The 5 Best Scopes for .338 Win Mag Rifles — Reviews 2023

best scope for 338 win mag

Photo by Keary O. / CC BY

The .338 Winchester Magnum is a popular and powerful caliber designed as a hunting round. Unlike the.338 Lapua, the.338 Win Mag is capable of being chambered in some of the most popular bolt action and semi auto hunting rifles out there. However, a .338 Win Mag without a scope is missing out. The round is a long range precision bullet that begs for a scope.

With a powerful round like the .338 Win Mag recoil can be a major issue. When looking for a scope, you should consider durability as a prime concern. A scope isn’t worth much if the weapon’s recoil rattles it apart. Another factor could be range: the.338 Win mag is popular as both a long range target round, and a short and medium range round for hunting big creatures like elk and bear. The scopes should be precise and adjustable as well since what’s the point of an accurate round if your scope can’t handle the precision?

These are the 5 best scopes for .338 Win Mag rifles that we could find:

Millett Tactical Riflescope (TRS) 4-16x

Millet is a maker of finely crafted and tuned optics designed for rugged performance and field worthiness. The 4-16 power allows the.338 Winchester Magnum round to be a capable long range optic, as well as the ability to perform at close range. The.338 Win mag is an excellent round for big game, but we don’t have the choice in if we are meeting the game at range or up close.

The Millet 4-16x utilizes an illuminated reticle for low light shooting, and incorporates a mil dot bar for elevation and windage holdovers. The illuminated reticles work wonders, and when combined with a wide 50 mm objective lens, and fully multi coated optic you have an excellent optic for low light situations., This could include dawn and dusk, as well as overcast or canopy situations.

The scope is crystal clear and is capable of withstanding shot after shot from the heavy hitting .338 Win Mag, without worrying about losing zero or internal scope damage. The scope is fog proof and even waterproof up to ten feet for thirty minutes. Adjustments are extremely precise and can be done to get ridiculously precise. The Millet 4-16x is an excellent tactical scope, but is also a great hunting scope. This is easily one of the best scopes for .338 Win Mags.

Savage 110 & Millet TRS-1 Sniper Practice 3-21-12

Nikon Monarch

The Nikon Monarch is the brainchild of optic’s conglomerate Nikon, an optics maker dedicated to producing everything from camera optics to binoculars to, of course, precision rifle scopes. Nikon’s scopes, especially their AR line, have proven to be incredibly popular and it’s for good reason. The Nikon Monarch is the largest optic in the Nikon family and is designed for big calibers, like the.338 Win Mag.

The Monarch is a powerful scope with a variable magnification of 3 to 12 power, and the optic features a large objective lens. The Monarch’s eyebox technology is perfect for the heavy recoiling .338 Win Mag. The Eyebox is designed to protect the shooter from scope eye, by increasing the length of eye relief. With the Monarch eye relief is up to 4 inches. The Nikon monarch is also a solid one piece tube, a design feature which increases overall durability.

The Monarch is also waterproof and fog proof, and features fully multi coated optics for the clearest picture possible. The Monarch’s turrets are spring loaded for an instant zero reset, and the scope has one of the smoothest zooms I’ve ever encountered. The optic is topped off with a bullet drop compensator to give the shooter an efficient holdover for long range shooting. The Monarch’s price may not traditionally fall into the budget range, but with the features slammed into the Monarch it’s by far an excellent value. To get the best scope for .338 Win Mag rifles, sometimes you just got to shell out the money.

Burris Eliminator III Reticle Laser Scope

The .338 Win Mag is another one of those hard hitting, long range rounds that fill an important niche in American shooting. Long a popular magnum for North American hunting, it naturally benefits from a powerful scope. The Burris Eliminator (see full specs) is one such scope, with its 3-12 power magnification, 44mm objective lens and laser illuminated reticle, it is a worthy scope for your favorite .338 rifle. Designed to be one of the most advanced rifle scopes on the planet, the Eliminator has built in rangefinding and bullet drop compensating features, as well as rock solid construction, and is well worth examining for your next scope purchase.

Burris Eliminator III 200 300 400 yards on Steel

Vortex Viper


When you really want to stretch the legs on the.338 Win Mag, and I mean get some serious range in, I’d suggest the Vortex Viper. The Viper is a powerful 6.5 to 20 power optic designed to take precision to the next level. The Vortex Viper provides the necessary parallax adjustments for long range firing by outfitting the Viper with a third turret. The lenses are crystal clear and are fully multicoated with Vortex’s proprietary coating material.

The Vortex Viper is also sealed with O rings to prevent moisture from entering the optic, as well as keeping dust and debris out of the scope. The optic is also fog proofed with argon gas, and like any self respecting optic is shock proof with a rugged and durable construction. The durability allows the optic to withstand the power of the.338 Win Mag. The turrets can be re indexed tool free after zeroing the scope.

The Vortex Viper is a surprisingly light 21 ounces, which is impressive for such a large scope. The mil dot reticle allows the user to estimate range and windage as well as hold overs for wind calls and bullet drop. The Vortex Viper is an outstanding optic and would be excellent for both hunting or tactical applications, although hunting is its primary purpose. The.338 Win Mag is a mighty round, and deserves a premium scope.

Vortex Viper Review

Leupold FX ll


The Leupold FX ll may seem odd at first glance. A small low-powered, fixed magnification optic on a powerful.338 Win Mag? Allow me to make the case for it, though. The Leupold FX ll would be perfect on a rifle designed for hunting in thick brush with a Browning BAR for close range bear encounters.

The Leupold FX ll is a featherweight and will add nothing to your rifle. The scope is designed for long eye relief and can be mounted nearly anywhere, to allow you to quickly get a sight picture for those dangerous close range encounters. The FX ll is fully multi coated for a clear picture, and Leupold’s multicoated 4 is a proprietary coating that provides much more light transmission than a standard coating.

The Leupold FX ll has a 2.5 magnification and a scope 28 mm objective lens. A large lens is not required for such a small amount of magnification. The FX ll is equipped with five separate reticles for the ultimate in versatility. You can stand strong again against bear, elk, or hog, knowing that you can place precise shots in a rapid manner.

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Scoping

The.338 Win Mag is a powerful caliber, capable of hunting any animal on the North American continent. The round needs a high quality optic designed to take a beating, and able to last throughout those long and hard hunts. This round cannot reach its potential without a scope, so choose quality, and durability. We hope you’ve found the best scope for .338 Win Mag here.

  • Owner of Reloaderaddict.com, Boyd Smith is a major handgun enthusiast, and although he owns Glocks, he prefers the revolving wheel type. His go-to guns are a Smith & Wesson 642 Performance Center for carry and a Ruger GP100 in the nightstand biometric safe (he has kids). He loads both revolvers with old-school 148-grain Federal Gold Medal .38 wadcutters. It’s OK if you think he’s a wimp. Email him.

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7 responses

  1. I bought a 338 win mag and looking to put the top of the range telescope on it. Help me to choose the best one please.

    • If you’ve got the dough, you can’t go wrong with the Burris Eliminator III. 🙂

      • I was really eyeballing that one fore some reason… read this article a few days ago, and have been extensively looking at all of the options….I’m leaving for cabelas here in a few minutes to go purchase my Eliminator 3….. (the 5 looks pretty slick on Burris website, but IDK about $2K +)

    • I’m using a Vortex Viper PST MRAD 6-24X50 on my Barrett 300Win Mag
      Excellent scope with parrellax
      Consistent groups at 1000 yards

  2. Great weapon owned for years now problem is keeping a scope sighted. Need one to handle the recoil.

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