which do you prefer

Question:
out of these 2 which do you prefer from whitetail to elk and moose

Choices:
300 RUM
338 Win mag

 

I voted 300 RUM because I have nothing in calibers .338 or .416 and don't wish to add to my already large bullet inventory.

That said, I only chose the 300 RUM because that was the best of the 2 choices given. In my opinion, the 300 Weatherby comes very close to 300 RUM performance and does it more efficiently. The 300 Win. Mag. would also be a good choice and the brass would be cheaper and more available.

I live in BC, have hunted and worked in the wilderness here for over 40 years and owned well in excess of 100 big game rifles during that time, I have 35 at present. I have had 13 .338WM rifles among those and currently own 6 crf models so chambered.

I have loaded for and shot both the .300RUM and the .338RUM, various .300 Mags. and now have a .300H&H and a .308Norma, plus recently re-barreled my single .300Win. to.338WM.

I guess that about tells it as far as my preference is concerned, but, any .300 or .338 mag with a premium bullet will work just fine here on everything from tiny Blacktail Deer to 1500+lb. northern BC Moose.

Either...

you didn't state you were a handloader..

however a 300 RUM with a 220 grain at full steam would be a real thumper, regardless of game..

a 338 Win Mag, with a 250 grainer would be the same thing..

both are a lot bigger hammer than I think one really needs... but 'needs' and 'wants' don't necessarily have anything to do with each other..

338 WM. IMHO, the Ultra Mags are too much of a good thing. You burn a lot more powder and get a lot more recoil for a little more velocity. A perfect example for the law of diminishing return.

quote:

Originally posted by Dr. Lou:
338 WM. IMHO, the Ultra Mags are too much of a good thing. You burn a lot more powder and get a lot more recoil for a little more velocity. A perfect example for the law of diminishing return.

+1
IMO Same goes for the 7mm monster mag race under way.It's getting ridiculous!

I too voted for the .338. I have no need nor use for any 300 Eargesplittenloudenboomer.
Bear in Fairbanks

I generally think a guy should have something in both classes, but you should have the .338 WM first.

Before that should have a good medium workhorse. Something in the .260 Rem to 30.06 range.

Followed by your NA big critter gun. For this, you can do no better then the .338 WM.

The Ultramags should be your "long shooter", for those hunts were you expect to needs a 400 yard+ capability. Since not every hunting location or hunting style, will really benefit from this capability, I typically put the long range rig last on the list. But JMO.

Easy choice: 338 Win Mag.

I said .338 because you didn't offer a .416. If you gonna kill it, kill it dead!

If you don't feel comfortable killing it with a 300 mag, you don't need a faster bullet, you need a bigger bullet.

I voted 338 Win Mag.

.338 WM is the easy choice of the two....if you included a 330 Dakota, well the outcome would be different.

Owning both,(the .338 much longer) I still chose the 300RUM.

I have been very surprised by the RUM .

It is my only rifle (out of too many) that will print bullets from 150 to 250 all in about 6" at one hundred yards.

Before you sneer----- that's 7 different accurate loads, 35 bullets of different weights in less than a 6' circle. (all grouping 1" or less by weight).

With today's selection of modern engineered bonded or monolithic or hybrid bullets, etc;

and the the stated task of "from whitetail to elk and moose" I'll take this superbly accurate gun and what ever load I need.

I consider the .338 Win. as the most perfectly balanced big game rifle in the world..A 210 Nosler at 3005 FPS and a 300 gr. Woodleigh at 2533 FPS is pretty hard to argue with..I have shot a lot of big game with those loads including Bison, elk, Eland, and Cape Buffalo, It just works and without all the noise and recoil and gab.

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
I consider the .338 Win. as the most perfectly balanced big game rifle in the world..A 210 Nosler at 3005 FPS and a 300 gr. Woodleigh at 2533 FPS is pretty hard to argue with..I have shot a lot of big game with those loads including Bison, elk, Eland, and Cape Buffalo, It just works and without all the noise and recoil and gab.

338 and a Cape buffalo .. HMMMM Isn't minumum caliber 375?

quote:

Originally posted by Bernie P.:

quote:

Originally posted by Dr. Lou:
338 WM. IMHO, the Ultra Mags are too much of a good thing. You burn a lot more powder and get a lot more recoil for a little more velocity. A perfect example for the law of diminishing return.

+1
IMO Same goes for the 7mm monster mag race under way.It's getting ridiculous!

