Which bullet to use for the 338 Win Mag for plainsgame. I had my mind set on using the A-frames 250 or 275gr version but then I saw that Woodleigh makes a 300gr weldcore with a SD of .375 is that overkill on Zebra, Eland, Kudu and Gemsbok. Please tell the pro's and con's between the bullets and expierences with the Weldcore. I am unfamiliar with it.

Thank you

Sir,

Those bullet weights seem a bit heavy for grazing amimals of the non-dangerous type.
Perhaps something a bit lighter?
Nosler makes a fine 210 grain bullet in the .338 Caliber.

Montana

You will not go wrong with 250 gn Trophy Bonded Bear Claws or A-Frames.

Brad

Montana,

for plains game I would drop to a 225 gr. in any of the bullet makes...all plains game will see the wrath of a 338 and a prelium bullet..My son took a zebra stallion on he front of the shoulder with a diagonal raking shot..Broke the going in shoulder and exited thru ribs..Stallion could hardly hop away...Did only about 20 yds and down..

Mike

I used a 9.3mm 286gr Woodleigh round nose soft point last monday evening to kill a 120 pound white tail doe. It was a lung shot, and the bullet performed perfectly even on this very light target. Even an old blind man like me had no problem following the blood trail the 30-40 yards to where she gave up the ghost. This is an excellent bullet. Kudude

I agree with the other comments that a 300gn bullet is not needed for planes game. Any 225 to 250 grain bullet of premium construction will work well.

Any 338 bullet that Woodleigh makes would be fine for your task.

Fergus

Hi There


I use a 338 Win Mag as my general shifting spanner (wrench) in other words when all else fails out comes the 338 Ruger All Weather and I use all weights of bullets ranging from 200 gr Speer to 300 Gr Claw's which is about the same as a Woodleigh

The abslutely amazing accuaracy and down range power of the 300 gr have now made it mt preffered choice , even for smallest of plains game , meat damage is minimal but killing power is on par with 375

Montana

Others have probably used the 338 more than I but I figure I have killed over 50 animals with it. In my opinion the 250 Nosler Partition or other 250 grain premium bullets are the optimum bullet weight if everything from 50 to 1500 pounds is on the menu. With the 250's you get '06 trajectory so 300 yard hits are completely doable but it is enough bullet for the biggest soft skin beasts. To me the 275 and 300 grainers are best left for very heavy game at close range when a 375 is not available.

Mark

quote:

Others have probably used the 338 more than I but I figure I have killed over 50 animals with it. In my opinion the 250 Nosler Partition or other 250 grain premium bullets are the optimum bullet weight if everything from 50 to 1500 pounds is on the menu. With the 250's you get '06 trajectory so 300 yard hits are completely doable but it is enough bullet for the biggest soft skin beasts. To me the 275 and 300 grainers are best left for very heavy game at close range when a 375 is not available.

I absolutly agree with Mark's recommendations. I can't recommend Woodleigh bullets however having just used them this past summer in Zimbabwe.The bullet I used was the psp 250gr weldcore and found it to be too soft, in fact coming apart in a leopard. Stick with the 250gr noslers or A frames and you'll be in great shape for any plains game out to an easy 250yds.

Pathfinder - I'm curious as to what velocity and at what distance from your target the Woodleigh came apart?

Montana - Where are you hunting plains game? South Africa where 300-400 yard shots are possible? Can you shoot well enough at 400 yards? Is there any chance you're considering DG animals?

Will you be in a "thicker" part of Africa where shot opportunities are typically not as long? Will you be in an area that has DG?

For Africa, I'm not a fan of selecting a bullet weight for PG and another for DG. My KISS theory says select a good, heavy-for-caliber bullet that will provide deep penetration and stick to the one weight. Is the 338 the only gun you're taking?

Why? B/C there are too many "opportunities" that can pop up in Africa. You could be there on a PG-only hunt and the PH comes into camp and says "Hey, want to take care of a problem buffalo?" or "The guy that just left before you didn't get his buff and we've got an extra on quota if you want it."

I'm not saying the 338 is the ideal buffalo cartridge, but with the right bullet and his backup, the PH would probably let you use it.

Again, it's Africa and you never know what could pop up. So I say take a bullet that is best suited to deal with most anything that could arise.

PS - In the case of the 338, you can't go wrong with the 275 swift.

quote:

Pathfinder - I'm curious as to what velocity and at what distance from your target the Woodleigh came apart?

