338s that’ve come down the pike since, it seems almost quaintly civilized, provided it’s not chambered in some flyweight “mountain rifle” (such combos are why muzzle brakes came into vogue on bolt-action sporters). When introduced, it had a reputation for recoil. But one thing they didn’t want to give up on was velocity. In other words, it offered a combination of velocity, range, and throw weight sure to appeal to big bear hunters in Alaska, moose hunters, and elk hunters who simply wanted more bullet diameter and weight than was feasible in a. proprietary stablemate, it pretty much was conceived as a compromise between the existing. Since it appeared five years prior to its. Two of the best current 200-grain loadings are Winchester’s Power Max Bonded and Federal’s economically priced Power-Shok.įirst unveiled in 1958, this powerhouse is what put the. The closest thing we have to that long-gone factory load today-ballistically speaking-is the. It featured a 200-grain factory load at a velocity of 2,200 fps, a figure that handloaders could-and did-improve upon by nearly 200 fps or so. 33 WCF was a fine medium-range choice for medium-size game. (That’s when its niche was filled by the new Model 71 lever action in the more powerful. It was introduced for Winchester’s Model 1886 lever action in 1902 and perished commercially when the rifle was discontinued in 1936. 33 WCF can pretty much be considered the godfather of American. 33 WCF, our earliest successful “.338,” expired along with Winchester’s legendary Model 1886 lever-action rifle. I’ll list them in the chronological order in which they were introduced because the more potent ones are close enough together ballistically to try to arrange them by power level would be kind of tough-and sure to cause no end of argument! But let’s take a look at the 8.6mm (that’s. 30s, but they look to be running a close second (well, at least until the 6.5 breakthrough). 338s haven’t kept pace with the never-ending avalanche of. 338 cartridge offerings have piled up-most excelling at the type of long-range performance that’s gone hand in hand with advances in rifles, optics, and reticles. hunters are often after game bigger and tougher than whitetails, mule deer, and pronghorn antelopes.

338 bore size gained considerable traction-thanks to the emergence of the. 358 Winchester roils the waters every now and again. 35 (.358) caliber has never really gotten a serious toehold here, although the occasional item like the. 30-caliber country-and probably has been since the Model 1894 Winchester. 223/5.56, in terms of big-game rifles, the United States is a. Despite the enormous sales success of the now-ubiquitous.

338 spectre trim length