What kind of accuracy should I expect from a .338 Win. Mag.? I minute of angle hold true for such a large cal.? I am talking about a hunting gun, but from a bench.

Thanks

If your shooting is good from a bench and your loads are compatible with your rifle groups like the ones below are not out of the question.
My rifle is a Win M70 SuperGrade hunting rifle, 3-9x40 VX-1 Leupold scope shots were from sandbags at 100 yards.
Good luck with yours.

I'm shooting sub moa with my 338-378 and 338RUM with Swift A-Frames. I would expect the 338 Win Mag to do the same.

I was aveg, 2.250" @ 200 yds????

I was going to try IMR 4350 , with Sierria's 225 bullet tomorrow. I plan on starting at 68 g.

Yes that is a good place to start in my opinion. As you can see with my target 70.5 grains of IMR 4350 gave 2815 fps average and 71 grains dropped in fps to 2799 average. I felt like I hit something there with accuracy and velocity dropping slightly so I settled on the first load.
This load is safe in my gun you will do well to work up to it.
Good luck with your .338.

Do you use MOLY?

My Savage 338WM (yep, still in flimsy tupperware stock) shoots sub moa @ 100 off the bench.

The sight-in target below shows shot #1 (NP), moved 1/2 m right and 1 m down, fired #2 (NP). Called good letoff on both, so shot #3 (200 gr. ST) to check POI.

NOTE: The notation on target is INCORRECT. Should read 200 gr, NOT 225!



MV on the 210's is 2970 but load is hot; no pressure signs in my rifle, but start low and work up as YMMV. No moly for me, been there, done that.

Regards,
hm

Mine is a hawkeye ruger all weather and it shoots great.
, I shoot the 225 grain acubond over RL 19 if i remember corectly and it shoots flat enough and fast enough for any hunting will likly do...tj3006

I had some issues with mine getting it to shoot but I believe it was self inflicted.

Long story short. Mine will print cloverleafs with Fed or Win LRM primers and IMR 4350 with 250 grain bullets like it's no big deal. Speer, Seirra, Hornady, Woodleigh, it doesn't seem to care. I get good groups out of RL19 and RL22 also.

If you can't get it to shoot with IMR4350,.... well, sum ting wong!!!!

Mine is a Ruger M77 mk1 with a locally made MAB barrel. It will shoot just under 1 MOA for 3 shot groups with Nosler, Woodleigh and Barnes bullets of various weights, and under 1.5 MOA with almost anything I feed it. Mostly I use AR2209 (H4350) but Reloader 17 is excellent for the 160gn Barnes TSX (3390 fps), and Reloader 22 is the best powder I have found for 250gn bullets. It won't hold small groups for 5 shots because it has a fairly slim 24 inch barrel and it heats up too quickly to stay consistent for more than 3 shots, but it is an 8 lb outfit, and is excellent for hunting.

My Sako 75 is super accurate with nosler Accubond and Norma Oryx.....here is a 4 shot group with 225 Accubond at 100 metres. I have a 2.5-10 S&B scope on it.

I stopped load development with 225 gr TSXs when the rifle consistently delivered 2" at 300 yards. More than adequate IMHO.

I get accuracy like the ones shown above with my plain old Rem. 700 stainless/synthetic BDL. The only thing I did to the rifle was adjust the trigger. It will keep all my shots touching at 100 yds. if I do my part. The nice thing is it shoots both the 225 Gr. Hornady Interlock and Nosler Partitions to the same POI. I'm using H-4831 with Fed. 215's in WW brass.

quote:

Originally posted by DLH4570:
Do you use MOLY?

I've never used MOLY and know very little about it really.

Fed 215, IMR 4350, 100 yrd group just prior to my AK Brown bear hunt.

quote:

Originally posted by cmfic1:
Fed 215, IMR 4350, 100 yrd group just prior to my AK Brown bear hunt.

Don't ya just love the 210 NP's. Accurate, flat shooting and very effective on game.

Regards,
hm

My .338 WM is a Ruger stainless with their laminated stock and my scope is a Leupold 1.5-5x, Vari-XIII. With my load of 73 grs. of Rldr-22 and a 225 Northfork, I get 2800 fps and accuracy is easily a MOA out to 300 yds (as far as our range goes). It's devastating on moose.
For larger game, I love this round.
Bear in Fairbanks

As shown, if the shooter is up to it, the .338 is capable of excellent accuracy.
Mine was a plain vanilla model 700. With the trigger set at 3.5# and tuned loads, I shot 5 shot groups that were MOA to 1.5" depending on me not the rifle. I used I4350 and Grand Slams.

OK! I have spent the last 3 1/2 hrs getting the Moly out of my barrel, and off of the bullets (the bullets were alot easier!) no thew next nice day I will be going to the range.

Thanks!!

