At the 200 yard mark, all of the ten rounds are clustered tightly around the 3-4” mark. 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). Several of the .338 LM rounds have a distinctly flatter trajectory than the other rounds (-11, -12.6, and -12.2”) although the next two flattest rounds are the 150 and 165gr .308 Win cartridges (-13.2). The Energy Involved is Crucial. The .338 Lapua Magnum is a very interesting cartridge to look at as it brings some pretty incredible performance specs. 500 yards? The lessons learned from this cartridge were put into the .308 and .358 Norma Magnum. It can also influence your ability to make quick and accurate follow up shots. You also get a round with velocities that remain supersonic out past 1,000 yards. This most likely would occur after firing many shots where you begin to get fatigued. I think this a different cartridge than the .338 mag. The .338 in (8.6 mm) is the caliber at which medium-bore cartridges are considered to begin. The debate between .308 and 30-06 has been around for decades. What we are going to use to compare the recoil of these two cartridges is the energy that is generated when igniting the powder. 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 . The reason for this is all the factors that go into accuracy including the environment and the user. 150 grain, 165 grain, 180 grain, 190 grain, 200 grain, and 220 grain bullets are the most popular for the cartridge. Wind drift and drop are both less critical with that extra speed. Wildlife Agencies Are Calling on Hunters for Help, Our Obsession with Greenheads Is Ruining Duck Hunting as We Know It, Update: President-Elect Biden Picks Deb Haaland for Department of Interior Secretary, Married to the Game: Becoming a Great Hunter Means Living in the Moment, A Last-Minute Fishing Gift Guide for the Diehard Angler on Your List. Once you pull the trigger, the powder in your cartridge is ignited, pushing the bullet down the barrel and downrange. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. With 250 grain bullets, the Win Mag is pushing 2650, while the Lapua is just short of 3000 fps. She can drive tacks with her purple gun at 100 yards. 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). Regardless, it still gives us a very good idea of how the two cartridges stack up to one another. is quite versatile and a solid contender as a black bear cartridge. This same idea goes for terminal ballistics as well. As we wrap up this cartridge comparison between the .338 Lapua Magnum vs .308 Winchester, we want to take just a little bit of space to pick a few individual rounds from each cartridge that we think pairs well with specific applications. The 30-06 bullet diameter is .308 inches while the .338 bullet is .338 … 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. When we look at the averages at the 600 and 700-yard mark, the .338 LM rounds show 17″ and 30″ fewer inches of bullet drop on average respectively. Even though the .338 cartridges have some incredible BCs (0.789 and 0.72), you can see that it does have some rounds that closer resembles the BCs of the .308 Win cartridges and even less than a few of them (0.431 < 0.45, 0.462). The 338 win mag is by far the superior performer of these two. For our cartridge comparisons, we are going to look at three components of stopping power; kinetic energy, penetration, and bullet momentum. And given that the .308 rounds are generating around 20ft.lb of energy, which is considered as being enough recoil to influence a shot or cause discomfort to some, you get an idea of how powerful a round the .338 LM is. Several components go into stopping power, and we are about tired of listening to the arguments for which component carries the most relevance for stopping power. The .300 Win mag does shoot flatter, but you can also shoot lighter bullets in the .338, that shoot just about as flat. The 300 Win Mag is produced by Winchester, coming into use around 1963. Winchester took their .458 Winchester Magnum case—itself a shortened and blown out .375 H&H case—and necked it to hold the .338″ diameter bullets the company used for its rimmed .33 Winchester. When calculating the sectional density, Bullet B will have a higher SD than Bullet A because of the increase in weight. And we mean long, long-range shooting. is a customized Ruger M77 Mk II with a purple-thumbhole stock and muzzle brake. The following ammunition cartridge ballistics information and chart can be used to approximately compare .338 Lapua Magnum vs .338 Winchester Magnum ammo rounds. Call me a wimp, but the 338 win mag with 250 grain bullets generates about 40 ft lbs of recoil, no thanks! So, though the .338 LM cartridges have higher BCs than the .308, it does vary from round to round. I picked the 338-06 over the 338 win mag when I had one built because of recoil. We have compiled our numbers from the manufacturer’s websites as well as trusted ballistic calculators. I might be wrong. These differences are worth noting as we move towards the application section. High BC rounds tend to lose velocity at a much lower rate, and it also plays a big role in the trajectory which we will discuss shortly. She can drive tacks with her purple gun at 100 yards. We have Bullet A, which has a weight of 100gr and a diameter of 0.2 inches and Bullet B, which has a mass of 150gr and a diameter of 0.2 inches. For the rest of the group, the various rounds of each cartridge are interspersed. On average, the .300 Win Mag does have a flatter trajectory with a difference of .78” (300yds), 1.96” (400yds), 3.76” (500yds), 5.74” (600yds), and 8.54” (700yds). We are still looking at the bullet drop (inches) for each round but are taking data points out to 700 yards with the firearms zeroed in at 200 yards. Once the bullets get out past the 500-yard mark, the .338LM rounds show a significantly flatter trajectory than the majority of the .308 Win rounds. Savage 110 Storm Bolt Action Rifle .338 Win Mag 24" Barrel 3 Rounds Synthetic Ad... Savage 110 Storm Bolt Action Rifle .338 Win Mag 24... Our Low Price $770.00 This energy damages and destroys surrounding tissue and organs. 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. I think this a different cartridge than the .338 mag. Mag. 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. With recoil in the 30-40ft.lb range this cartridge can be very uncomfortable for many people to shoot and uncomfortable for just about any of us after a day of it. 1 mile? This is just our opinion, and honestly, there are a lot of rounds that we like. We have compiled the SDs of the ten rounds we have been using for comparison. The following ammunition cartridge ballistics information and chart can be used to approximately compare .308 Winchester vs .338 Lapua Magnum ammo rounds. 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. So for this article, we will take a look at several performance categories of these two cartridges. … 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. But it has competition..338 Federal Here’s the.308’s over-achieving offspring. 9MM.223 / 5.56 45 ACP.22 Long Rifle.22 Win Mag 12 Gauge.308 Winchester 40 S&W.38 Special View All Calibers Ammo By Manufacturer Qualified Professional Ammo Recently Added Ammo In this rifle caliber comparison, we are going to take a look at two cartridges that most might not think to compare. 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. How about the 180gr 300 Win Mag? For certain situations, sure, but there will always be some point where one bests the other. 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. 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. The reason why penetration is essential is it determines the rounds ability to reach critical organs. For long range precision shooting, perhaps the dilemma might arise for some. The primary difference between the 338 Win mag and the Lapua is in performance. Because of this, you are going to have a much easier time finding ammunition and a wide variety of ammo. Though we are not looking at wind drift in this article, we are going to take a look at the short and long range trajectories next. Alternatively, you can run 300 grain bullets in the Lapua for amazing BC’s and better 1000+ yard performance. This trend continues downrange to the 500-yard mark though we do see some variance in the amount of energy with the .338 LM rounds. Its range and power have also made it popular for big and dangerous game. As you can imagine, this is a hard hitting cartridge with its .338 cal bullet. You usually are not deciding on the 338 Lapua versus 308 for most shooting applications. Norma factory loads for the .308 Magnum drive a 200 grain Vulkan bullet to a muzzle velocity (MV) of 2903 fps and muzzle energy (ME) of 3744 ft. lbs. We compiled the velocities (ft/s) from the muzzle out to 500 yards from the manufacturers’ websites (Graph 2). The .338 Win Mag has slightly more muzzle energy. You *could* make it work, but conventional wisdom is that it doesn't have the velocity to compete with some of the better choices. Calculations were corrected to standard temperature (59F/15C) and … As far as ballistics go, you’re looking at a ballistic coefficient of 0.789 with only a little over 100 inches of bullet drop at 700 yards. It’s like arguing which organ is more important for life; the heart, lungs, or brain. Win. From a ballistics standpoint, the .338LM had much higher BCs than the .308 rounds. Accuracy in 'standard' (non-Kimber rifles) is mediocre. Ever since the advent of the first metallic cartridge (the 22 BB Cap in 1845,) hunters have demanded rifles, cartridges and bullets capable of terminating everything from ground squirrels to elephants. We also kept a constant firearm weight for both cartridges, though in this case, we used a heavier weight for the .338 LM rounds which are fired from much heavier guns firearms than .308 rounds. But since we have to make a pick, we like the Federal Vital-Shok Ballistic Tip 150gr round. If we change things up a bit and have Bullet A with a bullet weight of 150gr and a diameter of 0.1 inches with Bullet B keeping the same dimensions, we should see the Bullet A with a larger SD. It is famous for its uncommon compatibility with the 30-cal bullet. In 1952, Winchester commercially released the .308 round along with chambering its Model 70 and Model 88 rifles for the cartridge. For this comparison, we are going to use the sectional density of the rounds to compare the two cartridges. The case if based off of the .375 H&H Magnum by expanding the body and narrowing down the neck to fit a .338 bullet. My dad hunted bear in Alaska with a .338 win mag, back in the 70's. Besides combat and other tactical situations, the performance of the .308 Win was quickly recognized and utilized by civilian shooters; especially by those in the hunting community. The .308 is a fairly popular medium to large size game in North America and has been so for decades. Penetration is the second category that we will look at as it pertains to stopping power. 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. 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. Where the .338 LM is really needed as a hunting cartridge is for the largest game animals that require a tremendous amount of energy and penetration to get through thick and tough hides. The recoil is less in the 338-06 and you don't give up a lot of performance. We plan on using this one for stopping cars after shtf. 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. With such higher BCs, it will be interesting to see how the selected rounds stack up in other performance categories. We don’t discount the information that comes from a well known professional, but even then they can have good and bad days. The importance of looking at recoil often deals with the potential for throwing off a shot. If I needed more punch than that I'd skip right over everything else and go straight to a 375 mag. Most hunters look for at least 1,000ft.lb of kinetic energy when dealing with whitetail size game. .308 Norma , Nov 6, 2019 #16 For bullet energy, it is a clear advantage to the .338 Lapua Magnum. We plan on using this one for stopping cars after shtf. Brass is affordable and widely available. Very hard hitting round and great at long distances. 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The reason it is so important is that it has a lot of influence on just about every other performance category. For us, there is never a time we think one cartridge is better than the other. Wind drift and drop are both less critical with that extra speed. Still, we think it is incredibly interesting to look at two cartridges that might be more different than similar and discuss why this is so and which situations they are better suited for. Not as much as other cartridges, but more than the .338LM. The .300 Winchester Magnum uses the smallest and lightest bullets of the three: .308 caliber bullets in the 150-230 grain range. Too many times we see arguments for stopping power, but no one ever mentions that you can have the analytics down, but if you can’t put the round in the bread basket, those numbers don’t mean a whole lot. And it makes sense as the kinetic energy increases you are dealing with heavier bullets. We also cannot discount the recoil. Ever since the advent of the first metallic cartridge (the 22 BB Cap in 1845,) hunters have demanded rifles, cartridges and bullets capable of terminating everything from ground squirrels to elephants. The .338 in (8.6 mm) is the caliber at which medium-bore cartridges are considered to begin. It'll easily take any deer or elk out to 250 yards, which is about all my shooting ability is capable of. The 308 Win. Mag. the .338 Federal fitsin short-action rifles. 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. Outdoor Life may receive financial compensation for products purchased through this site. I chronographed the 338-300 wsm and it was the equal of the 338 gibbs, 338-06 AI. offers a decided advantage. https://youtu.be/_E_-ueIxYcMTesting my 338Lm at 1000 yards in preparation for future comparison videos with my 300wm. We shot and compared three popular options to help you decide on the best elk cartridge for your style of hunting. At its basic form, the energy is the force applied on the target, or animal. Please note, the following information reflects the estimated average ballistics for each caliber and does not pertain to a particular manufacturer, bullet weight, o Let’s take a look at the recoil energy generated from the ten rounds (Graph 1). 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. The 338WM will shot a 210 partition at about 2850fps and the 338-06 will push the same bullet about 2600 to 2650 depending on the powder. 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. 