Lets say one discounts weight of the gun, recoil, number of shots fired ect, all the extranious factors in making a shot. Over a long distance, say 800-1000 yards which would be considered the superior cartridge, the 300 Win mag or the .338, assuming handloads are used to facilitate bullet selection?

I'm a fan of the 338 bore myself, but there sure have been a great deal more world records set with the big .30's than most other calibers.

Joe

Hello George!
My plan is to build a heavy barrel gun for long range(plinking) shooting. Not target work per se, but kind of a "watch this shot" rifle. Essentially a sniper rifle configuration.

I think the 300 Winchester and for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, the variety of match type bullets is far greater in 30 calibre and this increases your chances of developing a load that reaches the full accuracy potential of the rifle/scope/mounts setup.

Secondly, the 300 Winchester would stay above the speed of sound out to a greater range although that would not be relevant at the ranges you mentioned. But you never know you just might want to go further out than 800 to 1000 yards

A third point which would hardly amount to very much is that the 300 Winchester won't be as high at the mid range trajectory and so the bullet does not have to arch over as much as it makes the descent to the target.

Mike

That makes a big difference. The 300 hands-down. Better bullet selection means better chance at finding magic load. Lighter bullet per powder charge means easier time making the shot. There's so much more dope on the 300 Win as long-range caliber that it actually makes the 338 cry (I've seen it. Ruins the primer. Sad thing.)

If this is just for fun, however, I'd seriously consider an even bigger case. You can do more with big bullets and crazy BC's, and most any action you'd use for the Win Mag can handle a Whetherby, H&H, RUN, 300-8mm, etc.

If you were going to be trying to take down an animal, you might still be fine with the 300, since the 338 has more drop per SD genereally speaking.

Hi Alvah! How have you been?

The .300 Win. Mag. has a lot of history behind it in terms of long-range records and use by snipers, but I think you will be better served by a .338 Win. Mag. using the 300gr. bullets like those offered by Sierra.

The .338/300gr. has a higher BC than a .3308/240gr. (.768@2300fps vs. .711@2150fps), and that is an achievable velocity in the .338 Win. Mag.

The heavier bullet will be less affected by the wind, too.

Sounds like a fun project.

George