It's much like comparing a 7mm Rem Mag to a .300 Win Mag. The bigger magnum simply does with heavier bullets what the smaller bore does. As far as the recoil of a .338 with heavy bullets being a "push", well that's been said about the .45-70 too. My .45-70's recoil flat out ain't no gentle shove with a max 350 grain load. It's manageable all right, and even perversely fun actually, but a push it isn't. Same old story - some rifles absorb it well and others don't. Only advantage to the .338 is simply a larger frontal area and obviously the choices of heavier bullets. Is it needed? Not typically. A .300 Mag with the right bullet can and does take down anything on this continent and a few others. The .300 Win Mag may well be the all-time winner of the one-gun-for-everything title, and I really like mine. That said, there's isn't much of anything, anywhere, I'd be afraid of if I had a .338 Mag with a real stout 250 grain bullet.
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