+1 again.

The 338 win mag is proven, popular, available and more than enough with out being wasteful.

quote:

Originally posted by graybird:

338 and a Cape buffalo .. HMMMM Isn't minumum caliber 375?

In many places it just may be.....but if you're hunting Eland and happen on a cap buffalo and your PH looks the other way (and if previously agreed) he will do.....you take your cape buff with anything your PH allows.....My PH has told me that I can take my buff with a .35 Whelen if I want. Law is one thing.....practice is another

hard to beat a 338 for an all around big game gun if animals over 500lbs are part of the equation.

I own both of the rifles. The 300 win mag,and
the 300 RUM.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by jro45:
I own The 300 win mag,and the 300 RUM.
I also own the 338 ultra mag I guess the 338 RUM
would be the best of the choices.

quote:

Originally posted by graybird:

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
I consider the .338 Win. as the most perfectly balanced big game rifle in the world..A 210 Nosler at 3005 FPS and a 300 gr. Woodleigh at 2533 FPS is pretty hard to argue with..I have shot a lot of big game with those loads including Bison, elk, Eland, and Cape Buffalo, It just works and without all the noise and recoil and gab.

338 and a Cape buffalo .. HMMMM Isn't minumum caliber 375?

The 375 is the legal minimum caliber.
But, I know many hunters who use smaller calibers and have had no problems.

quote:

Originally posted by Captain Finlander:

quote:

Originally posted by Bernie P.:

quote:

Originally posted by Dr. Lou:
338 WM. IMHO, the Ultra Mags are too much of a good thing. You burn a lot more powder and get a lot more recoil for a little more velocity. A perfect example for the law of diminishing return.

+1
IMO Same goes for the 7mm monster mag race under way.It's getting ridiculous!

+1 again.

The 338 win mag is proven, popular, available and more than enough with out being wasteful.

Barrel life on the RUM is about 800 rounds. All that heat and pressure does damage. I have one, though, and I like it. Just don't reload for it. Not worth the investment.

Neither, I'll stick with a .300H&H in a bolt gun or single shot. Different story with a DR, either a 9.3x74 or 8x75RS. Mike

Greybird,
You are correct, but it is Africa and hundreds of buffalo are killed each year by female hunters and young kids and many locals use the 30-06 and 308s for Lion, Buffalo and even elephant..Nobody checks and nobody cares it seems, and I don't know a game scout that would even know, they can't read, write or write and they just don't care, a gun is a gun to them for the most part.

In my case I had a .450-400 on one ocassion but the shot was about 200 yards and I had to shoot through a hole in the bush about 6 inches in diameter, the PH grabbed the .338 from the tracker,loaded with solids, as I was going to shoot some game for the pot that day, and he told me to shoot the scoped rifle..I did and it worked, that bull bled like you cannot imagine and died with 100 or so yards...Other times were simular in that the .338 seemed the better option as that was all I had as an observer and things got out of hand. I would prefer the .375 or better yet a .416 for sure.

I have seen a lot of buffalo killed with the 30-404 Jefferys, the 338-404 Jefferys and the .375-404 Jefferys and their counterparts and variations, so popular today and they really work well indeed.

Thanks for the replies since I love the 300 WSM I got this fall I'm thinking of getting rid of my 300 RUM and getting a 338 Win Mag

Neither, but of the 2, I would go with the .300 RUM.

I would use either one for all in a heartbeat.

I have owned 5 300 ultramags but never shot anything with them. I started out with a 338 win mag when I was 15.

quote:

Originally posted by Tom S:
Thanks for the replies since I love the 300 WSM I got this fall I'm thinking of getting rid of my 300 RUM and getting a 338 Win Mag

This is my combo, 300wsm shooting 165gr, and 338win mag shooting 225gr. What more would one need?

Thanks for the replies I'm goin to check out the 338 Win Mag in Remington XCR II tomorrow at the gun store

Why do we feel the need to include deer or other small thinned skin game when comparing elk and moose? Why is it even mentioned in the same sentence? Who in their right mind would use either cartridge on a deer? Can we, just once, have a pole with some measure of common sense. I voted 338 win mag because it is really the better of the two options both practically and professionally.