The distance to the leopard was 81 yds (leica range finder). The velocity of the 338 win mag 250gr psp woodleigh weldcore was 2650fps. Fast enough but not a speed demon. All we found in the leopard was apiece of the shank about .638" wide and about.751"long measured end to end but was bent some. The rifling is clearly visable.A recovered bullet from a frontal quartering shot on a sable bull at about 60yds weighed 151.1grs or 60% and was in the off shoulder. another recovered bullet was from a Zebra stallion at about 45 yds hit directly behind the shoulder and found in the rib cage on the far side. The bullet held together weighing 202.6grs but looked like a peeled back bananna with little if any shank left. This is 81% retention which wasn't bad. Upon seeing how the bullets expanded,and in the case of the leopard disintegrating, my PH suggested that I use his 375 H&H with partitions on the Eland. I had no trouble agreeing on that.

In the past I've used Northfork, Barnes and Partition bullets with great success. To me the woodleigh are in the same category as the nosler accubonds, OK but somewhat soft for the 500lbs plus game of Africa.What's puzzling is that the leopard is soft and not all that difficult to kill, mine weighed 160lbs but was big enough to cause that bullet to come apart. Can't afford to take chances on expensive trophy fee animals in my opinion, especially the ones that bite back.

I will be in Namibia and the reason I suggested 275 or 300 was for the Eland, Kudu, Gemsbok. Sorry I had another thread going and this one was a carry over. I will also be taking my 280 Rem. w/ 175 A-Frames. The Perfect Shot recommends SD bullets of .3 for proper pentration. A 225 .338 has an SD of .281 so that was why I wanted to go with the heavier bullets.
Thanks for all the input. My gun should be here next week.

Montana,

The SD of a bullet in the box does not mean much unless you are shooting a FMJ. For expanding bullets, especially ones with a long solid base like the TBBC and North Fork, a 225 grain .338 is probably perfection for that caliber. I have shot American bison with the .338 alot including the 200, 225 and 250 grain Bitterroot (the first and still probably best bonded core hunting bullet), 210 and 250 grain Nosler, and 275 grain Speer. The heavier Speer (which is unbonded) was by far the poorest .338 I used. I would not hesitate to use the 225 grain North Fork or original Trophy Bonded. I would be suspicious of the new Speer Trophy Bonded as they use a gilding metal jacket rather than the original pure copper. For that reason I would suggest you use the North Fork. The .338 has a fairly quick twist so you could certainly use the 250 grain if you prefer.

Here is what a 450 and 400 grain .458 North Fork looks like at 2,550 fps and 2,700 fps shot into african buffalo. The 400 grain held up fine and it has less SD than your 225 grain .338. The 450 grain should look about like your 250 grain .338 in Eland.



Andy

Stick with 250gr A-Frames and you wont go wrong.

A 225-250 gr. premium bullet should provide the optimum combination of penetration, trajectory, and expansion on African plains game.

I have personally used 250 grain .338 Nosler Partitions on everything from duiker to zebra to eland. I cannot imagine better performance with any other bullet.

But then I don't measure performance by retained weight like some hunters do. I measure bullet performance by how well they kill game.

There's two types of Woodleigh soft. The SP & the PSP, both are designed to do very different jobs - but I have to say, I'm very suprised that Pathfinder had a PSP break up on a Leopard.......It's the first time I've heard of bullet break up on any Woodleigh and if anything, I'd have expected a PSP to pass through Mr Spots without expanding enough. All I can suggest is that perhaps the bullet was travelling too fast. If I remember correctly the Woodleigh bullets have something printed on the box about optiminal terminal velocity.... I seem to remember it's about 1800 or 1900 - 2000 or 2400 fps, (obviously somewhat dependant on calibre) but I could be wrong.

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:
but I have to say, I'm very suprised that Pathfinder had a PSP break up on a Leopard

I am also very surprised. Woodleigh's bullet listings give the following recommendations for their 250gn softs:

250gr RN SN 1800-2500 fps
250gr PP SN 1800-2500 fps

Using the JBM trajectory web page, I would estimate the impact velocity to be 2490 fps, toward the limit of Woodleigh’s recommendation but not unreasonable for the bullet.

My experience with Woodleigh bullets is not extensive - one cape buffalo, a mule deer and about 10 boar, but I never experienced the problems you are describing. I have no complaint with Woodleigh's and plan to hunt with them again.

Fergus

Montana,

For my first ever and so far only African PG hunt I used a 338 with 250 grain Nosler Partition. All were one shot kills although not necessarily instant kills (aim not the bullet). Warthog, Kudu, Impala, Wildebeast, and Hartebeest. My only complaint on the only bullet recovered, from the Kudu, was very little to no expansion.

In hindsight my PH claims to have preferred TBBC.

Fred,

Can you provide more detail about the shot that had poor expansion?

Thanks,

Fergus,

I was interested to read your post. I use quite a lot of Woodleigh bullets in my .500 but always at the slower end of their optimal terminal velocity and they perform very well indeed. From the ones I've seen used by clients with faster/smaller calibres they don't seem to work quite as well at the faster end of that OTV..... Perhaps there's a lesson there?