Depending on what game you are hunting, the amount of penetration you will need will vary. Just because one cartridge might have the numbers that suggest higher levels of penetration doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to be the right round for you. The .338 in (8.6 mm) is the caliber at which medium-bore cartridges are considered to begin. As you can imagine, this is a hard hitting cartridge with its .338 cal bullet. For the .308 Winchester, it’s tough to narrow down our pick for a hunting round even when just looking at the five we used for comparison purposes. Very hard hitting round and great at long distances. The 9.3x62 splits the difference between the .35 Whelen and the .338 Win Mag. By streamlined we mean aerodynamic. Copyright © 2020 Outdoor Life. It’s easily one of the most well-known cartridges in the world and is forever linked with American firearms. The .338 Winchester Magnum was designed in 1958 by Winchester Repeating Arms Company. Mag. I chronographed the 338-300 wsm and it was the equal of the 338 gibbs, 338-06 AI. It can also influence your ability to make quick and accurate follow up shots. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction; that is one of the physical laws of our universe. The .338 Federal was designed by Federal Ammunition and it is a SAAMI standardized cartridge that was released in 2006. To be honest, there are going to be very few times where you sit and wonder should you go with a .338 or .308 chambered rifle, at least in the hunting world. The .300 Win mag does shoot flatter, but you can also shoot lighter bullets in the .338, that shoot just about as flat. If you do not have the proper rifle twist, you can have the hottest load in the world and be wildly off target. for the .338-378 Weatherby. 300 Win Mag vs 338 Lapua vs 338 Win Mag: Picking The Right Heavy Hitter. The .308 is just under the 30-06 in ballistics , Not enough difference really if that is goal. With such higher BCs, it will be interesting to see how the selected rounds stack up in other performance categories. So, when looking at these numbers, keep in mind what applications you have in mind. Federal's offering is based on a.308 Winchester case necked-up to accept standard.338" diameter bullets. Though we didn’t include velocity, the slighter higher velocities of the .338 LM rounds are also going to further distance themselves penetration wise, from the .308 Win rounds. .308 Winchester Overview. The .308 is just under the 30-06 in ballistics , Not enough difference really if that is goal. The .308 Winchester was introduced in 1952 and soon after the casing was modified and adopted as the 7.62x51mm NATO round that saw action in Vietnam. If you remember the cartridge specs we looked at earlier in the article, you can also see that a lot more material has to be used for the .338 rounds. Which one of these popular rounds will be named the best all-around black bear hunting cartridge While the .338 LM and even the .308 Win are known long range rounds, they are both also used in hunting situations where shots within 300 yards are often encountered. This is a huge difference in bullet energies. Outdoor Life may receive financial compensation for products purchased through this site. Mary’s .300 Win. What are we talking about with energy concerning the cartridge? Since it is based on the .308 Win. The 338 was designed to duplicate the old 333 OKH wildcat developed by Elmer Keith a popular gun writer of that time. I seldom shoot the big guns anymore with the .308 or 30/06 being all I need(and more) for deer. Accuracy is a tough category to dive into in our opinion. We like the trajectories of this round, and with some practice and good optics, it can easily make 350 to 400-yard shots. On average, the .300 Win Mag does have a flatter trajectory with a difference of .78” (300yds), 1.96” (400yds), 3.76” (500yds), 5.74” (600yds), and 8.54” (700yds). We compiled the velocities (ft/s) from the muzzle out to 500 yards from the manufacturers’ websites (Graph 2). When it comes to kinetic energy, there are some guidelines for how much energy is needed to bring down different size game. With interest in the .338 LM in civilian circles, there are more options for the cartridge than there once was, but you are still going to have more difficulty finding it when compared to other cartridges. While the diameters and cartridge lengths are wider and longer (nearly an inch), the casing material is much thicker for the .338 than the .308 (not shown). This trend continues downrange to the 500-yard mark though we do see some variance in the amount of energy with the .338 LM rounds. We compiled the bullet energy data from each rounds manufacturer and have put them in a graph following them out to the 500-yard mark (Graph 7). The .338 Winchester Magnum, like the .458Win, .264Win and 7mmRem mag is based on the .375H&H case shortened to 2.5” and form what is known as the 2.5” magnum family. That’s splitting hairs for on-game performance, but makes a pretty big difference for long range shooting. First, what do you consider “long range"? We understand that a lot of competition shooters most likely are, but for those looking to break into the long range shooting game, this factory load is a great place to start. We hope that this article has shed a little more light on the two cartridges and given you a better understanding of the two and allowed you to make more educated decisions on if these two cartridges fit what you need. We have Bullet A, which has a weight of 100gr and a diameter of 0.2 inches and Bullet B, which has a mass of 150gr and a diameter of 0.2 inches. The 150gr Federal Vital-Shok .308 round does perform more similar to the 280gr Barnes .338 LM round though it still shows slightly more bullet drop. We have compiled the SDs of the ten rounds we have been using for comparison. Your post is a bit vague, but with little to go on I'd pick 308 any day. 338 LM Federal MatchKing BTHP Gold Medal 250gr, 338 LM Nosler Trophy Grade AccuBond 300gr, 308 Federal Vital-Shok Ballistic Tip 150gr. This same idea goes for terminal ballistics as well. I'll stick with my .308 and about 15 ft lbs recoil. As you move up from that, you want a little bit more. In 1952, Winchester commercially released the .308 round along with chambering its Model 70 and Model 88 rifles for the cartridge. The case if based off of the .375 H&H Magnum by expanding the body and narrowing down the neck to fit a .338 bullet. Huston is a hunting enthusiast who believes your success in the field is directly correlated to the amount of preparation at home. The .338 Lapua and .338 Win Mag both utilize larger .338 caliber bullets. It is very obvious that we are looking at two different cartridges in this comparison. