338 Winchester Magnum Ballistics and Cartridge Guide

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.