Savage 11/111 hoghunter what caliber to choose 308/338 federal

[Goatman]

I'm buying a new bolt action rifle and I dunno if I want the 308 or 338 federal. I know bullets are gonna be ruff to find. However I plan on having them reloaded by my brother.

Is the 338 federal worth it if my longest shot could be 600 yards? However I do plan on a few elk hunts.

Just wanna make sure I have enough take down power and don't let wounded game run away.

 

[mike84z28]

Me personally I would not go with either caliber, however if those are your choices here is my opinion. 308 can be found on any shelf in almost any store that sells ammo with a wide variety of load choices, 338 will not be on many shelves or have many choices. You say your going to reload but picture this, you go on an expensive trip to hunt Elk and your luggage the piece with your reloaded 338 rounds in it is lost. Where do you find ammo ? For 600 yard shots at game as large as Elk my choice would be the 338. Nothing against the 308 it is a capable round, but for that distance with that size animal I would want more punching power.

 

[Goatman]

Yea this is gonna be a once a year hunt with family were starting this year. I will be hunting hogs and deer since I'm at home with it.

 

[Magdump]

I wanna be like Mike and vote .308.
Plenty of (less expensive too!) loads to choose from and if you can't dump a pig on his ass with a .308 then get a fitty BMG. I never had issues dropping big hogs with 7.62x39 from my mini-thirty over 20 years of packing it on my place. Killed a bunch.
Happy hunting! Kill 'em all!