One of the cool things about hanloading ,is the ability to choose a bullet for a particular hunt.
In this day and age there are almost to many choices.
I was reading a post on the medium bore page
from a guy who shot a black bear at about 175 yards with a 210 grain partition from a .338 federal, MV at about 2500 fps.
He was not happy with the results at all as the bear was hit hard but was not recoverd.
Its hard to tell why the bullet and cartridge failed with out a carcus to examine
But it brings to mind how important bullet choice is.
The 210 grain partition was designed with a .338 win mag in mind. While I really think it was a decent choice it seems a little too tough a bullet for the 2500 MV.
I think a bullet such as a 200 grain speer Driven a bit faster would likly have preformed better. It would likly have expanded better but should certainly have penatrated. (should have is the main point)
Other hunters would have used that same partition from an ultra mag on a moose.
a bullet maker has a real challange these days.
I think for the .338 federal velocity I might stay away from really tough bullets.
A 185 grain tripple shock could be drivin to 2700 FPS I would think, and it should do prety well at 175 yards. But its hard to say.
I like to drive most bullets out to 2700 to 2900 FPS or more when i can, my 45/70 or corse is one exception.
A "premium" or a "cup and core" bullet all should perform reasonably well at that velocity.
If you are going much slowr i would avoid the premiums and if you are going much faster I likly would want a premium.
It gets even more complicated when the game choice enters the equation. Hell with my roberts the 100 grain balistic tip at 3100 fps would be great on an antilope but it might not be so great on a really big mule deer.
You could really drive your self carzy trying to find the best bullet for a givin hunt. And then after you have reaserched . and found a perfect choice , there is no way to tell till you shoot it if your rifle will shoot it acuratly.
It sure is fun to think and argue about it though.
...tj3006

Nothing against the guy with the 338 Federal and the lost Bear. In my many years of hunting I've often found that "bullet failure" was more often than not "shooter failure" Often that bullet just doesn't hit where we thought it did.

With that said. I would tend to agree I wouldn't use a 210Pt at 338 Federal velocities. Matter of fact I very seldom use the PT at all anymore. I've found the Accubond to work better. In my experience thay open better and still maintain most of their weight.

I used 160accubonds @ close to 2950 in Namibia last month. They performed well on everything from jackel to kudu and a 325yd shot on a Hartebest. My wife used the 140 in her 7x57 @ 2750 and took down a springbok and Oryx at around 250 yds. Both one shot kills. The PH wanted more info on the bullets since he shot a 7x57 and was very impressed with performance.

I have a 340 wildcat. 280 based with 80grs capacity. I had used the 210 in it. I now use the 200Accubond. My velocity is higher than the 338Fed but I've been very pleased and like the down range performance better.

It's always about matching the bullet to the vel. I have had great perf. from the 210grNP @ 338-06 vel. (2750fps). I think the bullet runs out of gas, for good expansion, about 300yds though. That's about 2000fps impact vel so I think the bullet would be fine in the little 338Fed. just stay under 200yds or put the bullet into bone. The TSX is a "harder" bullet IMO, but you can get the vel. up, might perform sim. to the NP though. Something like the 200gr Speer or Hornady isn't a bad choice, maybe the 200grNAB?

quote:

Originally posted by ramrod340:
Nothing against the guy with the 338 Federal and the lost Bear. In my many years of hunting I've often found that "bullet failure" was more often than not "shooter failure" Often that bullet just doesn't hit where we thought it did.

I think this hits the nail directly!

Picking the right bullet might just be the matter of "NOT PICKING THE WRONG ONE!"

By this I mean not using a target bullet for hunting.....an A-Max for elk etc!

When we do our jobs then the bullet has a chance of doing it's job...

338 caliber it is this year for elk.... My choice will be the 225 grain TSX... Course I'll be sending it down range at close to 3200 fps ... Hopefully we'll see how they hold together... If it comes down to one of our more normal ranges (75 - 100 yds) I suspect I'll be shedding some pedals but the penetration and wound channel should be QUITE sufficient at those velocites...

Let's face it, it's all about placement no matter what... Choose the correct bullet and PLACE it where it should be...

Ken....

Thomas Jones ----- Shoot a North Fork 225 grain or 240 grain bullet and you don't have worries about anything except placement, and that is your part. Good shooting.

Bullet placement isn't THE only concern. If your suprpoopersnotknockeroutof pushes the wrong bullet too fast, placing it in the right spot only adds to the bad feeling when you don't recover your animal. You must match bullets to the game & the cartridge for best results under all conditions you THINK you may be hunting.
IMO the 200grNF would be a perfect match for the 338Fed. You still have to put it in the right spot though.

quote:

Its hard to tell why the bullet and cartridge failed with out a carcus to examine

Or if, indeed, the failure was one of cartridge and/or bullet. If you can't see where the bullet actually landed, and where it went after striking, you cannot say with any certainty that either the bullet or the cartridge failed.......

quote:

Originally posted by Thomas Jones:
...The 210 grain partition was designed with a .338 win mag in mind. While I really think it was a decent choice it seems a little too tough a bullet for the 2500 MV....

Nope, should have worked great, which I expect it did.

Hot core,
You are probably right that the partition should have worked well at 175 yards, I think they are suposed to start expanding at about 1800 FPS.
But with a pen name hot core I would have hoped for a great endorsment of my 200 grain speer sugjestion...tj3006

Nothing at all wrong with your suggestion for the 200gr Speer, it is also an excellent Bullet.

I've Killed, and seen Killed, more Bears with the old Hornady Bullets than anything else. I was fortunate to be invited into a Club of old MARINES and Sand Crabs(civilian Tech Reps) that all hunted with a passion. And back then, Hornady was what was used.

Made the ammo from Pull-Down 7.62NATO cases where we retained the original Powder and used it. Some became 308Wins and some became 358Wins.
---

I've come to appreciate the excellent performance of the Speer Hot-Cor design simply by having used a bunch of them. I really can't think of a "Bad Bullet" I've ever shot, from any manufacturer though, when properly used.

I see a lot of posts on Bullet Failures, but have NEVER experienced such a thing. Have seen the "wrong" bullet used. But that was a Trigger Yanker Failure for using the wrong Bullet for the task at hand.

We sure are blessed with the very best Bullets ever made today, and that goes for the Standard Grade bullets too. Plenty to choose from for everyone.

Good Hunting and clean 1-shot Kills.

My family and I all use standard velocity rifles. EX: .308win 30.06 and 338 Fed. I've come to a conlcusion where using standard velocities the happy medium between penetration and expansion comes from the bonded core bullets of any make.

I use 165gr interbonds in my wife's 308, 180gr interbonds in my uncles 30.06 and 180gr accubonds in my 338 Fed. and 150gr SST in my friend's 270 Win. I believe up close they will hang together at those speeds, and will still open reliably "out there".

I do believe anything over 3000 fps deserves the premiums but like others have said, you can chose the best or worst bullet out there, if you hit the wrong spot the end is probably a lost wounded animal.

I have only seen one bullet failure. My hunting partner put a 180 grain corlocked factory rem 300 right into the shoulder of a big bull elk. We tracked blood for miles and he saw blood on the shoulder.
The bullet must not have penitrated past the joint cause that elk went a long long way after the shot, we never found him.
I have convinced my buddie to shoot hand loads with 180 grain acubonds now.
I still recomend he shoot behind the shoulder and that if he want to go through the shoulder switch to the partition...tj3006