I enjoy testing and planning and thinking about my hunts for months prior to the actual hunting. I suppose this is my way of wringing out as much enjoyment as I can from my limited hunting time and budget. This fall, I am going to Canada on a combined Moose and Elk hunt and am playing with a number of rifles prior to locking in two for the trip. I plan to take a typical heavy deer rifle such as a 7mm Mag or a 30-06 set up for longer shooting out to about 400y and then I will also take a midbore either my 338wm or my 375HH optimized for shooting out to about 300y. I plan to hunt with the midbore but wanted to have options if we find that we are having a hard time getting inside of my 300y limit. I have never been to this locale but am told that a lot of it is open river valley with some tree cover. My desire is to stalk to within 200y but am totally comfortable out to 300y with all of these rifles and am capable of further shots with some of them.
I have hunted with all of these and have killed deer sized and larger game with most of them. Only the 30-06 remains un-blooded. It is pretty obvious that all of these rifles can kill Moose or Elk and that is not the question. I am still mulling over my latest range data and am not going to claim any special knowledge regarding the to midbores under consideration and would love to get your comments or advice prior to my hunt in early October. Meet the candidates:
Sako 85, 338wm with Arken EP-8 1-8x optic. I thought I had totally settled on the 338wm for this hunt. It shoots the 225g Barnes TSX (2863fps ave) to 1" at 100y. And the 200g Federal Trophy Bonded Tip (2936fps ave) to 3/4". Both of these factory loads produce single digit SD's and are enough to do the job. The little Arken scope is not a long range optic but it has a FFP reticle and a tiny little aiming dot in the center of the reticle that enables very precise aiming if time and conditions allow which lets it punch well above its weight class on longer shots. I have used an identical scope in Africa to take a Blk WB at over 300y. The glass is on par with scopes costing 10x its price and it holds up well to the magnum recoil. I can shoot out to 400 with that optic but that is getting out of its optimal window. I would call this rifle my default first choice.
FN Browning Safari Grade 375HH with Swarovski Z6i 1-6x with Duplex reticle. I took this rifle to Africa on my first Safari and have never hunted with it since. It is set up for dangerous game and the Swaro is NOT a long range scope. The aiming dot in the center of the 2FP reticle is huge and covers a 3" aiming sticker on a 100y target. This makes precise aiming less precise but does enable very quick adequate target acquisition in the field and the glass is about as good as it gets. This rifle was zeroed at 100y for the Barnes 300g TSX and shoots 1/2" - 3/4" with that load (2564fps ave). But, for the wide open Canada hunt, I wanted something faster, flatter and did not feel it necessary to use the big heavy 300's for Moose or Elk. I have some 250g TBBC ammo from Federal (2690fps ave) that might be good but the one time I used them on deer, the wound looked like it penciled thru with little or no expansion. That bullet was optimized for big boned thick skinned game and I do not trust it - yet. So, the load I am considering for this hunt is the Double Tap ammo loaded with a 235g Barnes TSX. They claim 3100fps but in my 24" bbl the actual chrono'ed speed is 2913fps ave. It is not a tack driver but did produce a 2" group at 100y and about 4" at 200y. It shoots 1mil high at 100y and 2" high at 200y which is about a 275y zero. After 275y, it begins to drop like a stone and at 300y is hitting about 4" below the POA. At 300y it is still going 2128fps which is more than enough to travel thru a Moose me thinks. This load is faster than the fastest 225g load for my 338 and about equal in speed to the fastest 200g load for my 338. So, it is bigger, faster, heavier but not as accurate. But, accurate enough to hit the KZ on a Moose or Elk out to 300y. I am not going to go swapping scopes around and the Swarovski optic on this rifle is NOT the best choice for this hunt. The reticle is optimized for close range and the turrets adjustment is coarse at best. one click at 100y is 1.5cm (0.6"). My first shots at 200y were about 2" high so I dialed it down one click and the shot was zeroed at 200y. I was trying to be 1" high at 200 but ended up leaving it at 2" high so it would not fall off so fast at 300y. In this application the Arken is the better scope, I am sad to say.
So, in summary the 375HH with the light fast 235g loading is a legit 300y rifle that should hit like a hammer. It gives up some precision but is accurate enough and is trucking along at 2128fps at 300y. This gives it 2384 ft-lbs energy at 300y. Great right? While the scope is not optimal, it is a great scope with many good features and able to meet the need out to 300y.
Looking at the 338wm one more time, the 225g Barnes TTSX loads are a boat tail tipped load that has a better BC than the fat stubby 375. This helps the 338 to maintain its velocity out further. At 300y, it is still going 2348fps. This turns out to translate to 2754 ft-lbs energy at 300y. Whaaat? So, the 338 possesses a decisive energy advantage at my self imposed 300y range limit over the bigger, badder 375HH. That was an eye opener. The old standby 300g TSX load is potent enough but it dropped more at 300y and at that distance has even less energy than the lighter faster load and honestly past about 200 or 250y it's speed had dropped below 2000fps which is my limit for copper mono bullets just to insure that they will expand properly. The point being that the 338 out performs the 375 at longer ranges.
What started out as my seriously considering taking the 375HH as my Moose hunter midbore, has turned a 180 and I am back to the conclusion that my 338wm loaded with the 225g Barnes TTSX BT Bullets is the answer to my question.
Stay tuned - Next time we will break down the 7mm RM vs the 30-06 for Elk and Moose. Since we will be hunting African style and will be riding in a 4x4 glassing for game at a distance and once located will dismount and stalk on foot, I will have the luxury of taking two rifles with the 2nd being optimzed for longer range open terrain shooting. The two under consideration are the 7mm RM and the 30-06. Both shoot very well and both can easily hit 12" steel at 400y.
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On Left is 375HH FN Browning Safari Grade wearing an earlier Leupold optic