338 Win Mag...Closer to my 325 WSM than the 300 RUM...and don't need the extra recoil the Ultra Mags give. My 325 splits the difference between the 300 and 338 Winnies...

quote:

Originally posted by Captain Finlander:
Why do we feel the need to include deer or other small thinned skin game when comparing elk and moose? Why is it even mentioned in the same sentence? Who in their right mind would use either cartridge on a deer? Can we, just once, have a pole with some measure of common sense. I voted 338 win mag because it is really the better of the two options both practically and professionally.

What's wrong with using a .338 to shoot a deer? While I love my .264 and son's .270, the rifle I use for probably 90% of my hunting these days is my .338. I've shot a number of blacktails with it, and they die just fine. Nothing wrong with that caliber for smaller aninmals at all, and when it comes to elk, I don't think a better caliber exists.

quote:

Originally posted by DLS:

quote:

Originally posted by Captain Finlander:
Why do we feel the need to include deer or other small thinned skin game when comparing elk and moose? Why is it even mentioned in the same sentence? Who in their right mind would use either cartridge on a deer? Can we, just once, have a pole with some measure of common sense. I voted 338 win mag because it is really the better of the two options both practically and professionally.

What's wrong with using a .338 to shoot a deer? While I love my .264 and son's .270, the rifle I use for probably 90% of my hunting these days is my .338. I've shot a number of blacktails with it, and they die just fine. Nothing wrong with that caliber for smaller aninmals at all, and when it comes to elk, I don't think a better caliber exists.

Nothing wrong with it only that you are in a very small minority of shooters who do.

quote:

Originally posted by Captain Finlander:
Why do we feel the need to include deer or other small thinned skin game when comparing elk and moose? Why is it even mentioned in the same sentence? Who in their right mind would use either cartridge on a deer? Can we, just once, have a pole with some measure of common sense.

Because there may be mixed-bag hunts where two or more species might be taken? Maybe because the hunter only owns or wants to own one gun? Or, in the case of most of us here, because we own multiple guns and we simply like to use them? Or maybe because we want to become very familiar with the field-handling of a gun that we plan on using for something bigger on another occasion? Perhaps the hunter believes that "dead is dead, and too-dead is...not possible"?

I've used a .375 for crows, coyotes, grounghogs, deer, black bear and moose, in addition to its more accepted and typical African uses. The only problem that I experienced was the tiresome eye-rolling and jibbering about "overkill" and "overgunned" from the peanut gallery.

Guess I'm not in my "right mind".

John

quote:

Originally posted by jwm:

quote:

Originally posted by Captain Finlander:
Why do we feel the need to include deer or other small thinned skin game when comparing elk and moose? Why is it even mentioned in the same sentence? Who in their right mind would use either cartridge on a deer? Can we, just once, have a pole with some measure of common sense.

Because there may be mixed-bag hunts where two or more species might be taken? Maybe because the hunter only owns or wants to own one gun? Or, in the case of most of us here, because we own multiple guns and we simply like to use them? Or maybe because we want to become very familiar with the field-handling of a gun that we plan on using for something bigger on another occasion? Perhaps the hunter believes that "dead is dead, and too-dead is...not possible"?

I've used a .375 for crows, coyotes, grounghogs, deer, black bear and moose, in addition to its more accepted and typical African uses. The only problem that I experienced was the tiresome eye-rolling and jibbering about "overkill" and "overgunned" from the peanut gallery.

Guess I'm not in my "right mind".

John

Me too. A 375H&H is just the ticket for coyotes and deer and it doesn't spoil nearly as much meat as the 300RUM. Don't ask how I know this but I do.

Where is the neither vote??

quote:

Originally posted by Blacktailer:
A 375H&H is just the ticket for coyotes and deer and it doesn't spoil nearly as much meat as the 300RUM. Don't ask how I know this but I do.

The meat thing is important. I used a 375 H&H Magnum on the jackal and there was very little meat damage. Do you have any good coyote recipes?

338 for the simple fact that I prefer a big bullet at moderate velocities over a smaller one fast for the bigger game. Weird things happen at high velocities; I think bullets perform more reliably and consistently at moderate velocities. Plus, most of your bigger game won't be shot at long range so why worry about a laser flat trajectory?

I wont call the UM overbore because I know it is a hated term. Ill just say the .338 is more practical..

Aww screw it, the Ultrawhizbanger is idiotic and a waste of good powder.. A skilled 06 shooter will beat a itchy trigger UM shooter all day long.. There, I said it..

My main rifle is a 338WM and I do shoot deer with it.

No problem.... what is too much?


Better too much than too little... IMO