300 Win Mag vs 338 Win Mag

welcome back to the channel I'm excited to do another cartridge comparison we are going to compare two very popular Winchester Magnums really the most popular Magnums of their caliber we are going to compare 300 Winchester magnum to 338 Winchester Magnum which one is the better big game cartridge let's find out let's quickly talk about the history of the 338 Winchester Magnum this cartridge was co-introduced in 1958 the other cartridge that Winchester introduced was the 264 Winchester the 338 Winchester Magnum was dubbed as the Alaskan cartridge while the 264 was supposed to be the lower 48 cartridge now the only real successful one has been the 338 Winchester Magnum and to this day it is still known as the Alaskan cartridge it is an amazing elk cartridge moose and bear cartridge the parent case to the 338 Winchester Magnum is the 458 Winchester which was introduced two years earlier in 1956 now the granddaddy case or the grandparent case is the 375 H&H let's go ahead and look at the performance of the 338 Win Mag now bullet ranges for 338 wind mag with other bullet companies it goes as low as a 160 grain from Barnes the ttsx and it'll go all the way up to a 300 grain so the 338 caliber is almost as versatile and you could probably make an argument it might be versatile more versatile than the 30 caliber but let's go ahead and look at 200 grain performance in a 338 wind mag you're looking at 3,000 maybe 3,50 ft per second that's pretty darn good then we move on to the 225 grain which in my opinion is the real sweet spot for the 338 wind mag and you're looking at a muzzle velocity usually around 28 2850 Nosler says possibly 2882 that is very good that is a big bullet going pretty darn fast now let's look at the 250 grain and in my personal opinion this is kind of the the top end for the 338 wind mag sure you could shoot up to 300 grains but I feel like this is where you still get decent performance with a pretty heavy bullet and you're looking at 27 to 2780 again extremely good now let's take a look at this case this case is not as big as you would think the 300 wind mag actually has a bigger case than this I'm going to go on record to say this is one of the most efficient Magnums you can get in 1963 Winchester introduced their 30 caliber magnum and since then then it has become the 30 caliber magnum to get in North America in fact I don't think any cartridge is going to come close anytime soon to beating the popularity of the 300 wind mag in the lower 48 now much of the inspiration for Winchester to create the 300 Winchester magnum was as a response to Remington who the year before 1962 introduced the very popular and extremely success successful 7 mm Remington Magnum now Winchester wanted to one up the seven REM mags so they didn't just neck down their 338 Winchester Magnum they actually lengthen the 300 Winchester magnum case but kept it at the long action Samy spec of 3.34 so that it could be used in a lot of rifles so here is what the 300 wind mag looks like right next to a 338 Winchester Magnum and so as you can see it's been lengthened a little bit the neck is extremely short in the 300 wind mag so that they could get a little bit more powder capacity let's go ahead and look at the data we'll start with a 180 grain that's kind of a good starting bullet weight for Winchester magnum and handloading this guy you get its full potential you're getting velocities well over 3100 ft per second and then when we step up to bigger bullets let's see a 200 grain at almost 3,000 ft per second which is interesting now the 300 wind mag has a bigger case than a 338 Winchester however shooting the same size bullets the 338 wind mag is actually faster now how that works is well the 338 200 grain bullet is not near as long as a 30 caliber 200 grain and overall the 338 wind mag is just a more efficient cartridge than the 300 now let's see how they compare down range with Ballistics this is going to be hand loaded data I will show you factory ammo options and how they compare but we're going to use a 200 grain ubon and the 300 Winchester magnum at a muzzle velocity 2950 with 3,865 foot pounds of energy now out to 400 yards the bullets going 2342 and energy yeah it's it's darn good 20 435 ft-lb and only 242 in of drop while we're at it let's just look at 500 yards the bullet's still going fast enough to expand at 2200 ft per second and the energy is plenty for anything in North America 2,153 ft-lb 44 1/2 in of drop now let's see how the 338 wind mag Compares we are going to use a 250 grain accubond with a BC of 0.575 so I'm trying to match BCS and they're pretty darn close now with that heavy of a bullet the winchest the 338 is not going as fast but it's still going a very respectable 2700 feet per second which gives it even more energy than the 300 wind mag this has 4 thou almost 4,50 foot- pounds this is going to have more recoil you're just shooting a heavier bullet