If you were looking for an all-round deer to Grizzly bear bullet which of the two would you use in a 338 win mag?

Can anyone give game experiences with these bullets?

I asked the same question when I got my .338 BAR last year. I've never hunted griz, so take that into account, but I collected a great deal of info from the forums that told me a bonded bullet (Interbond/Accubond/etc.) in 225gr will do well for both.

I was specifically looking for experiences with the Hornady Interlocks, if anyone has any. I am sure there are other good bullets as well.

I've owned .338 Win. Mag. rifles that would shoot 225 gr. and 250 gr. Hornady's well when they wouldn't shoot anything else well at all.

I have a collection of eight 225 gr. Hornady's that I've recovered from various mule deer, elk, and bison. Six look like perfect, magazine cover type mushrooms, but two of them are fragmented from shoulder hits on elk.

I really like Nosler Partitions, etc. better than Hornady's for game heavier than deer. The results are more consistent, especially on tough shot angles that include hitting heavy bones. If I had grizzly, elk, and moose on the menu, I wouldn't use Hornady's at all if I could help it.

AD

These are the bullets my friend has given me to try for reloading. He has used the 225 Hornady previously to take a grizzly and two black bear -- all with shoulder shots -- and all with complete penetration. The black bear were around 100 yards and the mountain grizzly at 250.

He wants me to develop a more accurate load with one of the combinations. Perhaps once I find a satisfactory load he can try it with a Partition of equal weight.

Allen,
Have you seen any of the 250s fragment at close range with a shoulder hit?

Same experience as Allen Day. I always use the Hornady's to start load development then switch to Nosler's and tweak the load. The only Hornady I recovered from a neck shot on an elk left me with only 37g of jacket, the lead separated and disintegrated. No complaints with Hornady's but I prefer Nosler's even though I've only recovered one Nosler out of about a dozen elk, all which were instant drops.

I've never recovered a 250 gr. Hornady. For whatever reason, these were only used on lung hits and went clear through.

AD

I shoot 250 grain Hornady round nose in my 338 for timber hunting and have only recovered 1 bullet. That one was a quartering shot on a bull elk this year. That bullet was found on the opposite side after 36 inches of penitration just under the skin in a classic mushroom shape. All other shots with this bullet have exited. So far I have not had any problems with this one. I have had a couple of the 225's come apart on me but not the 250's.

I use 200 gr on deer and 250 on Alaska game .I like the 200 gr winchester power points in factory loads for deer .The 200 gr hornady is close in shape and preformance.I have shot 81 deer with 81 shots with the 200 gr winchester power points from 3 yards to 425 yards.I shot a black bear about 300 pounds with the 225 gr grand slam bullets and it stopped under the hide in the far shoulder,so I switched to 250 gr Noslers partitions for the big stuff.I have shot 3/4"groups at 200 yards, with Remingtons 225 gr loads that were loaded with the speer grand slam bullets.They now have their own corelock bullet for this load.I have hunted with the 338 for 25 years and love it.I did feel under gunned when I ran into three grizzleys at dark with the 338.I usually hunt with my weatherby 338-378 loaded with 250 gr Noslers at 3150 fps.I have shot some .25 " groups at 100 yards with that load.The 338 Winchester is a perfict gun for all North american Game but it is the smallest gun I will hunt Grizzleys with.My brush gun for Grizzleys is a 22" 416 Rem mag.Then i feel more comfortable in close quarters.

My rifle likes 73 grains of Rel 22 with a 250gr. RN hornady. Unfortunatly the biggest game that load ever too was 35lbs. It was a big old raccoon that was squeezing into my bear bait barrel to steal a snack. The barrel was one of the heavy plastic ones. I was keen to shoot something that day so when he had himself halfway lowered into the barrel I centered his body and lowered the cross down 6 inches. The bullet went through the heavy plastic, the raccoon and out the heavy plastic on the other side leaving a slightly larger hole than the entrance. So I'm afraid the only real world experience I can give you would be like shooting an eight inch thick animal with really heavy hide

Thunderstick:
I'd use the Hornadays for load development since I find them to be accurate and inexpensive. Then, for hunting I'd fine tune the load with a premium bullet. For moose & elk here in Ak., I go with a 225 gr. Northfork since I've found them more accurate than Partitions. I'd use the 225 Northfork for grizzlies too but would go to their 240 gr. bullet for brownies. My favorite powder for the .338 is Rldr-22. Hope this helps some.
Bear in Fairbanks