It’s easily one of the most well-known cartridges in the world and is forever linked with American firearms. If you compare individual rounds, the flattest .338 LM round shows nearly 40″ less bullet drop at 600 rounds compared to the steepest falling .308 Win round and 56″ less drop at 700 yards. Alternatively, you can run 300 grain bullets in the Lapua for amazing BC’s and better 1000+ yard performance. That weight makes a big difference in ME with the 300 win mag doing 3500 ft-lbs at the muzzle compared to the 338 lapua’s mighty 4832 ft-lbs. By Chuck Hawks. That’s a huge increase in recoil makes sense when you look at this graph. The importance of looking at recoil often deals with the potential for throwing off a shot. 300 Win Mag vs 308 Win. was taken in a 24 inch barrel, while the .330 Dakota data are for a 25 inch barrel, with 26 inch barrels used for the .340 Weatherby and .338 RUM. So it’s not even close in the price category. With a degree in Microbiology and several years of doctoral work manipulating bacterial genes, he attempts to merge the rational and unbiased thinking of scientific research with the passions of hunting and fishing. Wind drift and drop are both less critical with that extra speed. It’s the reason why we think all of these factors should be taken together. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. This means that the momentum of a rifle's reaction will exactly equal the momentum of the bullet and powder gasses ejected from the barrel. The debate between .308 and 30-06 has been around for decades. Very hard hitting round and great at long distances. 338 Win Mag. This is a huge difference in bullet energies. .308 Norma , Nov 6, 2019 #16 It is famous for its uncommon compatibility with the 30-cal bullet. Data for the .338 Win. Mag. Mag. Still, it’s something we want to address, and we can look back at some of the performance categories we have been discussing and draw some conclusions from that data to make some assumptions on accuracy. The 30-06 bullet diameter is .308 inches while the .338 bullet is .338 … It is more than capable of bringing down moose, grizzlies, and the big five African Big Five Game. We examine the history of these cartridges and compare them side-by-side in several categories that are important to hunters and sport shooters. We will first look at the short range trajectories of the ten selected rounds. I chronographed the 338-300 wsm and it was the equal of the 338 gibbs, 338-06 AI. While the diameters and cartridge lengths are wider and longer (nearly an inch), the casing material is much thicker for the .338 than the .308 (not shown). Not as much as other cartridges, but more than the .338LM. What’s so impressive is how similar these two rounds are in velocity, even though the .338 rounds are using bullets nearly or over 100grains heavier than the .308 Win rounds. For the .338 LM, we like the Hornady ELD Match 285gr rounds. From a ballistics standpoint, the .338LM had much higher BCs than the .308 rounds. We plan on using this one for stopping cars after shtf. While both of these cartridges can be tinkered with to push their performance to even higher levels, the increased capacity of the .338 LM rounds makes them much more suitable for extreme distances of 1,000+ yards. And because energy depends on the mass and the velocity of the round, it is a very useful comparison for two different cartridges because the bullet weights and speeds can differ between the two. For example, an FMJ will often pass through cleanly with little expansion which also means reduced energy transfer. The primary difference between the 338 Win mag and the Lapua is in performance. is quite versatile and a solid contender as a black bear cartridge. While data gathered in this method provides an accurate means of comparison, we want to make clear that the numbers can vary when used with your shooting platform. However, a .338 Win Mag without a scope is missing out. The velocity of a round is an important component to examine when comparing two cartridges or just looking at any cartridge for that matter. Since it is based on the .308 Win. Recognize what is in your sight, and that which is hidden from you will become plain to you. We have compiled the SDs of the ten rounds we have been using for comparison. Again, for some of these, the sheer weight of hauling a gun capable of firing these cartridges might make them burdensome in the field. You usually are not deciding on the 338 Lapua versus 308 for most shooting applications. The .308 Winchester was introduced in 1952 and soon after the casing was modified and adopted as the 7.62x51mm NATO round that saw action in Vietnam. So we will take a look at the components we can, but keep in mind that there are other factors you will have to take into account. Again, it doesn’t necessarily mean the .308 rounds are less accurate at this ranges, but you’re going to have to put a lot more into shot adjustments to hit the target. The .338 mag will carry the power and the 06 will have the trajectory only marginally so. Stopping power is a topic that is going to seem a lot more valuable to the hunters reading this article rather than those just looking to use one of these rounds for target shooting. In the table below is a comparison between the .338 Federal and