8mm Remington Magnum

ligonierbill said:
He'd be wrong on that; it feeds real smooth. Remember Elmer considered 33 the minimum bore for elk. I think he would have liked a magnum length 338. In fact, he (and others) invented one, the 334 OKH. Unlike the original 333 OKH based on a 30-06 case, that one was a full length 375 H&H like the 8 Mag. In his view, why would you shrink it to 323! But Elmer wasn't always right. I like my big 8.
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He was talking about extreme temperature feeding. Looking at the lack of taper, I think Elmer was right. To pass the Elmer test, everything had to work in Alaska and Africa.
 
Craig Boddington likes the 8 Mag precisely because of his extensive experience with it in Africa. Besides, it is tapered 0.6mm from base to shoulder. I love reading Elmer Keith, in large measure because he was never shy about expressing his opinion. That said, one of his opinions was, "The 30-06 is no elk rifle." And he absolutely hated the 270 and Jack O'Conner. Worth listening to? Absolutely. Agree with him without question? Never!
 
ligonierbill said:
Craig Boddington likes the 8 Mag precisely because of his extensive experience with it in Africa. Besides, it is tapered 0.6mm from base to shoulder. I love reading Elmer Keith, in large measure because he was never shy about expressing his opinion. That said, one of his opinions was, "The 30-06 is no elk rifle." And he absolutely hated the 270 and Jack O'Conner. Worth listening to? Absolutely. Agree with him without question? Never!
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I think he was wrong about the .30-06. He was absolutely correct about the .270 Winchester at that time. Bullets had not yet come to the point of making the. 270 a legitimate big game rifle.
 
I love reading Elmer Keith, in large measure because he was never shy about expressing his opinion
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Elmer Keith, who had helped develop the 338 Win Mag and the 340 Weatherny, had little liking for the 8mm Rem Mag. His comment when Remington announced it was "What the hell can it do that the 338 can't do better?". I kinda disagree with him, while the 338 Win MAg is a great cartridge, the 8mm Rem Mag shoots a little flatter. But that's splitting hairs, they are both good cartridges and ballistics are almost identical. Personally, I think the 8mm Mag would do better nowadays with better powders and a better selection of bullets.
 
As I pointed out in an earlier post (maybe here, maybe in another thread) part of Keith's angst with the 8mm was the simple fact that Remington castrated it right on the blocks.

They didn't come anywhere near to exercising its potential in either bullet weight or velocity.

He was right. The .338 was a more versatile cartridge in a shorter package. Had Remington actually developed the cartridge to its potential, it might have been a different story, but Remington has a long history of screwing the pooch when it comes to cartridge development, and this was no different.
 
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