I recently purchased a Ruger 77 MKII in .338 and have been searching through the forums for information on the best bullet to use and found quite a bit, but I'd like to pose my questions directly as well. I mainly hunt elk and mule deer in Colorado but have an Alaskan moose trip planned in a couple of years.

I'm a big Nosler Partition fan and exclusively hunted with them in my .270 for years but am wondering if they are necessary in the .338???

I was also planning on using 250 grain bullets, but circumstances dictated that I buy Remington 225 grain Core-Lokts this year. I will be reloading but if these bullets work on game (my mule deer this year didn't prove anything) as well as they shoot from my rifle, I'm inclined to stick with them.

Cost is only an issue in that I do want to shoot quite a bit for practice. I'm not opposed to having a practice load and a "premium" hunting load, but then again if it's not necessary... There seem to be a lot of you out there with substantial .338 hunting experience so any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

P.S. I no longer believe much of what I read regarding recoil. I find this rifle very comfortable to shoot and wish I'd bought one sooner!

My Winchester M70 is pretty fond of Hornady 225 grain SPs. They shoot well and are very affordable. That's my economical practice bullet, now I'll start working on my hunting load with XLCs or North Forks.

Welcome to AR.

I am a great 338 fan, and to do what you want, just use any of the 225 or 200 gr Hornadys for practice.

For Deer, and Elk, any of the 225 gr will be just fine. IF you go for big Moose, you might want then to go to the 225gr or 250 gr Nosler or Bear Claws.

225, or 240 grain North Fork bullets, whichever your barrel shoots best. Good shooting.

[ 10-29-2003, 17:16: Message edited by: phurley ]

CCH, I'd stick with the 250's no matter what! I am also a Partition fan. Why not have the best of both worlds, and for about $70.00 more a year you can. If a 250 grain Partition in .338 won't do it, you need more "gun", whatever that might be. Fact is there are no "economy" bullets in .338 calibre, as they are all expensive compared to smaller calibres.

Shoot Partition 250's, be confident, and enjoy your hunt!

I'm only shooting 250's in my 338 Dumoulin, used the Remington Corelokt load last year on an elk, worked fine at about 110 yds.

The 250gr is the bullet that makes any of .338mags perform the way they do. I have a #1 in .338x74 that is very close to the .338winmag. As a single shot I am looking for a longer range bullet & have decided to go w/ the Nosler 225grAB. Very accurate, not too expensive & test expansion shows it to be tough but reliable. IF I could get the 225gr Coreloks for reloading I would use them as practice loads, & go w. the NAB or NP for hunting elk size & larger game.

[ 10-29-2003, 04:44: Message edited by: fredj338 ]

I recently purchased a Ruger 77 MKII in .338 and have been searching through the forums for information on the best bullet to use and found quite a bit, but I'd like to pose my questions directly as well. I mainly hunt elk and mule deer in Colorado but have an Alaskan moose trip planned in a couple of years.


It seems that you will enjoy shooting your .338WM. This cartridge is perhaps the most popular in Alaska, as well as the .30-06, and the .300WM (hard to tell which one of the three is the favorite with AK hunters).

Moose are not hard to kill with a well-placed shot, so even a 210-grain Partition will work well for hunting moose in Alaska. But while a 210-grain Nosler may be an excellent choice for moose and elk, a heavier bullet may provide a greater punch on bears. I have no idea of what bullet weight is better for mule deer, so I will let others tell their experiences.

For Alaska hunting, a good compromise would be a 225-grain Swift A-Frame, or perhaps a 230-grain FS, or a 225-grain Barnes X. But you could always hunt elk with the 210 Partition, and use the best factory ammo with 250-grain bullets you can find when you visit Alaska. Factory ammo may be a little expensive in Alaska, but a box of 20 can usually be found in the stores for around $26.00. Federal HE will cost almost twice as much, unless on sale. All the stores around here carry .338 Ammo.

Anything 230 and up will probably be fine.