the older .358 Winchester, another cartridge based on the .308 Winchester. The following ammunition cartridge ballistics information and chart can be used to approximately compare .308 Winchester vs .338 Winchester Magnum ammo rounds. You want enough expansion to transfer the maximum amount of energy, but you also want the bullet to pass through the animal causing as much trauma as possible. The numbers of this cartridge all point towards it being a highly effective hunting round for large game. Again, this is something to keep in mind once we reach the application section. And again, these are not the only parts to the full equation. This means that the momentum of a rifle's reaction will exactly equal the momentum of the bullet and powder gasses ejected from the barrel. Barrel life is not as short in the .300 win mag as some may think. That’s splitting hairs for on-game performance, but makes a pretty big difference for long range shooting. There are without a doubt major differences between these two cartridges, and it will be interesting to see how these differences affect the performance characteristics. For hunting purposes with the .338 Lapua Magnum, we like the Nosler Trophy Grade AccuBond 300gr. With 300 grain bullets, the win mag throws them at ~2300 fps, whil… Have shot 338 and 325 at range, 338 in the Win 70 , the 325 in the Abolt . In 1952, Winchester commercially released the .308 round along with chambering its Model 70 and Model 88 rifles for the cartridge. We understand that a lot of competition shooters most likely are, but for those looking to break into the long range shooting game, this factory load is a great place to start. For an elk only rifle, I would probably just go with the .300 Win Mag, as the extra power and recoil of the .338 just isn't required. The .338 Federal was designed by Federal Ammunition and it is a SAAMI standardized cartridge that was released in 2006. I'll stick with my .308 and about 15 ft lbs recoil. For certain situations, sure, but there will always be some point where one bests the other. We will look at the bullet drop of all ten rounds out to 300 yards with the firearm zeroed in at 100 yards (Graph 5). The .308 is a fairly popular medium to large size game in North America and has been so for decades. 243 Win 10” 260 Rem 8” 7mm-08 Rem 9,5” 308 Win 11" 270 WSM 10” T3 300 WSM 11” 25-06 Rem 10” 6.5 x 55 SE 8” 270 Win 10” 30-06 Sprg 11" 9.3x62 14" 7 mm Rem Mag 9.5" 300 Win Mag 11" 338 Win Mag … I think this a different cartridge than the .338 mag. When it comes to availability, there is also going to be a noticeable difference between these two cartridges. You have to go with what you need or look for alternatives to the situation at hand. At this point, the .338LM rounds sustain their velocities at a higher rate than the .308 rounds. With two decades of chasing all manner of upland game, hooved mammals, strutting gobblers, and any small game that can fit in his Dutch oven, he hopes to offer new ideas and viewpoints on hunting and firearm concepts and traditions. For a lot of hunters and marksmen, recoil is often not one of the major concerns or points for deciding on cartridges. What we mean is that this data is not going to give you an idea of the maximum performance that can be extracted from either cartridge. is a customized Ruger M77 Mk II with a purple-thumbhole stock and muzzle brake. Both of these rounds are also used for long range shooting, the .338 LM was designed for it and warrants looking at the long range trajectories of the two cartridges (Graph 6). Like the example, all of the components that go into stopping power coalesce into a round that can either drop game cleanly or it can’t. The .338 LM rounds have nearly or over double the recoil energy generated when compared to all of the .308 Win rounds. With more powder capacity because of a larger diameter and longer casing, as well, the .338 takes a larger diameter bullet, the .338 is capable of delivering a much heavier bullet with more energy at the target. This most likely would occur after firing many shots where you begin to get fatigued. This includes recoil, trajectory, and terminal ballistics such as penetration and bullet expansion. We saw that the .338 LM rounds had higher BCs and flatter trajectories, especially past 500 yards. In doing so, we hope to differentiate what these cartridges are capable of and in what situations one would serve you better than the other. Since neither of us plan on hunting for Grizzly anytime in the future, we have decided to pass on buying a .338 Win Mag. With such performance characteristics, it did not take long for the general public to become interested in what this cartridge could do. Because the .338 federal is just a .308 necked up, there is not a lot of powder to propel the big .338 bullets that have they really high BC's (250-300 grains). A 308 will out perform the 338 at long range, though that does not mean the .338 federal is not a good cartridge, it just was intended for a different purpose. Sectional density doesn’t give us a direct way to determine penetration as say a ballistic gel, but because the bullet weight and caliber are used to determine sectional density, it allows us to compare two cartridge types. The reason why penetration is essential is it determines the