I bought the Remington 700 BDL in 8mm Remington Mag less than a year after Remington introduced it. I the time I was living in Utah and hunting BIG mule deer. My first rifle was a lever action Marlin in 357 Magnum...and I took it hunting Mule deer. We loaded a 180 grain spritzer with a flat nose in a new 38 special case (so we could crimp it in the canular(sp?) and maintain correct overall length). We pushed that bullet to 2000 fps with the case splitting with every shot. My friend and I both took a couple of deer with that.
The next year we both vowed to obtain larger guns. I bought the 8mm and he bought a 338. We hunted side by side for several years. We pooled our resources in his basement and bought a Dillon progressive press for pistol work and single stage Rock Chucker for the magnums.
Both loaded near the point of ejector button imprinting on the case heads, we both found the 8mm Mag a better long range gun (300-400 yard). We concluded that the ballistic coefficient of the 8mm bullets was better that those available for the 338.
But, the 8mm did seem to kick a bit worse. I found out the hard way to never let anyone touch off a round (on a rest at the range) without giving extensive warning about not "crawling the stock" and maintaining a straight backbone (don't lean into the round). Two badly cut eyebrows and finally a broken collar bone forced me to say "NO" to those who just wanted to try that "monster." I still enjoy shooting it!
|