Well I should be getting my 30-338 back form M1 tanker he is bedding it for me anyhow I need to find a good load for it. I will be hunting deer and elk at the same time in Oregon in two weeks. I'm thinking a load consisting of 165 gr bullets with H-4831 should be the ticket. Won't have to much time to mess around with load development so if any of you have any good loads, I can load some up and run out to the range on saturday or sunday. Thanks for any input.

John

I've shot a 30-338 for several years now but never used 165 gr.bullets.My load for Elk is
180 gr partition with 69.6 grs h-4350
this load in "my rifle" shoots 1 inch groups
at 3150 fps with out any pressure signs built
on a r700 action.

323,

Another old time 30-338 user, I to have never tried a 165 gr bullets. 200 gr on elk and bigger, 180 gr on everything else, both Nosler Partitions.

I would try H4831 @ 70.5 grs with a 165 gr bullet. Standard reloading safety precautions apply working up to the load, start point would be 66.5 grs of H4831, espicailly important as your starting with a wildcat and chamber dimension could vary on your rifle from mine.

Schromf,

I was always leary of using a heavy partition like the 180 on deer, you have had no problems with the bullets going straight through them. I will be hunting mule deer. If the180's are working for you guys I might just have to try them. Also where we are hunting for deer and elk shots are supposed to be 300 to 400yds. Thanks for the info and I wll try the loads.

John

Based on experience with the .308 Norma Magnum (essentially identical to the 30-338), you can load 165 gr projectiles and IMR 4831 You from about 2700 fps to hyper speeds.

Believe me, a 165 gr Nosler at 2700 fps kills deer very dead and does not have a lot of recoil. For longer ranges and bigger game the 180 or 200 is superb.

Any well constructed bullet in a 30 mag hammers deer. The only reason I feel compelled to use a 30 mag on deer is where 300+ yards shot is a high probability. And then energy, and bullet drop aren't even my concerns, I get concerned on wind drift, the hardest variable to factor in the field.

Nosler Partions have always worked well for me, and I have shot antelope with my 30-338 and 180's, so deer sized game doesn't concern me.

Dead is dead so to speak, and the 180 gr have always worked for me. I was thinking about working on some 165 gr. loads for my rifles, but it always comes back to me questioning whats the point, and me questioning if I am just engaging in mental masturbation, then spending the effort on more pressing reloading details. I know I will get around to it someday, but it is way down on my list of priorities, as my experiences with the 180 gr Noslers leaves me no doubt as to there suitability for all the game I hunt.

Question I have, and no I am not trolling, is just how much recoil do you save with a 165 gr. vrs the 180 gr. Seems to me it will be some, but its not significant.

quote:

Originally posted by 323:
Schromf,

I was always leary of using a heavy partition like the 180 on deer, you have had no problems with the bullets going straight through them. I will be hunting mule deer. If the180's are working for you guys I might just have to try them. Also where we are hunting for deer and elk shots are supposed to be 300 to 400yds. Thanks for the info and I wll try the loads.

John

I've got one 30-338mag with a 1/12 twist barrel that I use for elk and deer using a 165gr rem bullets my load is 72.5gr/H4831 velocity is over 3000fps. A little over 10yrs ago decided to have another one build as a back up rifle but with a 1/10 twist barrel for the rem 180 bullets and I've had my best groups with 73gr/H-4831sc again over 3000fps. I've never lost and elk or deer using rem bullets but I think if I decided to use a partition or some others I might have the same opinion don't get me wrong I was out today shooting some swift scirocco,interbond and accurbond seeing how they would group wind came up so didn't get to the partitions may try tomorrow. I've taken alot of deer and elk with 165/180 gr bullets and my selection is due to what rifle I want to use over what bullet.

Tom,

Both of my rifles are 1-10 twists, and I really built them so I could use the 200 grains for elk. Like I said one of these days I am going to get around to working with the 165 gr bullets, and the Swifts or the North Forks was what I was thinking of fiddling with. I am pretty certain I won't have any stability issues with the 165 grainer and this twist, like I said I just haven't been pushed to work out the 165 load data, as the 180 grs work so well.

For a straight deer hunt I rarely carry my 30 mags, just don't need them for the short range whitetailed hunts where I normally hunt. If I have both a deer and elk tag I pack my 30-338's, and if I am shooting across a clear cut the added range is nice, but in the last 10 years of N Idaho hunts I have yet to need the extra ummph of the 30 mags. I am really starting to question if I am hammering too hard using my 7x57, last two years I ended up with lot of ruined meat using 150 gr Noslers in the 7x57. This year I am going to be using a 280 Rem with the 150 Noslers, I don't expect any big difference in performance on deer, with the cartridge shift.

My load data by the way was right out of the Sierra Manual, and is the Sierra recommended accuracy load.

Anybody worked with RL-19 and RL-21 powders in 30-338? I don't have access to my load data right now but these have been very good powders in my 30-338's also. Another honorable mention powder is AA-4350.

