WB
The .338 Win. for an all round Africa rifle caliber?
Tuesday, May 08, 2018, 08:57

Doug has me all caught up in HIS dither. For the next year well will be all caught up doing 200 yd. target shooting with our rifles, likely off sticks!

I want to see what I can do with my .416 Rigby, turning it into a more flat shooting all rounder. This attempt is to use 300 gr. bullets at 2600-1700 fps. I already swapped to a Leupold 3.5-10X scope. The consistent 4" eye relief is fine.

I have shot .338 a bit in both rifles and handguns and really like the extra punch the bullet has over the various .30 cals. with lighter slugs. It seems a 250 gr. .338 at 2700 fps is just as good as a .375 H&H with a 270 at 2650 fps. For most game animals comparing a .300 Mag. to the .338 and both using 200 gr. bullets at 3000 fps I know the animal does not care, but I like the .33 myself.

Do you think a .338 would have any edge over the .300 for non-dangerous game? I've never been to Africa so I'm just armchair quarterbacking, but I'd figure it would do for Buffalo under NON-Close quarters duty as well. Not that I could afford to drop $20k right now on a Trophy Dugga Boy.