Sporting Usage
When the .338 Winchester was introduced there was a general preference for heavier bullet weights between 250–300 gr (16–19 g). However, since that time preferred bullet weights have decreased to weights between 200–225 gr (13–14.6 g). This is due in part to the bullet technology available today. Lighter bullets made today are able to hold together and penetrate deeper than heavier bullets of the past.
In North America, the .338 Winchester Magnum is most commonly used for the hunting of larger deer species such as elk and moose. Due to its popularity with elk hunters and its effectiveness as an elk cartridge it is known as the “King of the Elk Cartridges”. Bullets ranging between 200–225 gr (13–14.6 g) are generally preferred for the hunting of elk and even moose.
Apart from the larger deer species, the .338 Winchester Magnum is often used for the hunting of and defense against the great bears such as the grizzly, polar and brown bears. It is often carried by fishermen, hunters and guides in Alaska and Canada for protection as encounters with these larger bear species can be common.
The .338 Winchester Magnum can be considered a good all-round plains game hunting rifle in Africa. It has also been found to be effective against the big cats where hunting allows for the use of the cartridge.
Read more about this topic: .338 Winchester Magnum
Famous quotes containing the words sporting and/or usage:
“The Boston papers had never told me that there were seals in the harbor. I had always associated these with the Esquimaux and other outlandish people. Yet from the parlor windows all along the coast you may see families of them sporting on the flats. They were as strange to me as the merman would be. Ladies who never walk in the woods, sail over the sea. To go to sea! Why, it is to have the experience of Noah,—to realize the deluge. Every vessel is an ark.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I am using it [the word ‘perceive’] here in such a way that to say of an object that it is perceived does not entail saying that it exists in any sense at all. And this is a perfectly correct and familiar usage of the word.”
—A.J. (Alfred Jules)