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. Your post is a bit vague, but with little to go on I'd pick 308 any day. The price of these rounds might also be a bit eye-opening for some. But for new hunters: 308, every damn day of the week. As the bullet moves downrange, it is carrying kinetic energy that is generated from the mass of the bullet as well as its velocity. Since it is based on the .308 Win. We also like Nosler’s AccuBond bullet for punching through really tough hide while still expanding for maximum energy transfer. 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. Please note, the following information reflects the estimated average ballistics for each caliber and does not pertain to a particular manufacturer, bullet weig 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 highest .338 LM round is at 3,000ft.lb while the lowest energy .338LM round at this range is at 3,000ft.lb. We saw that the .338 LM rounds had higher BCs and flatter trajectories, especially past 500 yards. We will first look at the short range trajectories of the ten selected rounds. We shot and compared three popular options to help you decide on the best elk cartridge for your style of hunting While there is a rich history of the .308, it is still a relevant cartridge today in the hunting world and target shooting. That’s splitting hairs for on-game performance, but makes a pretty big difference for long range shooting. Mag. For this comparison, we are likely to see a huge difference. At the 500 mark, we can start to see the trajectories vary from round to round. This will give us a much better idea of how and when each cartridge might be considered a better option over the other. The .338 Winchester Magnum is a popular and powerful caliber designed as a hunting round. Bullet A should penetrate deeper because it is the same weight and force as Bullet B, but it is applied to a smaller surface area which means less resistance. Mag., making for a highly useful cartridge. Mag. We like the trajectories of this round, and with some practice and good optics, it can easily make 350 to 400-yard shots. We have compiled the BCs for the ten rounds we have selected for comparison and placed them in a bar graph (Graph 3). This includes deer (both whitetail and mule), pronghorn, and hogs. By streamlined we mean aerodynamic. What are we talking about with energy concerning the cartridge? You are probably getting tired of hearing this, but it really doesn’t matter in this case what’s more expensive and what’s more available. Battle of the Black Bear Cartridges: .308 Win. We can see an increased BC for the .338 LM rounds when compared to the .308 Win rounds. 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. Mag. Receive our newsletter with the best articles covering guides, guns & gear. Get our PDF with 13 pistol & rifle targets (worth $48) including expert instructions for FREE! are great chamberings for a hunting rifle. While there are big differences among the (left to right) .308 Win., .300 Win. To compare these two cartridges, we have selected five rounds for each of the cartridges, which we have listed below. 338 Win Mag. You’ve been out in the field scouting for days, put down the stalk, and now have em in your crosshairs. It’s easily one of the most well-known cartridges in the world and is forever linked with American firearms. A 338 Win Mag. Have shot 338 and 325 at range, 338 in the Win 70 , the 325 in the Abolt . As you increase to elk size game, you generally want around 1,500ft.lb. Federal's offering is based on a.308 Winchester case necked-up to accept standard.338" diameter bullets. 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. We have selected rounds that are used heavily in the field, whether for long range precision shooting or hunting purposes and think that this selection will provide a realistic picture of the differences and similarities that can be extrapolated to other options available. for the .338-378 Weatherby. Overall, when looking strictly from an angle of the .300 Win Mag vs .338 Lapua Magnum, there is not a huge difference in the long range trajectory of these factory loads. Then the same cartridge case sized to, 338 WM 1958, 264 WM in 1958. This cartridge is much younger when compared to the other cartridge we will look at, but it is interesting because it is sometimes seen as a replacement for the .308 Win in specific shooting applications. You can see the heritage of these cartridges on display in the photos below. 338 Win Mag – the Ultimate Elk Round Many centerfire rifle cartridges are effective on elk. Now that we have taken a look at several performance categories for the .338 Lapua Magnum vs 308 let’s get into how their differences in performance influence which applications they are better suited. These numbers are going to be critical when we reach the 308 vs 338 Lapua Magnum application section. We hope that this article has shed a little more light on the two cartridges and given you a better understanding of the two and allowed you to make more educated decisions on if these two cartridges fit what you need. The shell casing was designed to ease case extraction and cartridge feeding in bolt action rifles as well as machine guns. How many clays do you think the 180gr 308 will go through? With such performance characteristics, it did not take long for the general public to become interested in what this cartridge could do. Although the .338 LM on average has several inches less bullet drop than the .308 Win rounds, there are .308 options out there that can match the short range trajectory performance of some .338 LM rounds. The .308 Winchester uses .308″ bullets, the .338 Federal uses .338″ bullets, and the .358 Winchester uses .358″ bullets. Shoot what you're the best shot with, aim & … Before we get into the short and long range trajectories, we have taken a round from each cartridge with the same design by the same manufacturer to look at a wide view of the trajectories (Graph 4). The .338 Lapua Magnum is a very interesting cartridge to look at as it brings some pretty incredible performance specs. In the simplest of terms, a ballistic coefficient is simply a number that is derived from several variables taken from the cartridge specs including the bullet. Winchester took their .458 Winchester Magnum case—itself a shortened and blown out .375 H&H case—and necked it to hold the .338″ diameter bullets the company used for its rimmed .33 Winchester. However, a .338 Win Mag without a scope is missing out. While there is no SAAMI rating for the max pressure the .338 LM can handle, the European CIP rating is 60,916psi though with their safety standards; this means they safely fired the cartridge at psi’s over 75,000psi. Since neither of us plan on hunting for Grizzly anytime in the future, we have decided to pass on buying a .338 Win Mag. 300 Win Mag vs 308. We hope you get the chance to experiment with both of these cartridges and all the different ammunition options that are out there. And again, these are not the only parts to the full equation. To deal with recoil such as this, you should be looking to get some ballistic or stopping power advantage out of the deal, and we will see if this cartridge provides it. Since neither of us plan on hunting for Grizzly anytime in the future, we have decided to pass on buying a .338 Win Mag. At the 500 yard mark, there is a clear distinction between the higher velocities of the .338 and the lower velocities of the .308 rounds. And while we can easily widen or close the gap by playing around with bullet weights, it does give you an overall view that these two cartridges are going to give us different trajectories with the .338 LM having a much flatter trajectory over 500 yards and given what we have seen so far, it is expected. 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). For hunting, the cartridge that will be better suited for you all depends on the hunting you are doing. Best Concealed Carry Insurance [Comparison Chart]. We will take an in depth look at the 338 Lapua vs 308 and hopefully come out on the other side with a better understanding of both. 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. One of the reasons for this is that most cartridges used for similar applications often do not show huge differences in recoil. Mag. .308 Winchester Overview. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. This includes recoil, trajectory, and terminal ballistics such as penetration and bullet expansion. The .338 Federal was designed by Federal Ammunition and it is a SAAMI standardized cartridge that was released in 2006. The better is at resisting these factors, the less the trajectory is thrown off in flight. As you move up from that, you want a little bit more. Mag. Why? Since its introduction, the .338LM has become popular in shooting circles, especially in long-range shooting. In terms of ballistics, the larger .338 Win. This number does not take in to account the bullet design which you will need to keep in mind when we look at the numbers, or the velocity and expansion characteristics. 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. 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 … To get the cons out of the way, a box of these rounds is pretty expensive, but you get what you pay for in performance. The primary difference between the 338 Win mag and the Lapua is in performance. At the 400 yard mark, we see tightly clustering rounds, but we do start to see the trend of several .338 LM rounds having the flattest trajectory and they maintain this advantage throughout the bullet’s flight. Even so, both of these rounds stay supersonic throughout their flight and will deliver the proper terminal performance throughout this range, a plus for both cartridges. 338 win mag 338 rem ultra mag 338 lapua 338 O`Brain 338 edge 338 allen mag There are a couple more in there that I left out but I think I covered the big ones. 300 Win Mag vs 308 Win. The .300 win mag is no slouch either carrying a full 2000 ft lbs of energy at 500 yds with the factory 200 grain weight and a flatter trajectory than either the .338 or 30/06. And they are just guidelines as again, shot placement can make up for being a few hundred ft.lbs off.