For mature Rocky Mountain elk bulls in mixed terrain, with shots between 50-200yds., which of these bullets have you used, and what were your results?

• Nosler 210gr. Partition
• Sierra 225gr. Pro-Hunter
• Swift 225gr. A-Frame
• Winchester FailSafe 230gr.
  

TIA,
George

GeorgeS
I used the .338 and the .340 for several years when I lived in Colorado, I finally sold the .340 and kept the .338. I Mostly used at that time the 210 and 250 nosler. I came to perfer the 250 for elk and in Africa I used the 250 Nosler and Hornady FMJ for Buffalo. It is still one of my favorite all-around calibers for north america. I am just sorry that I do no have one in the stable at this time.
George

I've used the 210 Partition with great success on AZ elk. My biggest, a 7x6 that weighed over 1K lbs, estimated by an experienced guide, was literally slammed to the ground with that bullet at 3050 fps from my A-Bolt at about 175-200yds. This was on a broaside lung shot.The bull got up after almost a minute and walked away, but he was dead on his feet and only made it about 40yds. I love that load in my .338 and really don't see any need to use anything heavier. I've also killed a 5x4, and several mule deer with the load. It works for me !!!

bowhuntr

I used the 250 grain on elk in a .338 years ago and went back to the 300 win mag instead. I was just a better long range shot with the gun at 400 yards. Now later down the road, I got to use a guides gun when my rifle ended off with scope damage from a horse falling on its side.

The guide had handloaded those Swift bullets in the 225 grain and I was impressed with them. They did NOT lose their front ends near as much as the Nosler partitions did and it penetrated very deep in the front of the elk to pass the stomach area. I have now a new 338 rifle and will use the Swifts in handloaded form for the rifle.

I have used the Barnes bullets a lot and on most things I was satisfied, especially with the accuracy they gave the rifle. I have questions about them perhaps not opening like they should though. So others I have read on forums are saying the same thing. It is really hard to know or make a decision on in that respect. I have never gotten the accuracy from any bullet like the Barnes delivered. However I do know that those Swifts work very well on all the big stuff.

[ 12-15-2002, 02:17: Message edited by: Chigger ]

230 fs or a 250

Those who say that barnes won't open up are sadly misinformed.

chuck

GeorgeS,
I've taken many elk with both the 210&250 grain Nosler Partitions and NEVER had any problems at all! They are not as accurate as the Swift A-Frames in my rifles. So the last two years i've been using them instead.

Another bullet you strongly consider is the North Fork. A friend loaded some for his 9.3 and they shot like MATCH bullets. I can't wait to shoot some in my rifles. Good hunting

I just used my 338 on a 5x6 elk. Range 110 yards, Remington 250 gr. Corelokt. Broke one rib going in, one going out, passed through and not recovered. I waited for a nearly perfect broadside shot though, probably not the best bullet if you have to shoot through an Elk lengthwise.

I've killed three bull elk with my Ruger 77 .338 and the 210 Nosler Partition. One was out at 300 yards +/-. and the other two were around 190/200 yards.

These were near broadside shots, and the bulls didn't move far enough for me to have to shoot another round.

I've also killed two bulls with the .338 and the 225 gr. Hornady Interloks. No problems with those, either.

FWIW, L.W.

In a .338-06 I've used the 225 NP/Swifts and 250 Swifts on elk and a few heads of plains game. Both weights worked fine. The 210 partition sure has a following. I've never tried it on game but it should work fine. I straddle the fence and use the 225's the most.
My hunting partner uses a .338 WM and he swears by the 250 NP's. And he shoots an elk annually.

I don't think there is a bad bullet for the .338" for elk.

FN in MT

Nosler 250 grain nosler for me. I hunt Roosevelt and it is not uncommon to knock em down at over 1000 pounds live weight. The 210s' are great too but are a lot shorter in profile, and may in some cases have stability issues.

I've used the 210 Partition with good success. The only reason I used them was they shot better in my rifles than the 225 Partition. I used the 210 on an ass shot on the biggest bull I've taken to date. The bullet penetrated "ok" and certainly did enough bone damage to put him down, but the bullet did not exit. In theory anyway, I'm sold on 225's in the 338 bore. For the ultimate in penetration I doubt you could do better than the 230 FailSafe.

It's pretty tough to go wrong with any of the premium bullets in the .338 Win. Mag. for elk. Elk are tough, but they are nowhere near as tough as they are commonly protrayed to be, and the .338 Winchester is more that up to the task of bring any elk down in short order with a good bullet in the right place.

I've had good kills with 210, 225, and 250 gr. Nosler Partitions, amoung others, and I'd feel very good about hunting elk with any of these specific bullets. I'd stay away from Speer Hot Core, Hornady, and Sierra bullets for elk hunting.

Brad is on pretty firm ground in his preference for 225 gr. bullets. That's a good middle-ground weight, and it kicks noticably less than 250 gr. loads, and shoots a little flatter as well with plenty of penetration. I'm not sure you need to look much past the Nosler Partition unless your rifle just won't shoot them.

AD

Of the ones mentioned, my preference is the 230gr Fail Safe. I've used that bullet on elk and brown bear with perfect results, ie total 100% penetration and instant one shot knock down kills. I've also used the 30cal 180gr on several elk and numerous African game with similar results.

The 210gr. Nosler Partitions shoot around 1MOA; I tried out the 230gr. FailSafes and 225gr. Swift A-Frames, but I didn't clean the bore before and in between loads and so my groups were not good (230FS ~2MOA; the SAFs ~4MOA, but they were fired after the FailSafes).

After a good cleaning, the bore is free of that Lubalox crap, so next Friday I'll try them all again.

I trust the Swifts, having used them in Africa on mnay different animals. I'd like to try the FailSafes on something "worthy" of them, and the .338 is "God's Chosen Caliber (for elk, anyway ).

Thanks for your help.
George

I love the 210 Nosler...It has always worked perfectly for me on everything up to Eland...but for the bigger stuff I would lean towards the 250 gr....

My favorite bullet for big game in the .338 is the 300 gr. