The 338 Winchester Magnum: King Of The Elk Cartridges

Guns Magazine, Nov, 2000 by Holt Bodinson

Accurate and powerful, no other cartridge can match this old favorite for hunting North America's most majestic game.

The one cartridge that can legitimately carry that mythical label of the "all-around North American big game caliber" is the .338 Winchester Magnum. Here is a modern, efficient .30-'06 length case, chambered in a bevy of reasonably priced rifles, blessed with some of the finest game bullets ever developed, approximating the smashing energy of the .375 H&H and the stretch-string trajectories of the .300 Win. Mag.

A middle-of-the-road compromise cartridge? Don't you believe it, It just happens to be the finest general-purpose elk cartridge available.

Released in 1959 in Winchester's "Alaskan" Model 70, the .338 Win. Mag. was the second cartridge to be introduced in Winchester's "short magnum" series that included the .458 Win. Mag. and the .264 Win. Magnum. Positioned midway between the bone crunching .458 and the flat shooting .264, the .338 Win. Mag. soon acquired a reputation of being one of the world's premier medium bores.

Origins Of The .33

The .338 Win. Mag. was not Winchester's first foray into the world of the .338 caliber. In 1902. Winchester had introduced the .33 Winchester cartridge for their Model 1886 lever action. Loaded with 200 gr. soft points and solids at 2,200 fps, the .33 Winchester developed an excellent reputation on big game.

Shortly thereafter in 1911, Jeffery brought out their .333 Flanged and Rimless Nitro Express that propelled a 250 gr. bullet at 2,500 fps and a 300 gr. pill at 2,200 fps/ The .333Jeffery proved to be a very effective big game load in Africa and India.

In the mid-1940s, Charles O'Neil, Elmer Keith and Don Hopkins necked the .30-'06 case to .333 and created the .333 OKH to be followed by the .334 OKH based on the .375 H&H Mag. case. Heavily promoted by Keith in all of his later writings, the OKH wildcats probably did as much as anything to rekindle Winchester's interest in their old .338 caliber.

When it was released to the public, the .338 Win. Mag. was advertised as the ideal North American magnum for our largest game including brown bear, grizzly elk and moose.

With due credit to Winchester, early factory ammunition was loaded very close to advertised velocities from the 25" original Model 70 Alaskan. Winchester's loadings consisted of a 200 gr. Power Point at 3,000 fps, a 250 gr. Silvertip at 2,700 fps, and a 300 gr. Power Point at 2,450 fps. What's more, the ammunition shot with impressive accuracy The average Model 70 Alaskan .338 turned out to be a real tack driver.

While unnecessarily powerful for mule and white-tail deer, the .338 Win. Mag. really comes into its own as an elk cartridge. Elk are large, heavy-boned, heavy-muscled deer. A mature Rocky Mountain bull elk measures roughly 8 feet long, stands 5 feet at the shoulder, and averages 700 lbs. The Roosevelt elk of the Pacific Northwest is somewhat larger with an average weight between 700 and 1,100 lbs.

Elk hunting of the guided variety is extremely expensive. Public tags, typically on a unit-draw basis, are simply worth their weight in gold. Consequently the proper selection of rifle and ammunition has never been more important, and moving up to a larger caliber makes uncommonly good sense.

What makes elk hunting demanding of rifle and cartridge is not only the size and vitality of this regal trophy but the variety of habitats in which elk can be found. Ideally, one wants to be carrying a caliber that will soundly anchor a big ball on a close-in shot in thick timber or the rain-soaked jungles of the Pacific Northwest, and at the same time be capable of reaching out to 400 yards across open meadows, mountain parks and wide canyons with energy to spare. The .338 Win. Mag. is blessed on both points.

Losing Weight With Age

The reputation of the earlier .33 caliber, bolt-action cartridges was made with bullets weighing 250 to 300 grs. Those long, snaky .33 caliber slugs exhibited terrific sectional densities, high retained velocities and energy and penetrated like knives through butter. While the 300 gr. loading has virtually disappeared, the 250 gr controlled expansion spitzer is still a formidable projectile in this cartridge.

Recoil is a factor in the .338. Stepping up to a true medium bore magnum, many hunters can tolerate the .338 Win. Mag. when shooting 200, 210 and 225 gr. bullets, but find it decidedly uncomfortable when bullet weights hit 250 grs. or more. Of course, you can always resort to a muzzle brake, but fewer and fewer hunters find this option acceptable. Their hearing is just too precious.

While there is a great assortment of factory, premium .338 Win. Mag. ammunition on the market today, the .338 is an accommodating case to reload with good brass life, high loading density, manageable pressures and generally excellent accuracy. More importantly, it can be safely handloaded to exceed the performance of several standard factory rounds. According to RCBS' latest data, the .338 Win. Mag. ranks 12th in rifle die sales, putting it ahead of likely competitors such as the .300 Weatherby, 7mm STW and .300 Rem. Ultra Magnum.