Well, I got my barrel in, got it scoped & bore sighted, so I took it out for a test run over the weekend. Mine is a 24" heavy barrel from foxridge. I had never shot a .338 so I just wanted to see what all the hoop-la was about. Recoil with the 200gr NBT was not bad at all. More of a "push" than the "crack" my .300win had.

I did some informal "worst case senerio" testing with the 200gr NBT. I shot 3 of them into a box of phone books at 20 yards . I expected them to explode, but all three penetrated 5 1/2 phone books. I fliped throught the 6th book and found all three "solid base" jackets perfectly mushroomed. The front core of the bullets were scatered throught the "wound channel" of the books, in tiny peices though. But that mushroomed jacket and solid base would still take down a good size beast.
I would like to do some more tests at 150 yards, I bet this bullet would hold it's own once it slowed down a bit. Definitly not lightly constructed like the smaller caliber NBT's.
I think I'm going to like this .338win barrel!

Hey, it sounds like you are going to like your .338 Encore. I have always liked the .338 Win Mag and am on my second one.

In regard to the 200 grain Ballistic Tip, it is a pretty good bullet. It can be over stressed, as demonstrated by my friend using it in a 338 X 378 Weatherby Mag. He shot a big old wild boar and the bullet blew up on the shoulder. The hog was finished off by my dad using a 340 Weatherby and 225 Nosler Partitions.

The guy gave me the rest of the 200 grain Ballistic Tips that he had and I loaded them in my .338 Win Mag at about an even 3000 fps. (This other guy was shooting them at 3500 fps!!!).

I have shot several hogs with them and they have performed very well. I have not recovered a one, they all passed through. They sure put those hogs on the ground!!

R F