I am going to let my friend borrow my 338 win. mag for next season to help him decide if he wants one for himself. I have only shot one deer with this gun, it is for elk and moose hunting.

It will be used as a general deer gun, probably no shot over 275 yds. I shoot 250 gr partitions out of it for my purposes. What would be a good deer bullet or will it matter? I'm thinking 210 partitions or 225 hornady.

Thank you in advance.

I have been using 200gr. Barnes x's but just bought some 200gr. Nosler BT's. I like the flatter trajectory of the 200's and 210. This rifle of mine shoots better than me so I haven't picked one over the other due to accuracy. I have never shot deer with mine only Elk, but I don't see the point in full power 250's for deer.

I don't use a 338 Win mag. I have a wildcat that launches the 210 Nosler Partition at 2850 fps. I like the 210. Last year mine took a 100 Whitetail at 20 yds, an Antelope at 230 yds and large Mule deer at 300 yds. Worked well on all three. Recovered one bullet from the Mule deer - retained 179 grains.
You should be able to get close to 3000 fps with the 210 in a Win Mag. That would be my choice for deer.
Also, I have heard good reports with the 200 Speer on Deer.

I have shot several deer with my 338. Hell you could use just about any bullet and it would work fine. Anything in the 180-210 grain range is plenty. I have never recovered a bullet myself, so I would expect full penetration. In my experience the "X" bullets and ballistic tips are a little too explosive in expansion on deer sized animals. I think on a broadside shot the bullet will be exiting while the petals are wide open (90 degrees away from the bullet body). Expect very large exit holes. The last one I shot, the exit hole was large enough to put my closed fist through the hole and not touch anything. If your buddy is a meat hunter, it's something to consider. A Hornady or Sierra bullet in 200 grain range is all you'll need, at the ranges you're dealing with anyway. Just my 2 cents.

Just in case you haven't read earlier posts of mine, I've been hunting deer with my 340 Weatherby since '89. For about the last 8 or so years I have used nothing but the 175 X throttled to about 3300 and at 20 or almost 300 yds. have not had an exit hole much larger than a golf ball. Outstanding killing power though. A smallish buck at about 30 yards was hit on the point of the shoulder and stopped the bullet, but have never had another do it. Just to say I have, I will try the 160 at around 3500 and see what it does. When the conditions aren't 100 % favorable I sometimes go for the shoulder, mostly I go a couple inches behind.

BREWTCL - if the deer load is intendedfor your friend, would it be best if he used the gun with what the load that its capable of?

I think you should let him try the gun with your 250 partition load. Well there might be better bullets for deer - but no one better to make the .338 win show what it can and what it does.

Regards

Mads

John,

While the 200 gr BT I used was "better" than the 175 gr "X" bullet, it was still a violent expander. The shot from the X was under 100 yards (poor devil), and brush was such that I couldn't let him run out aways first or he would have disappeared. The barnes was the one that must have exited "wide open", pretty huge gaping hole, looked like a bay window through his chest once he was dressed. The 200 BT was over 200 yd shot and quartering away, so the exit went through the off side front shoulder, messing up quite a bit of it on the way out. There's not much meat on whitetails out here to begin with...sure hate to throw away the bigger pieces!

Needless to say a 338 is overkill on a deer anyway...but it DOES put them down pretty fast! The 180 gr BT's weren't out yet at the time, haven't tried them, so I was using the 200's, and yes they are built tougher than the .30 and below BT's...but...they also hit with considerably more "smack" than the lighter bullets do, so the tougher construction is offset some by the larger impact forces, velocity/energy. Just my opinions based on field use, not really based on any "formulas" or paper penetration tests or the like. The 180 gr BT's out of my brothers 30-06 seem to do much less damage in a similar shot. He still uses them, I don't normally hunt deer with my 338 anymore, I am a meat hunter and prefer my .257 ackley, more than enough and the meat is still on the bone, not scattered in the woods.

I've had good luck with the 225gr Hornady Spire Point. I've used it on several deer and a lot of wild hogs. My load is Ross Seyfrieds old load, 77grs of Reloader 22. Its gives about 2850fps, and meat damage is not very bad. As a bonus, accuracy is very good. Hope this helps.

JMeier

While I don't have a .338 I like the idea of using a powerful rifle.

How about that 200 gr Hornady flat point loaded to impact at less than 2700 fps? If the ranges are less than 200 yards it might be a good load to cut the recoil and practice with at the range also.

I have loaded for the .33 Winchester and I have some of those bullets. I can say that a similar bullet the 170 Hornady .32 Special bullet (.321") does a nice job on deer out of a 8X57JR.

Just musing.

[ 05-29-2002, 19:56: Message edited by: Don Martin29 ]