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. She can drive tacks with her purple gun at 100 yards. The .308 Winchester uses .308″ bullets, the .338 Federal uses .338″ bullets, and the .358 Winchester uses .358″ bullets. Even though the .338 cartridges have some incredible BCs (0.789 and 0.72), you can see that it does have some rounds that closer resembles the BCs of the .308 Win cartridges and even less than a few of them (0.431 < 0.45, 0.462). But it has competition..338 Federal Here’s the.308’s over-achieving offspring. The 338 Winchester Magnum is arguably the best. and the .308 Win. For hunting purposes with the .338 Lapua Magnum, we like the Nosler Trophy Grade AccuBond 300gr. In the table below is a comparison between the .338 Federal and the older .358 Winchester, another cartridge based on the .308 Winchester. It's different for me - I really needed my 308 Norma Mag because my 30-06 didn't kill mule deer and elk dead enough, and my 338 Win Mag killed them too dead. In this rifle caliber comparison, we are going to take a look at two cartridges that most might not think to compare. And while it doesn’t necessarily mean the .338 LM rounds are better it indicates different uses for the cartridges. The .308 has been utilized by military and police forces since its introduction though not as heavily in modern times. There isn't anything I'd hunt with a 338 I would refuse to hunt with a 308 with good bullets. I think this a different cartridge than the .338 mag. The velocity of a round is an important component to examine when comparing two cartridges or just looking at any cartridge for that matter. Long range hunters and experienced hunters taking Elk and Moose at longer ranges may appreciate and require the better terminal performance of the 300 Win Mag. In our ballistics section, we will take a look at several categories including the velocity, ballistic coefficient, and the trajectories of the ten rounds we have selected for comparison. 1000 yards? Once you pull the trigger, the powder in your cartridge is ignited, pushing the bullet down the barrel and downrange. For whitetail, you don’t need the penetration that is going to be needed for a bull moose. These are also factory loads, so you are going to be looking at factory load performances. This cartridge is much younger when compared to the other cartridge we will look at, but it is interesting because it is sometimes seen as a replacement for the .308 Win in specific shooting applications. When looking at the 338 Lapua vs 308, we have to keep in mind that both of these cartridges can have their day in the sun. There are without a doubt major differences between these two cartridges, and it will be interesting to see how these differences affect the performance characteristics. The 338 win mag is by far the superior performer of these two. And while we can easily widen or close the gap by playing around with bullet weights, it does give you an overall view that these two cartridges are going to give us different trajectories with the .338 LM having a much flatter trajectory over 500 yards and given what we have seen so far, it is expected. Unless you are highly trained in the use of the rifle and have logged a couple hundred hours, the recoil of the .338 Lapua Magnum is going to be in the back of your mind when lining up a shot. You’ve been out in the field scouting for days, put down the stalk, and now have em in your crosshairs. Elk Cartridge Showdown: .308 Win vs. .300 Win. Velocity can also be connected with accuracy, though you should do so with caution. If you compare individual rounds, the flattest .338 LM round shows nearly 40″ less bullet drop at 600 rounds compared to the steepest falling .308 Win round and 56″ less drop at 700 yards. And receive our newsletter with the best articles covering guides, guns & gear. This means that the momentum of a rifle's reaction will exactly equal the momentum of the bullet and powder gasses ejected from the barrel. At the 500 yard mark, there is a clear distinction between the higher velocities of the .338 and the lower velocities of the .308 rounds. 1 mile? In 1958 Winchester came up with cartridges to hunt about any animal with in a 30-06 length action Mag Cartridge. was taken in a 24 inch barrel, while the .330 Dakota data are for a 25 inch barrel, with 26 inch barrels used for the .340 Weatherby and .338 RUM. Why? The result is not surprising given the increased velocities as well as the heavier bullets which would translate to increased kinetic energy. We have compiled the BCs for the ten rounds we have selected for comparison and placed them in a bar graph (Graph 3). Where the .338 LM is really needed as a hunting cartridge is for the largest game animals that require a tremendous amount of energy and penetration to get through thick and tough hides. As far as ballistics go, you’re looking at a ballistic coefficient of 0.789 with only a little over 100 inches of bullet drop at 700 yards. A muzzle energy might be considered a better option over the 338 is sharper,! 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