I just glanced at an article in a gun magazine the other night. Gen. Boddington suggests that the HEAVY GUN for a 3 gun battery should be the 338 Win Mag.

He stated that with a 250 grain bullet it will out penetrate the 300 grain bullet used in the 375 H&H and therefore this is what makes it a better choice.

How do the rest of you hunters feel about this statement for choice of BIG GUN?

Well, I don't know... is he talking a NA battery? If so, that sounds fine to me... a 22-250, 270, and 338 Win Mag would do it all just fine. If he's talking Africa, I'd think the 338 Win Mag would fall somewhere in the middle of a three-rifle battery, though it could probably do anything required of it with a good bullet.

BA

He is obviously talking about a 3 gun combination for regular North American non-dangerous game which doesn't include the big bears. If you look in his "Safari Rifles" book, the 338 (and 340) are in the "light mediums" chapter.

My heaviest caliber Rifle is a .338 WinMag.

Along with my .223 and a .308 it makes a nice 3 cartridge battery in my opinion.

So Why do like my 30-06 so much? must be the jack-of-all-trades thing.
MM

I'm sure the article refers to NA game rifles. There isn't much need for anything bigger in NA unless you hunt the big bears in close cover (IMHO). It would be my choice as a "heavy" NA rifle as well, although I do like my .338-06 for a GP rig.

I love the 338 Win and its a decent Buffalo gun and I can't tell any differnce in the 9.3's, the 338 and the 375 H&H on Buff..

I do believe the 300 gr. Woodleigh in the 338, the 320 Woodleigh in the 9.3's will about out penitrate anything out there, but cross section of bullet is important on Bufflo, the 375 wins here..

All in all its a pretty moot question and is mostly opinnion on anyones part...

The difference begins at 416 I believe, but never sell any of the above short on killing power.

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Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com

If it is the same article that I am thinking of, it was for ALL NA big game. His choices were a .270 for a light, a .300 Weatherby or RUM for a long range type of gun, and a .338 for heavy cover elk, all moose and all bears. I myself would go with a .375 instead of a .338. I see a lot of overlap with the .300 and .338. TTS

I know this is a little off the topic, but why is Boddington's name still prefaced with Colonel at the top of all his current articles? I thought he was promoted. Is this because these articles were authored before his promotion? Still, they could change his title regardless of the date authored. Perhaps he got tired of everyone giving him a bad time about the promotion.

Gentlemen this article I mentioned in my first post was indeed for NORTH AMERICAN GAME!

It took me a while to find the magazine again.

I was just looking over some "stuff" I missed when I was gone and was reading the Heavy/light medium catagories/comparisons etc. You have to remember it is all relative. When Elmer Kieth was trying to pi__ of_ Jack O'Connor he would talk about how good of a long range deer rifle the 333 OKH was and the 270 was ok for coyotes and rats and things. At the time that upset me but being a 270 and 338 fan I can enjoy it now. This can be like the stimulus/response formula, it all depends on how far you want to stretch the caliber it can be a Brown Bear stopper with 250/275/300 grain bullets or a long range rifle in the mountains or African plains with 180/200/210 bullets. I would not hesitate to use the 338 as a leopard rifle with...say a 210 Nosler partition. Did I use a 338 on my leopard? No I used a 270 Winchester with a 150 grain Nosler partition,one shot, no problem. It is all about what works for you. Good Hunting "Z"

The majority of people I encounter who have 338 Winchesters are afraid of them and shoot them poorly. To those accustomed to a 243 or 7mm-08 type cartridge the 338's seem to kick mercilessly. There is no doubt it is a wonderful cartridge, but only for those who make the effort to become proficient with it. Hey.....I wonder if that applies to all cartridges regardless of caliber, trajectory, ME, MV, etc....hmmmmmm.
Good Hunting,

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Andy Cooper

I distinctly remember that Mr. Keith regarded the Rem 7 Mag as "a good long range coyote gun."

Elmer was a large bore, heavy bullet guy obviously.

Tim

Not for Africa, it is not that popular over here, must be a reason

Flip... the "reason" is the .375 H&H!

The .338 Winchester magnum is very popular in Alaska. It was introduced in 1958 as "The Alaskan," and has gained popularity with elk hunters in the Lower-48. In my opinion, for North American Hunting the .338WM is an ideal top caliber.

The .375 H&H is great cartridge that has been around here for many years along the .30-06, but it is not as popular as some other cartridges.

This is from the NRA's January 2001 issue, American Hunter: "The Alaska Department of Fish & Game hunter safety staff in Anchorage tallied the big game rifles sighted at the Rabbit Creek rifle range for the 1999 hunting season. The top three cartridges were the .30-06 (21%), .300 Win. Magnum (19%), and the .338 Win. Magnum (18%). These were followed by the 7mm Rem. Magnum (9%), .375 H&H Magnum (6%), .270 (6%), .308 (4%), and .300 Wby. Magnum (4%), .45-70 (1%), .280 (1%), and a host of others, including many wildcats. Comparable data are not available for hunters who live in the bush."