My hunting partner is taking a 338 for leopard this year (I'm going for buff )

... what 338 bullets do you like for leopard?

Barnes X.

I kinda like nosler partitions. Leopards are quite lightly constructed and you will need a bullet which opens up quite fast. The soft front on the nosler opens up and does quite a bit of interior remodeling on leopard

quote:

da like nosler partitions. Leopards are quite lightly constructed and you will need a bullet which opens up quite fast. The soft front on the nosler opens up and does quite a bit of interior remodeling on leopard

So then, how bout a ballistic tip? Too fragile?

Any premium bullet that you'd use for general plainsgame hunting in the .338 Win. Mag. would be excellent for leopard. If a good .338 bullet lands in the right spot, you'll have yourself a very dead leopard in short order.

I like the 250 gr. Nosler Partition loaded to just over 2700 fps. better than any other bullet for the .338 Win. Mag., and I'll be using it in Tanzania this year.

The one issue that is more important than the cartridge or even the bullet when it comes to leopard hunting is absolutely precise shot placement. That counts for just about the whole ballgame............

AD

Ditto what Allen said, but i would go w/ the 210grNP. You can drive it faster, it will open abit more but still shoot thru your kitty form any angle. Have a great trip, what are you using for your buff?

Using a 375 for the buff.

300gr Woodleigh softs & solids are my stand-bys, but their supply has been a bit sketchy for a while now so I've ordered some North Fork Cup Points to try out.

If I can get them to shoot (don't see why I shouldn't) then I'll take and give them a try.

I've used Swift, Barnes, and Nosler ballistic tips. I got a complete shoulder through shoulder exit with the 200 grain Nosler bal. tip. The Swift and Barnes bullets will of course shoot through a leopard at any angle. Like Allen said it's much more where you hit them than what you hit them with. Many, many leopards have been killed stone dead with a 30-06.

new_guy,

You just can't beat the 250 NP in the 338WM. It will work as well on leopard as eland. I drilled one the whole length of a leopard stem to sterm. He ended up in a neat pile at the base of the bait tree.

Regards,

Mark

I shoot only 3 bullets in my .338, the 210 Nosler, the 250 gr. Nosler and the 300 gr. Woodleigh, and they all shoot to the same POI in my gun...

For Leopard I like the 210 Nosler at 3005 FPS..it stuns them, kills them and does not tear them up...and for some reason it out penitrates the 250 Noser???????

I love the 300 gr. Woodleigh for bigger stuff like Buffalo, Eland, Wildebeest etc. It is also a brown bear killing son of gun.

Ray, I don't know what it is about the 210 gr. Nosler Partition, but it penetrates way better than paper ballistics say it should. It's a really unique bullet from that standpoint.

I was on a Texas deer hunt that included Bob Nosler back in 1991, and Bob described the .338 210 gr. Partition as Nosler's "flagship" bullet. I don't know if he still feels that way or not, but that was high praise coming from the manufacturer himself.........

AD

It is an amazing bullet I put one completely through and Eland lengthwise some years back and have punched through and elk lengthwise a couple of times and its the only bullet that I have put completely through a bison broadside, but of course one cannot expect this eveytime..Must me a combination of speed and perhaps blowing off the front section which always gives a Nosler more penitration and when it does this the internal damage is awesome, its akin to a bomb going off inside..I laugh when some call it bullet failure..A bullet that destroys the insides and makes two holes is impossible to beat...The Germans and English knew this years ago, they had the tug and tig and a few others, and they worked also.