Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Mule Deer - .338win question

Mule Deer,

I saw on another thread you now favor lighter bullets in the .338 win. I’m looking at 200-210 grain loads for a dedicated plains game rifle. The rifle currently has a 26 inch barrel but Im considering cutting it back. What are your thoughts on 210 partition, ttsx, or Scirocco II or even 185 tsx for that purpose? I’m also wanting to stick to the most temp stable powders since I will be working up loads in PA in the winter/spring. Ive always used H4350 in .338 with lighter bullets, have you tried RL16?

I know a lot of people think anything less than a 250 in .338 is a waste, but I don’t think they are optimal for a 1 rifle pg hunt.

Thanks.

Not MD but Ed Matunis had some thoughts on the 210 vs 250 Nosler for Africa. Hagel liked the 210 for Elk but at that time there was no 225 and the 250s were semi spitzers.
For me the deciding factor would be if Eland are on your list if so I would pick the Barnes or a 225 NP or Accubond just for added peace of mind. If Eland are not on the list any of the bullets you mentioned would do fine. I think Connie Brooks used the 185s in her 340 Weatherby to good effect in Africa a couple of times.

The 250s do not loose out all that much to the lighter bullets and are never a bad choice. Jack OConner lamented there were no good 180 grain bullets for the 338 at that time, but we all know what recoil wimp he was. He used one of the early 338 in Africa for a number of plains game. I think Winchester loaned him a prototype.

Enjoy and I am envious.

FWIW, I used a 338WM firing 225gr NP for a one rifle safari. Animals included Eland, Gemsbok, Kudu, and Hartmann's Zebra. Three bang flops and the Kudu covered about 100 yds before piling up. I would use the same set up again.

405wcf

I've used the 200X in a 35 WAI (going 2970fps; 338 territory) for zebra and black wildebeest. I used the 210XBT in a 340W for zebra, Impala, Blesbuck, and the big Namibian gemsbuck. I also killed a big cow elk with the 185XLC from a 338 winmag. I'd pick the 210 TTSX and go forth with shouts of glee and anticipation! Have a ball Pard!

jmh3,

I haven't tried RL-16 yet. Have been using RL-15 with 200-210's in the .338 for many years, with superb results. It's somewhat more temperature-sensitive than 16, but on a plains game hunt it wouldn't matter.

Used to use heavier bullets on bigger game, such as the 230 Fail Safe on an Alaskan bull moose, and the 250 Partition on a bull eland, but question whether they'd be any more effective than a monolithic 200-210 even on those really big animals.

While I've used a variety of 200-210's on "medium" game, my favorite's the 200 Ballistic Tip--or these days the Combined Technology Ballistic Silvertip, which is the same thing in different colors. The bullet's mostly jacket, so is similar to a monolithic with a sliver of lead behind the plastic tip. It kills very well, but also penetrates very deeply. Once shot a bull gemsbok in the right shoulder as it stood almost facing me at around 150 yards. The bull went right down, and the bullet was recovered from under the hide of the left ham--several feet of penetration.

Why a 338 when smaller guns will get the job done

Thanks for the info guys.

Why the .338? I guess because I’ve always used one (30 years) for anything bigger than deer and I’m confident/comfortable with the cartridge. I’ve used the 250 partition almost exclusively, but there has been a lot written about lite for caliber .338 bullets lately so I was curious.

I’ll be curious to see if anybody has tried RL 16.

Why Not! memtb

Mule Deer,
What's your experience with the 200 grain Accubond? Does it perform similarly to the 200 grain BT?
Thanks,
bowmanh

Haven't tried it on game bigger than deer or pigs yet, so dunno. But have had good results with Accubonds in several other cartridges from the .260 Remington to 9.3x62.

Heck yeah! I dig my 338 Win. It may not be needed but it might be my most grabbed main battle rifle for serious hunts.

I’ve taken a few Elk now with the 200 AB, 210 Partition and one this fall with the 210 Swift. I can’t think of much I wouldn’t hunt with any of them. They will all penetrate and crush big bones. The 210 Partition is the penetration champ in my book but the wound channel on the Swift this fall was amazing.





I’ve used a bunch of RL17 with the 210’s. This load with the Swift’s runs about 2935 FPS but man it flys well and seems to hit hard.

What bullet is pictured?

I was gonna show a picture of a 225 Barnes (TSX or TTSX) from my wife’s .338 WM.....but we haven’t recovered one yet!
memtb

That’s a lot of frontal area on that Swift. How far did it penetrate? Looks sort of like the way a Woodleigh weld core expands only wider.

I happily used my .338 for plains game because I liked the additional margin for error with animals where the trophy fees ran $1000-3000. Remember, if you have wounded it, you have paid for it. I didn't think the logic of "how small a gun can I use" made any sense with the stakes that high. I would rather have two holes so that we had better odds for a blood trail. I also was not on a "shoot several animal a day" budget, so I didn't think that I would get recoil fatigued--if I was on an impala cull hunt I think a .264 of some flavor would be my maximum And lastly, I loaded it down a bit so that the recoil was not as sharp.

210 partitions for me.

Why use a smaller gun when a .338 with get the job done?

You sound like a guy with a little teeny pecker causing major locker room insecurity. Suggestion: worry more 'bout your own problem and spend less time criticizing others' choices. If you can't, uh, rise to the occasion, you'd be wiser to sit quietly in the corner and hope nobody notices than talking a lot and making sure they notice. Of course, it IS up to you, I'm just trying to help you save a little of your dignity.

Tom

This. If you don't have anything constructive to add to the conversation, why comment at all?

The bullet pictured is the 210 Swift Scirocco. Shot was 151 yards give or take a couple steps since I didn’t range prior to the shot. Bullet broke the near side leg on entry and was buried in the hide on the far side behind the front leg. Been shooting BBCs and Swift’s a little more the last few years and they tend to do the same thing, expand wide and wreck everything real decent but they will be found in the far side quite often. I’m okay with that. No animal from either Bullet has wandered more than 25-30 yards. Most are laying right where I hit them.

Not a 338 WM, but a 338-06 question, I shoot 250 gr NPT's and SAF's in my 338 WM, love em, I have a re-bored pre-64 M-70 that was a rusty bored 270 WCF rifle outta Oregon, JES worked his magic on it, it is now a very accurate 338-06 that fires 210 gr partitions to 2800 fps, my 'Smith installed a stainless M-70 trigger and cerakoted all the steel, question is, do You or MuleDeer or any of the other experienced elk hunters think this would make a good backup elk rifle?

I love heavy or even extra heavy for caliber bullets, what I'm reading here is the 210 NPT may be plenty, the rifle in question wears a 3.5-10x40 matte Leupold scope in Leupold DD rings and bases, it all sits nicely bedded in an old Pacific Research stock, and most likely weighs less than 8lbs all up.

Thanks in advance.

Your contribution of this info here several years back was responsible for first developing my interest in the 338WinMag. My dad and I both used that load data with a Ruger M77 and Remington 700 that were cut back to 22", and we've had great results with it. The 200gr Ballistic Silvertip is his favorite, although I've been playing with some 210 and 185 TTSX bullets. We were recently at a Whitetails Unlimited auction and put a lowball bid in on a 10 day safari in RSA, and we wound up winning it. We're thinking that the 338 rifles will likely accompany us for plains game in 2019. 59gr of H4895 and the 185TTSX is so easy-shooting in my Ruger that I may just go with that. Kudu and Oryx shouldn't shrug one off.