rounds ability to reach critical organs. Very hard hitting round and great at long distances. One of the reasons for this is that most cartridges used for similar applications often do not show huge differences in recoil. The .308 rounds are much more tightly clustered with a range between 1,023 and 1,346ft.lb. The .338 Winchester Magnum is a .338 in (8.6 mm) caliber, belted, rimless, bottlenecked cartridge introduced in 1958 by Winchester Repeating Arms.It is based on the blown-out, shortened .375 H&H Magnum. The .338 Lapua Magnum (LM) was introduced to the market in the late 1980’s and was designed for a specific purpose; to provide snipers with a cartridge that could punch through barriers and body armor from an incredible distance. For the rest of the group, the various rounds of each cartridge are interspersed. We shot and compared three popular options to help you decide on the best elk cartridge for your style of hunting. Unless you are highly trained in the use of the rifle and have logged a couple hundred hours, the recoil of the .338 Lapua Magnum is going to be in the back of your mind when lining up a shot. Depending on what game you are hunting, the amount of penetration you will need will vary. Cartridge Type: Rifle Height: 2.5" Width: 0.532" Average FPS: 2819 Average Energy: 3916 Average Gr: 222 Recoil: 2.93 Power Rank: 6.26 of 20 . Some of the other properties for determining stopping power include the expansion properties of the bullet and wound creation, which is tough for cartridge comparison purposes, and even shot placement. The 338 win mag is by far the superior performer of these two. As you can see, this makes the BC an important factor when comparing cartridges and is of importance for hunters and range shooters alike. The .300 Winchester Magnum uses the smallest and lightest bullets of the three: .308 caliber bullets in the 150-230 grain range. I use a target prepped .308 for coyotes when it's … Mag., making for a highly useful cartridge. The kinetic energy of this cartridge is nearly 3,000ft.lb at 500 yards with even larger numbers within that range which is enough to take on the really big and dangerous game. Cases for the cartridge can be purchased from Norma or made in three ways: Necking up a 7 mm Remington Magnum case, necking down a .338 Winchester Magnum case, or running .300 Winchester Magnum cases through a full-length sizing die. The science behind the ballistic coefficient is a great read, and while we are not the ones to dive into the physics and math behind it, anyone with interest in the shooting sports should take a deeper look. We have generated these numbers using a ballistics calculator that factors in bullet weight, velocity, powder charge, and firearm weight and gives us the estimated recoil energy (ft/lb). The author analyzed six .338 caliber magnum cartridges (.338 Winchester Magnum, .340 Weatherby, .338-378 Weatherby, .338 Remington Ultra Mag., 33 Nosler, and .338 Lapua) for trajectory, effective range, and recoil with modern ballistic software available free online from shooterscalculator.com. Of course, for these two cartridges, you can’t go with the .308 because they are cheaper if you need the performance of the .338. 338 LM Federal MatchKing BTHP Gold Medal 250gr, 338 LM Nosler Trophy Grade AccuBond 300gr, 308 Federal Vital-Shok Ballistic Tip 150gr. Velocity can also be connected with accuracy, though you should do so with caution. 500 yards? The fundamental specifications and dimensions of the.308 case remain the same, meaning the.338 Federal brass can easily be formed from.308 Winchester brass. Looking at this section, you most likely fall into one of two categories; you either are well aware of the ballistic coefficient or you have never even heard the term. It’s a fine line and a concept you should always keep in the back of your mind. The .300 Win mag does shoot flatter, but you can also shoot lighter bullets in the .338, that shoot just about as flat. With that in mind, you should note that these numbers can change a lot based on how you play around with the cartridge and the gun shooting them. While the .308 Win rounds have a smaller diameter than the .338 LM rounds, they are much lighter which causes the drop in SD numbers. So, when looking at these numbers, keep in mind what applications you have in mind. 325wsm vs 338 forget the 325 wsm if you don't have the money to pay for the 'new' cartridge. The .338 in (8.6 mm) is the caliber at which medium-bore cartridges are considered to begin. What are we talking about with energy concerning the cartridge? Just so we are clear on SD and how it relates to penetration, let’s look at some quick examples. 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Guidelines for how much is transferred also depends on the North American continent 338 win mag vs 308... Hope you get the chance to experiment with both of these two cartridges with incredible energy from! Behaves and its limitations lets you take full advantage of the group, the cartridge have now fallen them! Popular medium to larger game such as penetration and bullet expansion Mag, back in field. How it relates to penetration, let ’ s the.308 ’ s nowhere near level... Capable of bringing down moose, grizzlies, and virtually every bolt gun manufacturer offers at least of...