I have used the 300 Wby in the past and its a great caliber, so is the 300 Win, 300 H&H...All good rounds and I have had success with all of them...My 300 H&H is a part of me and I have about worn it out in the game fields of the world, so I will never knock either caliber..but

I like the 338 Win. better than any round I have used for plainsgame, Deer, elk, brown bear...Maybe its not as flat shooting as the 300s, but I cannot tell any difference with me shooting them and I just like those big heavy 300 gr. Woodleighs at 2400 FPS and those sweet little 210 Noslers at 3005 FPS average in my 24" 338 Win....That's as flat shooting as I will ever need....

Can't attest to the Sako 75, but the older Sakos are one fine rifle in this caliber. Very accurate without having to trick the rifle out.

300 Weatherby - 220gr. RN-EX

Muzzle 2845 FPS / 3956 Ft.Lbs.
300 yd 1996 FPS / 1946 Ft.Lbs.

338WM - 225gr. Accubond

Muzzle 2800 FPS / 3920 Ft.Lbs.
300 yd 2320 FPS / 2690 Ft.Lbs.

At home they both look similar, but at 300 yards the 338 has the distinct advantage. Plus in my limited experience, the felt recoil of the 338 is much more manageable.

Nice apples to apples comparison.

What are the differences between the 300 Wby Mag and 338 Win Mag in terms of effective range and killing power?

Thanks.

I own 3 .300 RUMs and 1 .338. The .338 is my second rifle in that caliber.

I shoot both at long ranges. I find the .300s easier to hit with because they have less wind drift.

But when it comes to hunting, I most often pick up a .338 Win, for all the reasons others have described. It is a wonderful elk round, great in Africa, and works great on deer as well, although I don't choose either of these calibers when chasing deer.

Doublegun,

I haven't used the 300 Weatherby but my 300 Win. gives 3150fps with the 180's and some Weatherby's won't beat that. Also I shot the 338Win. almost exclusively for 12 years so I can probably make a comparison of the 300 Weatherby and the 338 Win. about as well as anyone.

The basic difference is that the 300 shoots flatter and the 338 hits harder. Personally until I got to the big bears either caliber would make me very comfortable. The 338's bigger bullet does make a bigger entrance and exit hole and I think it is just more gun when it comes to heavier game. The 300 on the other hand might let you hold dead on that 190 mule deer at 50-75 yards further out.

Both calibers will work great for all NA game if you use premium bullets (NP's are my favorites for everything in almost every caliber). If you are primarily hunting deer size game the 300 probably is your best choice. If elk, moose and bears are on the agenda the 338 is a little better choice. Also the 338 with a 210 NP at about 2900fps does nasty things to deer, sheep etc.

You choose. Both are great rounds.

Regards,

Mark

Doublegun, I had 4 one shot kills in SA using my 300 Win Mag. My loads using 180 grain Swift A Frames at 3100 FPS really did the job on Kudu, Waterbuck, Gemsbok, and Springbuck. The Gemsbok was 254 yds, the Kudu was at 185 yds.

Should have had 5 but pilot error (lousy shooting) required an extra shot at my Eland

Bigger bullet, bigger hole. The recoil will be very sim., so it depends on what you are looking for. I love the way the bigger .338 bullets smack larger game. For elk, moose, even deer size game (200gr bullets @ 3000fps will get you to 400yds), it would be hard to beat the .338wm as a good allrounder.

This really gets down to a matter of philosophy as much as it does anything else. If you think that somehow one of these rounds is going to launch bullets that bounce off or otherwise fail, while the other is going to provide dramatically better, fool-proof results every time, you couldn't be more wrong.



Make no mistake about it, both of these cartridges have taken literally every big game species in the world, and many globe-trotting, award-winning hunters have literally rewritten the record books via the use of these cartridges, as well as the .300 Win. Mag. What one will do, the others will do on 98% of the world's big game animals up through 2000 lbs. in weight. For the really big, nasty stuff (the other 2%) such as buffalo, elephant, hippo, etc., you need a significantly bigger rifle such as a .416 or .458 of some sort.



If it sounds like I'm saying that in practical terms the .300s and .338s will work about the same on the vast majority of big game animals, you are quite correct. The differences that get spelled out in print or on the websites usually get down to bullet-placement and bullet construction, plus imagination and exaggeration. If you shoot an elk or a big African plainsgame animal in a vital spot with a quality bullet from either a .300 Weatherby or .338 Winchester, you're going to have yourself a dead critter in short order. Pure and simple.



Personally, I like the .300 Win. and .338 Win. cartridges better than the .300 Weatherby, and I hunt with the .300 Win. Mag. and .338 Win. Mag. more than all other cartridges combined and have for over 24 years. I like them better because they seem to iron-out the same animals with the same level of whammy as the .300 Wby., plus I can get by with a 24" barrel, less muzzle blast, less recoil, wider ammunition and brass availability, no worries about freebore in terms of the use of Weatherby factory ammo (in a non-Weatherby rifle) or special handloading considerations, etc.



