I have built a couple of 338 LM's for testing an optical sighting system and they are fun to shoot at 1,000 or longer for a while. I shoot at 1,000 some but had never hit a spotting disk spindle before at that range until I built the first 338 LM. The gun was shooting very well and the wind was calm, with the big brake and 30 inch barrel I could see the the spindle get hit and flutter to ground though the scope, the next shot I did the same. I still can picture the spotting disk flutter in my mind, for me it was a pretty sight. The 338 LM guns were built with a special-purpose in mind and they met the requirements very well. The 338 LM has a place in the range of calibers to shoot, but unless you are doing something that requires that much energy downrange there are a lot of guns that are easier to shoot as I find the 338 LM's to be fatiguing to shoot, not the recoil the muzzle blast.
I find it interesting that people do not question the guy who goes out and buys a Weatherby 338-378, which has a larger case capacity, but some of the same people question the guy buying a 338 LM. Maybe the difference is the association that 338 LM's have with black guns and they were originally designed for hard target interdiction, not a great trait for the more squeamish amongst us, the Weatherby's for dangerous four-legged animals. If I had a task that required me to deliver 300 grain bullet supersonically well beyond 1,300 yards I would definitely reach for the 338 LM if for no other reason that I can buy Lapua brass for it and have no rim to trouble me when full length resizing, but a Weatherby 338-378 would probably do the job as well. I will shut up now.
wade