However, I've got my .338 to shoot 250 Partitions. Now that I've got that one bullet to shoot, I don't ever need to find another one. If that combo wont kill it, I don't need a different round, I need my .416 Rem

CCH: I've always been a big fan of Nosler partitions for hunting. My attitude is that attempting to "economize" on a hunting bullet is being "a penny short & a pound foolish" since they are the cheapest part of the hunt & can make it or break it. Having said that, I've now gone to using 225 gr. Northforks in my .338 for moose & elk here in Alaska. Yup, there are some elk here in the state. To work up the load for the Northforks, I found the accurate load with Rldr 22 and a 225 gr. Hornaday then looked at the velocity. Turned out that 75.5 grs. (as I recall) gave me about 2800 fps. I then followed Northfork's load development instructions and achieved the same velocity with 70.5 grs. of powder. This bullet is more accurate at 100, 200 &300 yds. than any Partition I've tried. Think I'm going to stick with them for the .338 & may well start using them in the .270 as well. Hope this helps some. Bear in Fairbanks

If I had only one bullet to choose for the .338 Win. Mag., it would be the 250 gr. Nosler Partition. That bullet is good for 99% of all of the world's big game, and it shoots about as flat as the all-around 180 gr. bullet in the .30-06, but with a lot more punch.

My own .338 Win. Mag. is topped with a Leupold 2.5-8X scope, complete with one 400 yd. horizontal stadia wire from Premier Reticles; calculated for the 250 gr. Nosler @ 2700 fps. and a basic 200 zero with the main reticle.

AD

I have found the 250 Nosler and others a little tough for light plainsgame and much prefer the 210 Nosler for anything up to and including elk in the open country...I like the Nosler 250 in the timber for elk, but I like the 300 gr. Woodleigh best for elk and up....

The 225s have disapointed me as I find them neither fish nor foul, and the are certainly no better than a 210 Nosler, based on my use of them. and they penitrate less.

I have not killed game with the 338 and Northforks but my experience with Northforks leads me to believe that they would be an excellent bullet in the 338 in any weight....

I make no claim that these are the best possible choices, but the 250 grain Partition and the round nosed 250 grain Hornady work well enough on moose that I have no interest in further experimentation. A decent sized hole completely through a good sized moose is enough for me. Those people going after lighter game or those that are recoil shy might want to consider the 210 grain Partition though.

Thanks for all the input! I think I'm back on the 250 grain Partition bandwagon. One last question, I saw one post saying they are a bit heavy for lighter game. Anyone else have any problems using them on deer? My Colorado hunts are mixed bag.

My vote is for 250gr bullets also, I have the same rifle as you and really enjoy it. Only shot two deer with it so far and the hornady 250rn and sierra gameking 250's worked fine.

I plan on developing a load with the 250 grain Woodliegh roundnose bullets in my 338 Win Mag (a Pre-64 M70).

I will be taking this rifle to Zim (Chewore north area) in 2004 on a buffalo & plainsgame hunt. I will also be taking a .416 Rigby for the buffalo (and any unlucky plainsgame that gets in my way while I'm carrying it).

Does anyone have experience with the Woodliegh 250 grain bullet in Africa?

Most of the shots should be 100 yards or less.

Thanks.

Tim

My rifle, a Tikka, shoots the 225 gr Barnes X-bullets into little 5/8 inch groups, so I will stick with them. The Hornadys also shot well. If I was using the rifle for mule deer, I would proably just use the 225 gr Hornadys or Corelokts. For some reason, the 210 gr Partition load does nothing for me. If I want flat shooting, I'll use my .300 Wthby. For the .338, it just seems to make sense to take advantage of the larger bore size with at least a 225 gr bullet, if not the 250.

CCH, I use the 250 grain Partition for everything, and I've never been unhappy with them. I've used others, butthe 250 "makes" the 338.
Example: I've killed deer and antelope with 250's, they go in -they go out -meat goes in the freezer. No gaping holes, bullet fragments, or failures, just two holes, one about 21/2X larger than the the first. I once shot a badger at about 100 yards, stopped dead in his tracks. No back flip, or explosive expansion like a varmint round, just a dead critter.
This is one calibre that just works, and it is at its best with 250's.

For 99% of all my hunting in Alaska the prem bullets are not necessary in my 338 Win Mag. I use the 250 Hornady RN and the 250 Sierra GK BT with RL 19-73.0 and Fed 215GM primers in Fed Prem Brass for all my loads. Unless your going after Brown Bear on the coast, for that the 250 Nosler Part would be excellent, for everything else save your money and buy the Horndy and Sierra's.