wider diameter yeah recoil is going to be a lot now out to 400 yards the bullet's going to ,1 11 ft per second so it's going about 100 ft per second slower than the 300 wind mag but your energy is actually just a little bit more now as in drop this is no surprise this is a heavier bullet going slower so there's going to be six more Ines of drop and out to 500 yards the bullet's going 1,976 ft per second which I think is about the limits you're getting really close to the limits of the acub bond expanding uh below 2,000 ft per second your energy is still extremely good matches really well with the 300 wind mag and then 55.3 in of drop so again the 300 wind mag does have an advantage in drop now let's compare Factory ammo and it wouldn't be one of my videos if I didn't have some handwritten notes on the performance we'll start with the 300 Winchester Mag we're going to use their Barnes 180 grain ttsx Factory ammo and that comes at a a muzzle velocity 2960 if you get a 300 wind mag reload it you'll get so much better performance muzzle energy 352 at 400 yards I feel like this is about the limit for this Factory ammo where you're going to get good expansion still with a 180 gra ttsx 2231 and then you know the energy is okay and definitely good enough to kill 1,990 but again handloading it you're going to get like 500 more foot PBS 25.6 in of drop 338 Winchester Magnum Factory ammo from Barnes with a 225 grain ttsx muzzle velocity of 2800 which I think is really good I think at least with this specific ammo comparison here you're getting better performance buying the 338 wind mag Factory ammo and you're going to get 400 more foot pounds of energy at the muzzle at 400 yards the bullet's going 2132 and then the energy almost 2300 ft-lb and only about 3 and 1/2 in more of drop real quick I just want to show you the difference between 338 caliber and 30 caliber the difference is Extreme on my right is kind of a typical 30 caliber bullet this is a 175 grain on the left is the giant 338 250 grain LR X and you can see just the diameter difference is crazy all right I have the Alaskan resident the guy I go to for advice on hunting in Alaska and what cartridges and he just happens to own both 338 Winchester Magnum and 300 Winchester magnum so Chuck I got to ask you this one question it's the silly one if you could only hunt with one of the two 338 wind mag or 300 wind mag what is your choice and why well it's a complicated answer my choice is going to be 300 wind mag uh right now because ammo availability I'm still in the testing phase I've got a few grp you know inch groupers but not that real good half inch group yet yeah um but the same thing is true with 338 so 338 Magnum the only thing I can find is 2 the elx and I've seen that stuff shatter in a watermelon like I can't find anything thing that that's really good um I do have a factory load that actually shoots an inch in my 338 you know I I've only killed a deer in Georgia with a 300 Magnum before and uh but I've killed a grizzly bear with a 338 here and I will have to say like deadliness they're about the same like it's not an issue but you know ammo availability weight of the rifle my 300 has a pencil barrel and it's significantly lighter and has a long barrel so it's 28 in so I'm fighting that Barrel whip a little bit with the accuracy but like yeah uh I would say I would go 300 um Magnum but I have used 338 and if if ammo were availability and I had that half inch grouper with the 338 it would be the 338 but right now it's the 300 G 300 Mag okay and then I have one more question for you about 338 Winchester Magnum what do you feel like is the ideal bullet weight and your favorite bullet for it my full favorite bullet for it is the ttsx um I feel like the lrxs are too heavy and generally I like L lrxs but the 250 grain is just way too long for the the 338 Winchester Magnum so I like the 210 grain ttsx uh 210 grain because you still need to have speed if you're not hunting Alaska the 185 grain ttsx would be just fine uh and then I would be you know in the lower 48 the 160 grain would be great on deer there's the 160 grain ttsx or 165 I can't remember yeah uh but yeah I uh I just feel like 210 is going to give you the best of all world speed and uh you know and accuracy and the one thing about when I I found about 330 at Winchester magnum when you shoot like 225 and it above the grains The Recoil just really starts to kick you I can shoot 210 grains all day but the 225s 250s you know even my big butt gets to be a little bit of a pansy with the recoil so well well thank you so much for your expertise in both of the cartridges and someday I will be coming up there with my 340 weatherbe and uh we'll get something up there yeah well let's do it

Channel: Reloading Weatherby

Views: 4,953

Keywords: #300Win, #338Win, #backfire, #Barnes, #Nosler

Id: xDAlkbE3y1Y

Length: 12min 11sec (731 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 21 2024