Bought my first rifle when I was 16, Weatherby Vanguard in 30.06. Killed some game including what's still my biggest whitetail. Liked the caliber but thought recoil was a bit much. When I was in gun school I built an '06, '98 Mauser action, Douglas barrel, English Walnut stock (stock & barrel were blanks to begin) and with a stock that fit, the '06 was a pussy cat to shoot and it killed any thing it was pointed at. Had a friend that for years tried to get me to try the .338, but I liked my '06. Finally in the late 80's he shows up with a Winchester 70 (in the box) .338 and says "here you go, now maybe you'll try it ". First thing I did was restock it in a heavy dense piece of English and get some brass & dies & bullets. Since then that's all I've used, the load I shoot isn't hot ( going by the book about 2700 fps ) but with the heavier (225 grain) and bigger dia. bullet it sure does have a greater difference. I use either Hornaday interlock or Nosler Partition, both in 225 gr depending on the size of the game. I get far less blood shot meat than the smaller faster cartridges and with a gun that fits and handloading it is my favorite, kills like a "grown up" '06, have put literally tons of meat in the freezer with that gun. All that said though if I had to stick with factory loads I'd go back to my 30.06 and do just fine. Like has been said, it's the one all others are compared to.