DLH4570,
2.5" at 200 yards is more than good enough and darned fine shooting for a hunting gun as long as it is repeatable, reliable hot or cold and if you can hold 5" at 200 from field positions in the real world all the time; your better than most.
It is nice to have the one big hole at 100 yards off the bench because you know your gun is capable. However if you can hold that 2.5" at 200 from sitting, prone or off sticks you should be a very happy fellow!
dmw

I agree. That is what is important. If you can hold a group to 1/2 the size of the kill zone area, on the game you are hunting, from a field position, all you need is the confidence that the rifle can do better, and the discipline to stalk to a distance that keeps your groups comfortably in the kill zone then you will have good results. Most rifles can hold groups well under half the size of the best shooters capabilities, so for most people it is not that critical for their hunting rifle to shoot under MOA, but it is nice to have that confidence. It is also fun because, if you are not out varminting with your tack driving 22-250, but instead you are out looking for bigger game with a heavier calibre, you can still take opportunistic shots at small varmints and have fun with your bigger calibers

It has been my experience that the .338's need a tight twist, 1-10 or less. The 1-10 will shoot 225 gr. bullets well, some will even shoot 250's if you can push them fast enough. A 1-9 twist will shoot about anything as will a 1-8. I have found the .338's very accurate if the twist is right........Tom

Thanks Guys.

I have been to the range 3 times since my 1st post. the last time was after I DE Molied, the barrel and the bullets. Sierra 225s. when I hit THE load 69.5 g of IMR 4350, with a Fed 215 primer. It was very easy to see. 4 - 3 shot groups under .75". (a scope change helped TOO!!! went from a 3 x9 to a 6 X 24) must be OLD eyes? only got lightly kissed by the scope once. aveg FPS 2777

That looks like a load to stay with.

Don't be agraid to try RL22

Hi
You are very close to my load I took to Africa.It was 69 g of IMR 4350 win LRM and a Barnes 210g TTSX mv 2909 The average group was .56 including all loads the worst being 1.7 This was in a Ruger #1 with 26 inch barrel.Very effective to say the least,7 plains game fell in their tracks. Bill

Years ago, before plastic stocks were very popular and people owned fewer rifles, I decided to buy an all around rifle since I could finally afford an elk hunt. I had several rifles at the time, but nothing I thought was suitable for an elk hunt (I grew up with varmint hunters). I thought about it for a long time, and ended up buying a 338 Ruger 77 MkI. I had it magnaported, glass bedded it in a B&C stock and installed a low power Leupold variable. Being a varmint hunter, I was a handloading nut, but before starting load development, I grabbed a box of the original Federal Premium 210 gr Partitions. The first three shot group was 3/8". So much for load development. I bought a case of the ammo and have used it for hunting ever since. I handload it for practice and use the Federal for hunting. That was around 30 years ago. I own over 70 rifles, but I have killed every head of big game I shot since that time with the same rifle and load. I have shot everything from coyote to bear with it, and it performed perfectly. The rest are to play with, the 338 is "My Rifle".

Years ago, I, too, planned on going on an elk hunt but that, in the end, did not happen.

I decided on a .338 Win Mag, and then thought about what rifle I wanted. Since elk are as big as they are, and I wouldn't be taking a shot beyond 300 yards, I decided that I wouldn't need extreme accuracy. Since I figured I wouldn't be hunting elk-sized game again, I didn't want to spend an arm and a leg on a rifle.

What I did want was something that would be impervious to the elements, and I wanted it topped with a very good scope, one that, too, could withstand bad conditions and hold its zero.

I ended up with a bare-bones, sightless Ruger MK11 stainless, with one of those soft plastic canoe-paddle stocks. I put a Leupold VarX-3 (2.5 - 8) scope on it and called it good.

Turns out it'll shoot 225 Hornady bullets over 73.5 gr Re19 (~2800 fps) into a MOA all day long, and most other loads will shoot no bigger than 1.75 MOA, if I do my part.

Sometimes, you just get lucky.

Here is another example of my 338win mag accuracy....I shot this 5 shot group just a few days ago....It’s Nosler Accubond 225gr. by the way.

quote:

Originally posted by Ingvar J. Kristjansson:
Here is another example of my 338win mag accuracy....I shot this 5 shot group just a few days ago....It’s Nosler Accubond 225gr. by the way.

Nice

I measured the group 24.77mm – (cal. 8.6mm) = 16.17mm or 0.64 inches

My Sako 75 shoots just like yours Ingvar, I got it in 1997 sighted it in and proceed to shoot 17 moose with with and all I do is check zero and go hunt. Its a rifle I kept when I pared down my collection some years back.

Add me to the list of .338WM stalwarts and mine will tickle MOA with several loads if I do my part.

It's the North American 9,3 - steady, old farm horse that just gets things done without a lot of fuss or fanfare.