The Best Elk Cartridge You’ve Never Heard Of

“I personally shoot what many would consider a ‘wildcat,’” he told me. “I don’t know if we would want to talk about a somewhat unconventional round, but I can definitely justify why I shoot it.”

Since we take cost and availability into account when we develop our “best of” lists, I decided not to include Jason’s recommendation in that article. Still, I wanted to learn more. I’m a big fan of unusual and obsolete cartridges, and I like highlighting good designs that have been relegated to wildcat status.

Turns out, Jason knows what he’s talking about when it comes to elk-killing ballistics. He built a rifle chambered in 7mm Remington Short Action Ultra Magnum (SAUM) as his lightweight rifle, but he’s really excited about another cartridge that hits with even more power: the .338 Edge.

“It shoots amazing,” Jason said. “With handloading, you can easily get a 300-grain bullet going 2960 feet-per-second. It’s not a speed demon, but it’s a hammer.”

History

If you’ve never heard of the .338 Edge, you’re not alone. The cartridge is a true wildcat—meaning, there are no factory options available, and it hasn’t been standardized by SAAMI. Rifles must be built custom and cartridges must be hand-loaded, but several reloading companies make dies, and .300 Remington Ultra Magnum (RUM) brass cases can be resized to load .338 Edge rounds.

The .338 Edge was invented by Shawn Carlock in 2001, according to Carlock’s website. He developed the cartridge by taking a .300 RUM case and necking it up to accept the wider .338-caliber bullet.

“I choose this option for the 338 Edge for several reasons,” Carlock explains elsewhere. “First, the round had to run through a Remington 700 long action, use a standard magnum bolt face, and launch very high-BC .338 bullets. I settled on .338 caliber for the Edge early on for its BC and weight.”

He developed the .338 Edge after Remington released the .300 RUM, but before the ammo giant came out with the anticipated .338 RUM. When they did, it turned out that the .338 RUM had a slightly smaller case capacity than the Edge, which is why Jason prefers Carlock’s design.

“Since most people building custom guns are handloading, you can really take advantage of that extra case capacity on the bigger round,” Jason said.

The Edge’s eight percent greater case capacity increases velocity by 120 to 150 feet-per-second (fps), which, ironically enough, is why some estimate that the wildcat Edge is actually more popular than the standardized .338 RUM.

Ballistics

Custom rifles and hand-loaded ammunition can get expensive, so why would an elk hunter invest in such a bougie cartridge? In a word, ballistics.

“The ballistics are incredible,” Jason said.

There isn’t a huge amount of published data on the .338 Edge (at least as compared to other cartridges), but what does exist is impressive. Jason’s rifle sports a 31-inch barrel, which can push a 300-grain bullet nearly 3,000 fps at the muzzle and produce a whopping 5,837 (ft.-lbs.) of energy.

For comparison, a 180-grain .300 Win. Mag. produces about 3,500 ft.-lbs. of energy at the muzzle, and the Edge has flown over 600 yards before its energy has dropped to that level. To put it another way, from a bullet energy perspective, shooting an elk at 600 yards with the .338 Edge is the same as hitting that animal point-blank with a .300 Win. Mag.

The Edge gives hunters the ability to use a high-BC, heavy-for-caliber bullet, which is crucial for long-range shots in windy conditions. Jason uses a 300-grain Sierra MatchKing bullet with a BC of .768 in his hunting loads, which he says performs phenomenally with H1000 powder, Remington brass, and CCI 250 Magnum primers.

“I can get a standard deviation of six,” Jason said, referring to the average difference between bullet velocities over a string of shots. “When you’re dialing a gun for longer range shots, you have a high level of confidence. Lethality, long-range capability is tough to beat in that .338 caliber.”

Part of that lethality is due to the minimal bullet drop and wind drift the .338 Edge offers. With a 100-yard zero, the Edge only drops about 10 inches at 300 yards and 41 inches at 500 yards. With a 10 mph crosswind, the bullet only drifts three inches at 300 yards and 10 inches at 500 yards.

“Another thing that’s great about this cartridge is that wind drift is an issue, but it’s not as much of an issue, so we’re able to make a more confident wind call,” Jason said.

Not everyone agrees that using a MatchKing bullet for hunting is a good idea, but Jason says the .338 Edge’s ballistics help the projectile “behave."

“This 300-grain bullet has such a high sectional density that we’re getting a perfect two-inch in, two-inch out hole, almost like you would with a swift A-frame or Nosler partition,” he said. “You get that long-range ballistic coefficient, but you also get a bullet that’s very well-behaved when it comes to expansion. It doesn’t just blow up in the animal.”

Some might argue that it’s better to dump bullet energy into the animal rather than having the projectile retain its mass and come out the other side. While that may be true, the proof is in the pudding. Jason reports that in eight years of hunting elk with the rifle, he’s never had to take a follow-up shot.

“The gun does what it does, you hit it where you need to, and things have died right away,” he said.

Downsides?

The perfect cartridge doesn’t exist, and the .338 Edge is no exception. Besides the high cost and effort of getting into the wildcat, the rifles tend to be heavy.

“The big downside to my gun is that it’s a heavy gun. It’s a pain to pack around,” Jason said.

Jason’s single-shot rifle weighs a hefty 14.25 pounds, so it’s not practical for long backcountry hunts. Jason says it usually stays in the truck or close to camp and can be deployed if the situation is right.

Guns chambered in .338 Edge can be built to be lighter, but they also come with downsides. One is recoil. Your high school physics teacher is still correct–every reaction produces an equal and opposite reaction. The Edge has been described as a “medium-bore magnum,” so it’s not the worst Big Boy cartridge to shoot. But a lighter gun necessitates a muzzle brake to control recoil and maintain reasonable comfort.

Some hunters might also wonder why anyone would go through the trouble of hunting with a .338 Edge when there are so many cheaper, more readily available cartridges that can kill an elk just as dead. This is largely a personal decision. Some hunters enjoy learning about and tinkering with unusual cartridges that offer unique advantages in the field. The .338 Edge fits into that category, but you don’t need it to kill a nice bull.

Every Advantage

Still, there’s also no denying that this cartridge gives hunters the ability to take elk in situations that most other cartridges would struggle with.

For example, a few years ago, Jason drew an elk tag in eastern Washington and spotted a bull with about 45 minutes left of daylight. They had to drop about 2,000 feet down the mountain to take a shot, and even then, the animal was 630 yards away and across a canyon.

“If you didn’t have the ability to shoot that far, you would’ve had to come back the next day, which is an acceptable option,” Jason said. “But with the capability to shoot across the canyon, we elected to move forward and take that shot.”

He didn’t do so lightly. He’d practiced with his rifle extensively, and just the week prior had posted four-inch groups at 800 yards. He was confident that his holdover and windage adjustments were good, and he knew the cartridge had more than enough juice to take the bull from that distance.

Other magnum cartridges could’ve taken the same shot, but the odds of success wouldn’t have been as high. Ethical hunters only take a shot they’re highly confident they can make, and the Edge gave Jason that confidence in that situation. He hit the elk broadside and packed it out that night.

Last Shot

The argument for the .338 Edge as an excellent elk cartridge is the same argument MeatEater’s Janis Putelis made for the .300 Winchester Short Magnum.

“In the case of hunting bulls, I don't want to have to wait for the perfect shot. I want to let the lead fly at almost any angle, and I want to know that the bullet will penetrate and do the job,” he said.

If you’re going to hunt one of America’s largest game animals, you might as well give yourself the ability to take advantage of whatever situation presents itself–and the .338 Edge gives you that in spades.