I guess I like the .300 Winchester a little better in a way because it shoots just a little flatter, but I suppose if someone twisted my arm and said that I had to choose just one rifle to hunt with for the rest of my life, I'm go with my Echols-built custom Model 70 in .338 Win. Mag. and call it good..........



AD

Sounds like no one here is shooting the .300Wby Well I own three of them. And also own the .338 win mag and the .300Win mag. And a .340Wby

The .300Wby with 180 grs at 3300 fps and 200 at 3100 fps not only have more energy at the muzzel it has way more at 500 yards and shoots a lot flatter than my .338

Just thought you like to hear from some one that owns and shoots all of them with out being partial to any of them.

The Weatherby�s just shoot flatter and hit harder than the Winchester�s No big deal cause I like my .300 and my .338. Winchester�s Won�t be getting rid of any of them.

The more I shoot the larger bores on game the more I become a believer that increased diameter results in better energy transfer to the target.

So in choosing between the 300 Wby Mag and the 338 Win Mag the trade-off is between better trajectory at range and more useful energy actually delivered to the target.

For things Elk sized and larger there is not question for me ... the .338 is the way to go. Minute of Elk is pretty big so the useful range of the rifle within an 8" circle is pretty darned close to as far as I want to shoot at game in my old age.

If the ranges are shorter, then going one up to the 9.3 is even a very good option.

I started hunting and carrying a "big" rifle for protection in the B.C. bush not long after the introduction of the .338 Win.; this was at the height of the "magnum craze' largely instigated by R.W. and his ripsnortin' cartridges. I began shooting .338s and .300 Roys at about the same time and .340s, .300 Wins. and .375H&Hs somewhat later and have shot a fair number of rounds through many rifles so chambered.

AllenDay's comments on this are right-on, as he is about 99.9% of the time, however, I own five .338s and no .300s of any type, anymore. This is entirely because I hunt and work, solo, in remote Grizzly country and I feel the .338-250 NP is a slightly better "stopper" than anything in a .300. I have not "been in at the death" of enough Grizzlies to flatly state this, but, I feel better with this combo, so, that is what I use. I also love the .375H&H and prefer it, for a "work" rifle to anything, yet, the last Grizzly I saw shot was done in with a .300....so, use the one, with appropriate bullets that YOU feel works best for you, where you hunt.

If you are shooting at extreme range the 300, for normal range I prefer the 338

but than again that works me but not for others


Flip

.338 WM is my favorite rifle, but to each his own.

John Batten liked and used .338WM as one of his favorite sheep guns because of it's wind bucking ability.

That's an interesting insight from John Batten about the .338's ability to buck the wind. Jack Atcheson Sr. & Jr. are both .338 Win. men as well, and they use those .338s on sheep, as well as just about everything else.

I grew up and started hunting when I was fifteen years old in 1972 with a .30-06. At the time, the 7mm Rem. Mag. was the hottest "new" big game cartridge on the market, and when guys wanted an elk gun in our state, they were buying Seven-Mags. Not all that many folks bought .300 Winchesters, and when they did, they were convinced that they had now owned a sure-enough cannon! Only the high-rollers bought .300 Weatherby's. The local dealer called Weatherby Mark Vs "Gypsy guns"! The .338 Win. was almost never discussed or seen in the field, and the only guy I knew of with a .338 in the 1970s was my dad's insurance agent who owned a high-grade Browning BAR that he originally planned to take to Alaska for brown bear.

By 1980 things had changed quite a bit, and the .338 was seen in a whole new light locally -- not so much as an Alaskan gun as THE "new", emerging elk rifle cartridge, but everyone seemed convinced that the .338 was just "too much gun" for anything smaller than elk. I bought my first .338 as well in 1980, and I've never been without one in the years since. But I don't agree that it's "too big" for anything smaller than elk. It works great on deer and is less destructive than a .270 Win., and there are very, very few hunting chores in this world for which the .338 Win. Mag. is not perfectly suitable. It's just one heck of a fine cartridge -- one of the best...........

AD

You could be more specific. Did Batten use Match Kings for instance?



Just using Nosler data the two cartridges will push 200 gr bullets out at about the same velocity and the 30 caliber has the better shape. Therefore it will drift less.

Both are typically used for the same range of game, meaniing in measure of optimum gain weight, they both house enough power to tackle some pretty large game.

The Wby obviously shoots flatter with its typical 180 grain loading, however the 338 Win with 250 grain loads can shoot as flat as a 30-06 with 180 grain loads at 300 yards. In addition, the 338 Win with 250 grain loads demonstrates awesome penetration on game from any angle taken. This is something the 300 Wby cannot match. The 338 Win should be compared more readily with the 340 Wby, as both are in the same class, with the Wby offering extreme power at extreme recoil.

Thats the beauty of the 338 Win, as a medium bore offering you get a lot of optimum performance out of a standard length magnum without the payback of intense recoil.