338 Winchester Magnum Info
Officially introduced to the public in 1958 by Winchester, the .338 Win Mag is an excellent, flat shooting, accurate, hard recoiling rifle cartridge capable of taking any sized game in North America to include polar and grizzly bear.
Hunters looking to take bigger animals like elk at longer distances will favor the most popular bullet weight, which is the 225 grain bullet. It offers good ballistic profiles by many bullet manufacturers with a high energy retention at 500 yards making it suitable for any North American game.
Hunters will want to maximize the cartridge’s performance with a longer barrel of 26 inches in length with a heavy profile. The extra weight associated with the longer bull barrel will help mitigate felt recoil a bit.
The 338 Winchester Magnum is an accurate round, and many 225 grain bullets are launched at 2,800 feet per second and still deliver over one ton of energy at 500 yards. This rifle/cartridge combo is not for the best choice for a recoil sensitive shooter.
338 Winchester Magnum Ballistics Charts:
This 338 Win Mag ballistics chart shows 200 grain Hornady Superformance SST fired from a 24″ barrel:
| Velocity (FPS) | Energy (FT/LB) | Drop (Inches) | |
| Muzzle | 3030 | 4076 | / |
| 100 YDS | 2830 | 3531 | +1.4 |
| 200 YDS | 2619 | 3047 | 0 |
| 300 YDS | 2428 | 2617 | -6.5 |
| 400 YDS | 2244 | 2236 | -18.9 |
| 500 YDS | 2068 | 1899 | -38.3 |
This 338 Win Mag ballistics chart shows 225 grain Hornady GMX fired from a 26″ barrel:
| Velocity (FPS) | Energy (FT/LB) | Drop (Inches) | |
| Muzzle | 2800 | 3917 | / |
| 100 YDS | 2607 | 3395 | +1.8 |
| 200 YDS | 2422 | 2931 | 0 |
| 300 YDS | 2245 | 2518 | -7.8 |
| 400 YDS | 2075 | 2151 | -22.4 |
| 500 YDS | 1913 | 1828 | -45.2 |
This 338 Winchester Magnum ballistics table shows 250 grain Federal Premium Nosler Partition:
| Velocity (FPS) | Energy (FT/LB) | Drop (Inches) | |
| Muzzle | 2660 | 3927 | / |
| 100 YDS | 2474 | 3396 | +2.1 |
| 200 YDS | 2295 | 2923 | 0 |
| 300 YDS | 2124 | 2503 | -8.8 |
| 400 YDS | 1960 | 2131 | -25.1 |
| 500 YDS | 1803 | 1805 | -50.5 |
338 Winchester Magnum Barrel Specifications
Common Barrel Twist Rate – 1 in 10″.
Bore Groove Diameter – .338″.
338 Win Mag Cartridge Case Dimensions
Neck Diameter – .369″.
Shoulder Diameter – .491″.
Base Diameter – .513″.
Rim Diameter – .532″.
338 Winchester Magnum Reloading Specifications
Bullet Diameter – .338″.
Maximum Case Length – 2.500″.
Trimmed Case Length – 2.490″.
Primer Size – Large Rifle, Type – Magnum.
Maximum Cartridge Overall Length – 3.340″.
338 Win Mag Loading Data Hints
The 338 Winchester Magnum with a 26 inch barrel length will come to life with the slow burning powders like IMR4350 and IMR4831 when using 225 grain weight bullets the full devastating power potential of this cartridge can and will be realized.
Make sure you look at our in depth rifle ballistics chart with many more calibers on it.
