What is wrong with the .33 caliber? Doesn't seem to be popular. I for one love it. The .338 Federal is a very nice round.
I love my .308 and hope to have a .358 win one day. Between those three. I say all game is covered.
So, do you have a .338?
Sarge

.338 Lapua is a fairly famous, extremely acurate sniper round.

It might have something to do with the state you live in. I used ro reload .338 Win Mag for a friend. Likely a lot more popular than you think in elk, moose and brown bear country.

338 Win mag (sav 111), 340 Weatherby (Weatherby Mark 5 Custom shop) and 338 RUM (Rem 700). All Left handed. A little over kill for the most part, but I like them.

I have a 338 Win mag that was made for me by Hill Country Rifles for my one and only trip to Africa. I use it now to shoot pigs waay out in wheat fields. It's a pleasure to shoot.

A .338 here will draw funny stares here. .243, .270, 7m08, 30/06 and .308 are extremely popular here. I carry a .308. Have used one since my military days and has served me well then and now.
I just like any round using a .308 case, except a .243. Not much of a fan.
But, fell in love with the Federal. 338.
Sarge

The .338 is a great round. I shot three Maine whitetails with a .375 H&H. Bit of overkill but dead is dead.

I got to shoot a 338 lapua last weekend. All I can say is wow.. but If I get one I will need a bigger rifle suppressor so that adds to the cost.

I've got a sweet spot for the .338 win mag also a Browning A bolt topped with a 2 1/2 x 7 Leopold scope , a tack driver from start to finish !

338 win mag model 70 classic sporter. Bought it in 1995. Great elk and black bear round. Plan on taking it mule deer hunting someday.

Got 338 win mag had a 338 rum. If I was only allowed one do all rifle it would be my 338 wm

I don't have one. 338 win mags used to be quite a a popular elk cartridge, but they have waned in popularity between the combination of the big Ultra mags and the long heavy bullets for skinnier rounds. You get a lot better BC out of a 210 gr pill in 300 mag than you do out of a 225 in a 338 win mag. The 338 Lapua is a round that is talked about a lot and everyone knows someone who has one, but not many people own them because the rifles are so expensive (ammo also) and heavy. Here we have a weight limit on hunting rifles, can't hunt with a rifle that weighs over 17 pounds as equipped in the field. Which means including boltons like scope, sling, bipod, etc. I have a friend with a 338 Lapua with a Nightforce scope. It is only legal to use with one round in it. Put more than that in it and it is over the weight limit. Stupid law IMO, if you want to pack a 20 or 30 pound rifle around, be my guest, but it is still a law and a fair number of the 338 Lapuas are pushing or over the limit, especially when adding a scope, and that is a round that is kind of asinine with open sights.
The 338 mag is a good elk round, just not as flat shooting and lost some popularity, still a fair number of older guns chambered in it and they knock plenty of game down every year. The 338 Federal never had much popularity around here, but it would be a nice timber gun.

Seen a few guys packing 338-06s, which was a wildcat that was pretty popular as far as wildcats go, around here back in the 80s and 90s. Real nice timber round for elk that isn't overkill for deer like the 338 win mag.

I just checked out their site. They don't come cheap.

Yep. Mine is a win model 70 action. At the time my wife and I both had really good jobs and we could afford it. Got her a .308 also.

Dang, they have doubled in price since I got ours!!!

Got a Browning AB1 338WM. 250gr has quite a bit of wallop. 225gr seems much friendlier. Not sure if it’s the stock design but my 458 is tamer to shoot than the 338…but I love it!

mostly $$$
90% of rifle round popularity over the last 130 years has been tied to the price of the gun and the price of the ammo that did well enough


a 35rem pump gun should have been very popular and they were in some areas
but a 35rem pump didn't do enough more than a 30-30 lever gun at nearly have the price. a rem pump was aroudn $140 in the 1960s and a 30-30 lever gun could be purchased for $79

30-06 was widely available for ammo and components and rifles and with cheap post war mausers every where re-chambered in 30-06 I would venture a LOT of them were cut from barrels made up for war time production of 30-06 rifles that were then surplus post war

if people had decent shot placement most of all the game taken in NA could be taken with a 308 , a small percentage of game is taken beyond the effective range of 308 on game.

for that game people are willing to put down the $$$

My son’s favorite light rifle for his Africa hunts - a Dakota

I have the next fire breather down a caliber. A 8mm Remington mag.

Not sure if you reload or not, but, I found that a 215 sbt with a 70gr charge of H4350 behind it to be rather pleasant to shoot. With my gun it was going around 2740fps. I will caution you that the new sierra book now says that the max load is 68.9gr. It also has a coal of .1" deeper. It is the only powder that they listed in both books that went down. All the other powders went up. I am getting ~ 3/4" groups with it. I shot the 210 partitions at ~2940 and they had WAY more recoil. I was also looking at 1.25" groups.

My 215gr load went from the back of the ribs to just behind the off shoulder of a 5x5 mule deer at 250 yards and kept on going. I have also put many whitetails in the freezer with it. More forgiving that a 30-06 or 7mag if you hit a shoulder.