. It is faster than the .338 RUM and the .338 Lapua and will work on a standard Rem700 magnum action. Where as the Lapua and the Weatherby will not.

Benchmark barrels in Arlington WA has a huge reputation for making spooky accurate .338 barrels. I went with a 10 twist 30" Fluted Sendero contour. I really like the Hornady 285gr match bullets along with the Berger 300gr Hybrids. The Bergers are a bit finicky on seating depth but they flat shoot. I have shot deer at over 400 yards with the 285gr Hornady's and flat crushed them.

The group pictured was shot at 300 yards useing new Remington brass, absolutely no prep at all. Necked them up, loaded them and shot them.The buck was shot at 487 yards.



I had Benchmark build the rifle and Karl Kampfeld did the hunter bolt knob and bolt fluting. I also had Benchmark chamber up a second barrel for it chambered with a custom reamer I had built called a .458 Ultra Magnum. The .375 Ultra Magnum necked up to .458.

I shot the the CEB 370gr non con poly tipped bullets in the .458. Took a bull elk at 302 yards with the .458 barrel on it.

 

[P7M13]

Had a 338 Lapua, sold it to a buddy. With it, I would ring a bell at 800 yards consistently. If it were an elk, it would drop right there. I really missed the caliber so once I had more money, I built myself a 338 Edge, 28"/1:9 barrel on a Savage long action, mounted in a MDT chassis. Haven't stretched it out yet, and I am confident it will perform nicely. I've only done load work-ups so far (chrony + accuracy), and the loads I star are the shots that produce bullets that touch at 100 yards.

On the build:

• one thing I would do differently is to go with a McGowen #5 contour rather than a Savage Heavy Varmint. It would shave 2 lbs. As it is, with a Leupold VX7-L, it's only 13#. Just as accurate as the Lapua, throwing 300gr bullets ~2850 fps.
• I would not use a Savage Long action. It's a single shot because of it. Instead, I'd get their Magnum action for the 338LM, use a Rem 700 out of an Ultra Mag, or use the CZ550 Magnum action I have. That said, I do like Savage actions.
• With regards to actions, based on rifles I have, or have built, for strength of action, I would use Mauser first, Rem 2nd and Savage 3rd. For compatibility, I'd use Rem, Savage, Mauser. Hot rounds with a Savag means stuck case or heavy bolt lift. I haven't had that problem with my Rem. My budgets didn't allow me to use Rem clones.
  
• I put it in a MDT LSS-XL chassis with Magpul ACS buttstock. LOVE IT. I have it set up for 15.5" LOP, and my daughter can shoot it just as easily by moving it to a 13" LOP. Plus, it makes it easy to fit into my Pelican case....

Like @No_Regerts or @BiggerHammer, making the brass and loading rounds is a piece of cake. Depending on the bullets I use (Berger / Nosler / Lapua / SGK), I'm $1 - $1.50/loaded round.

I track and stalk - on the coast range, I'm scrambling around in brush and trees where I'd be lucky to get a 50 yard shot. It's God's country -- even if I don't see an elk like this year, I'm still happy. Were I ever to head to Eastern Oregon, I would be comfortable taking longer shots after studying flags and grass for a while.

I was gonna say 375 Ruger.

I recall, you really liked your Alaskan...

I looked long and hard at that Ruger .375 especially a nice Carbing M77 Hawkeye, almost perfection, Almost! Sorta stuck with a propriety round being the big draw back to an other wise outstanding Combo!

I convert the 375 Ruger case to a wildcat. I love that brass, so easy to work with. Inexpensive too.

Benchrest groups are irrelevant.
Anyone that shoots at an Elk from 1,000 yard away in the field deserves to have his hunting license pulled..

Disagree with you there, depending on the shooter. Shooting 1K at a bull standing among a bunch of cows, yes, that would be irresponsible. Benchrest and sandbag groups do count. If you can't nail it there, you have no business trying longer distances.

Just because you cant do it, doesnt mean others cant or shouldn't. I know a few guys that only hunt long range because its what they do all year long. They are better at 1000 than most are at 200 with a rifle or 40 with a bow.

There's a handful on this forum I would bet money on using their 308 at 1K.

I was looking at the .338 WM and .338 LM data on the Hodgdon site, with the 300 gr bullets IIRC. The LM is touted as a 1500 yard cartridge, but according to that data, what the LM can do at 1500, the WM can do at 1300. Kinda makes a person question why the LM is useful at all, given the obvious drawbacks.
Of course the LM is found in big heavy rifles with long barrels of the proper twist for these bullets, while the WM is found in light hunting rifles with typically shorter barrels, and I'm wondering about the twist too. But I bet you could take any magnum Savage and just replace the barrel with a longer, heavier .338 WM barrel and have yourself a poor man's .338 LM.
I'm not a fan of belted cases though. I've had some trouble with them.

A Poor Man's 338LM will still cost you ~$1,400 in parts.
Given the MV of the heavier bullets, I would not shoot a 338WM past 300 yards unless I regularly practiced with it at up to 600.

A serious LR hunter generally use specially loaded ammo anyway. CoreLokts and powerpoints aren't going to cut it. That is why I prefer the 338 Edge. The components and actions needed are standard.

+1

I agree with Sheldon. Hitting them at 200 yards they can still wander some distance. I think the average range for shooting Elk is about 150 yards or less. Shooting at 1000 years sounds like a remote probability at the .00001 level of change. 10 inch bull at 1000 yards at the range is one thing but in real life where a majestic animal life vs pain or suffering is at stake is Ugg! JMO

Whoa, that sounds a tad bunny-hugger to me.

 

[P7M13]

if you really want a long range money waster.. look no further then...
View attachment 320632
the M200

At 65# and $13K, good luck getting that m'fer out of the truck bed.