Where we will be hunting there is lot of open counrty but there is also a lot of Junipers. I want a good combo so if I shoot an elk or deer they will go down. We all know how easily and elk or deer will get lost in the thick Juniper. One year my buddy shot a deer we all get up there and he said damn I know I hit him good so we formed up the all famous double arm like in the army and went to looking well about 30 minutes later i found him under the thickest juniper tree he could find deader than hell. There was 6 of looking for him. This season it will just be three of us out there. So I hope you can see what the situation I'm going to be in. So do I use a good Hornady or sierra bullet that will open up and leave a good blood trail or use a Nosler partition and hope it goes down or takes a couple of steps and all falls over dead. Boy oh boy decisions

John

Don't count on the Nosler's not opening up. As you stated in your first post you don't have time to work up loads....which really sucks. Rifles are individuals and a bullet that works great in my rifle might shoot like crap in yours. Are you shooting up in the mountains behind Huachuca? I used to ride a lot when I was stationed there always saw a lot of deer, like you do when on horseback, and never really saw any big bodied deer.

What bullets are available locally? Me I would go get two boxes of 165 bullets. Nosler Partions or Ballitic tips would be one choice, then depending on your choice there I would get a Speer 165 gr that was a different base from the Nosler pick. Point being you want to load both a solid base and a boatail. Then I would load them up with the H4831, grs as previously posted and see which worked best in your rifle. Hunt with what works best this year and sort out the loads later. Of the above bullet choices your going to get a decent hunting load out of one of these.

Personally, I would use a 180 gr premium bullet (Nosler, North Fork, TBBC, etc) that shot the best in my rifle. I would use the 180 gr for bothe mulies and elk. My 30-338 loves 190 gr Hornady's Interlock with 69.1 gr of IMR 4350. This is a load I worked up slowly! My rifle has a 1-10" twist. Don't worry about the Nosler, it will do its job if you do yours!!

I will be hunting on post in Dec. But I use my 25-284 for the little couse deer down here. I will be using my 30-338 in Oregon for deer and elk in Oregon. This is the first time I will get to hunt deer and elk at the same time. In years pass I would grab my 25-284 and go deer hunting but not this year. I suspect a 90gr Sierra Hollow point won't do a very good job on elk

John

Schromf, My 1/12 twist 30-338 likes 150 to 180 gr bullets and not alot of spread as to velocity a big drop going to 200gr in the 1/10 bullets from 165 to 200gr best haven't tried anything heavier than 200gr bullets. The last few years here in Colorado you can split up out deer season from elk but normally I hunt the combination season. I'm playing around with a 284 on a rem action more as a deer only rifle if and when. I've been hunting this area for over 20yrs now and it suits my style as I like alittle more open country and you get shot over 300yds I'm not much into timber shooting or that close in stuff. When I had my first 30-338 build wasn't alot of data around you use 308 Norma loads so I call RCBS spoke to fred jr and he gave me the loads that his dad worked up and he had that rifle his dad use when he developed the 30-338. Well good luck.

Tom,

Back when I shifted to the 30-338 I was in pretty much the same boat as you. Not really much loading data, the rare reference would point you to the 308 Norma, which back in the day wasn't a lot better, no data in my old manuals.

I trial and errored my way into the loads I use now, I have two rifles in the 30-338 and like all rifles they have their own likes and dislikes. My 1909 Argentine with a Lilja barrel doesn't do as well in the accuracy dept as my FN with the stock barrel that has been rechambered. The 1909 edges out the FN with 200 gr partions though, and using Sierra bullets my Argentine is benchrest quality groups consistantly.

Fast forward 20 years and the Sierra manual has 30-338 load data. The powder choices aren't complete in my mind, and there are several good powders that there is no load data for but it the data is certainly better than nothing. I don't have the Nosler manual, but it might be included in that also.

I'm going to try some of the Remington Accu tips. M1Tanker has a shit load of them and gave me some to try. If they shoot good I might use them.

quote:

Originally posted by schromf:
Tom,

Back when I shifted to the 30-338 I was in pretty much the same boat as you. Not really much loading data, the rare reference would point you to the 308 Norma, which back in the day wasn't a lot better, no data in my old manuals.

I trial and errored my way into the loads I use now, I have two rifles in the 30-338 and like all rifles they have their own likes and dislikes. My 1909 Argentine with a Lilja barrel doesn't do as well in the accuracy dept as my FN with the stock barrel that has been rechambered. The 1909 edges out the FN with 200 gr partions though, and using Sierra bullets my Argentine is benchrest quality groups consistantly.

Fast forward 20 years and the Sierra manual has 30-338 load data. The powder choices aren't complete in my mind, and there are several good powders that there is no load data for but it the data is certainly better than nothing. I don't have the Nosler manual, but it might be included in that also.

Edit: Correction my 1909 doesn't do as well as the FN with Nosler 180 grs in the accuracy dept, It is better than the Fn with most other bullets.

What do you guys think about the 180gr Winchester Power points for deer and elk? I think I'm going to go troop on down to the Sportsman center here on post and get some 180gr Part. today.

John

I am sure a Power Point bullet works for deer, they simply don't need much in the bullet department. I have no personal experience with them though, just don't keep them on my bench. I would look back at some 300 Win posts and see if there is some information on these on elk, if they work in a 300 Win Mag, they will match from a performance perspective in a 30-338.