[ 11-30-2003, 19:12: Message edited by: Alaska Bush Man ]

I use 250-gr. Partitions. This year I shot two deer, one through the head and the other straight-on in the chest. The head shot dropped in mid-jump. The chest shot went through the heart, exited right below the ribs and took off the back-right leg above the knee. No meat lost in either shot.

The line of reasoning I use is that the smaller bullets are more likely to fragment. The exit wound on my chest-shot deer was about 1/3 the size of my fist. I have seen much larger from a .308.

What has not been addressed � my gun will shoot 1.67 inch, five-shot groups at 200 meters if I'm not jumpy. I'm not a rifleman; I just like to shoot. So my figuring is that 16.7 inches at 200 meters means I can shoot a moose in the eye five times at 200 meters, provided I have a bench, the moose holds still and the range is 200 meters.

So in my case, the NP 250s not only have the punch I need for bears (which is why I had it along, anyway), but are accurate for long-distance, across-the-marsh moose shooting (500 meters or so).

kk

Work up a good load for a 250 and use it on everything. I have used Nosler Partitions and Grand Slams with equal success letting the rifle tell me which one. Putting mulies in the mix, I think I would go with the NP as the Grand Slam is a little hard for good expansion on deer unless you hit big bones. The deer I've shot with a GS (.338 and .300)looked very dead but the internal damage seemed much less than the NP.

I love 210 Partitions in my .338. I don't think you need anything bigger in the lower 48!!! They come out my 26" barrel at 3050 fps and are pure devastation to anything that I've killed so far. I literally knocked a huge bull elk (estimated 1K pounds) over with a lung shot !!! I also get .75 MOA accuracy with that load. I use IMR 4350 with a 210 Partition.

bowhuntr

A comment from Colorado? My buddy and I both use Nosler 210gr Partitions for "mixed bag" hunts, elk and mule deer, here in Colorado. We both have .338-06s, .338 WSMs (yeah, a wildcat), and I also have a .338 WinMag. We've used the 225gr partition, but feel that we really don't need the additional bullet weight or slight increas in recoil. Haven't had an animal escape yet.

I've not shot a moose, but have killed four bull elk and three Mule deer, with my Ruger 77 .338, using the 210 gr. Nosler Partition bullet in front of Norma MRP powder. It performed excellently.

I've killed two bull elk and one Mule deer with the 225 gr. Hornady Interlok bullet, again, in front of Norma MRP.

Both these rounds shoot 3/4" groups, rain or shine, hot or cold.

I really could not tell any practical difference in the animal kills, other than one elk I had to track for 4 1/2 hours, when I SHOT POORLY. It wouldn't have matter which bullet I used.

Just my experience with the mighty .338.

L.W.

The 338 with Nosler 250 partition bullets is an excellent choice for everything in Alaska. It also works well on nearly everything in Africa short of buffalo, elephant, hippo, rhino, etc... I have taken everything from duiker to giraffe in Africa and Stika deer to moose and brown bears in Alaska with this bullet and it has always performed very well.

I have a friend that used the same bullet in 210 and that also works well, but I like the heavier bullets and better penitration. Get one that shoots well in your gun and stick to it.

I have also used the Barnes X bullets in 225 grain and they also work well. The 250 partitions shoot better for me and I have stuck to them.

The 210 Nosler is a wonder bullet and as far as I can tell it penitrates as well as the 250 gr. Nosler, which it should not, but it does, probably the added velocity...I base that on probably more than several hundred large animals I have shot with both bullets...The 210 is a devastating killer..

I still contend that if you shoot a light animal in the ribs behind the shoulder you will get a caliber size entrance and a caliber size exit with a 250 Nosler and they run 100 or so yards..I base that on culling Impala, Blesbok and Springbuck. Most are head shots but I like to test bullets and shot many of these animal behind the shoulder and in the shoulder..In the shoulder with a 250 is excellent.

All with the 338 Win....some dozen or so deer and elk with a 338-06..but not enough to be conclusive IMO...It takes a lot of animals to truly test a bullet.

Sometime ago I settled on 250gr bullets for my 338. I've taken Impala to Eland and Mule deer to Elk and never experienced any problems. Ranges from 20yds to 250yds. Too much other load work to deal with to continue fooling around with my 338 win mag. Oh...the bullet? Nosler Partition...I've tried a bunch..it just plain get's the job done.

My Browning really likes the 210 Partitions and H4350. It'll shoot under an inch at 100 when I do my part.

Bob257