The opener is this weekend and I am a little behind in working up loads for my new 338 WM. I have exceptional accuracy with 76g RL19 200g Ballistic Tip--has anyone used these on elk? I hear that the 338's are engineered with a heavier jacket to hold together better. Any of your experiences would be appreciated. If you guys think it unwise to use this round on elk I'll hold them back for smaller game and stick to factory partition rounds for the season. Thanks all!

snowcat,
I don't have any personal experience with them but a friend has been useing them in his 338rum for two years now with great results. Personally, i'll stick with the Partitions and A-Frames.

Have done both elk and bear with the 200 grain Ballistic Tip at 3000 fps. Perfect results.

In my comparisons with 210 Partitions in dry medium, the BT's penetrate about 90-95% of the distance of the partitions. Retained weight is usually about 50% as compared with 65% on the partitions, but I've never seen an animal become healthier due to additional shrapnal being dispursed into its vitals.

Is the partition a better elk bullet? Well, it's certainly a great elk bullet, but as compared to a hunter using the tried and true 180 grain Corelocts in his '06, you will have a somewhat more lethal and deeper-pentrating load with the 200 grain Ballistic Tips, so why worry?

Stickin' with it for the hunt. Hopefully will have a necropsy report to pass on in a week. Good hunting to all!