.338 Debate: The Big-Bore Backcountry Cartridge Shootout

Backcountry Hunting Podcast

Joseph von Benedikt

Backcountry, Rifle, Deer, Podcast, Elk, Mountain, Sports, Hunt, Wilderness, Cartridge, Hunting

4.9 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 11 April 2020

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

SHOW NOTES

Why the .338?
- As listener @Alaskanexile1 said, "If I'm carrying my .338, I never have the 'wrong' rifle."
- Inherently superior ballistic coefficient to the 8mm's, .35's, and .375's.
- Excellent sectional density (a measure of penetrating ability)
- Heavy but controllable recoil
- A lot more terminal performance than the .30 calibers
- The significance of the .338's frontal diameter
- How does it compare to the .375's for big bears?

SPECIFIC .338 CARTRIDGES

.338-06
.338 Win. Mag.
33 Nosler
.340 Weatherby
.338 Rem. Ultra Mag
.338 Lapua
.338-378 Weatherby

Which one's right for you?

RESOURCES

Winchester Rifles

RIfle's Inc. (custom gunsmith)

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Imagine you're at a trailhead somewhere in northwestern Wyoming and you're about to throw a leg over a good mountain horse and head into truly wild country for a week of good old-fashioned el-hunting.
0:14.8	Grizzly country.
0:16.2	Now, heaven forbid, you should have to shoot one, but there is always a remote but real possibility that you could get into an altercation with an uncivilized bear.
0:30.0	What cartridge do you want to be packing?
0:33.0	And that's what we're here to talk about today, not cartridges for
0:37.0	grizzly country specifically, but some practical big boars.
0:41.0	We're going to talk about the 338's.
0:45.0	Welcome to the show today, folks.
0:47.0	At the request of several listeners, I'm going to go full nerd on you.
0:53.0	With this cartridge debate, we'll talk about the full spectrum
0:57.0	of the various 338 cartridges ranging from the mild but capable 338 a6 right up to some fire breathing
1:07.0	dragon cartridges this is going to be fun now on a side note just circling back to that little introductory scenario
1:17.8	Grizzlies in the lower 48 states tend to be more aggressive than those in Alaska.
1:24.0	There are a lot of various speculations as to why.
1:28.0	But probably the real reason is they just tend to contact people more. They're around humans a lot more and as a result have lost that natural caution that the natural caution that the bears, the interior bears of the far north tend to have.
1:49.0	Others suggest that genetics and so forth may come into place, certainly environment does.
1:55.8	But just an interesting side note.
1:58.6	Most people that have spent a lot of time amongst Alaskan Grizzlies and the Grizzlies in Montana and Wyoming and so forth,
2:07.5	find a distinct difference in the aggression, an increase in the aggression of the bears here in the lower 48.
2:15.0	Interesting stuff, but not really what we're here to talk about today.
2:18.0	Now, years ago, I was sitting in the back of a Toyota Land Cruiser in Africa with a friend of mine who's a professional hunter there and just long day after long day out hunting beautiful
2:36.6	wonderful days but you end up talking about a lot of different things and of
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -1816 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Joseph von Benedikt, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Joseph von Benedikt and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.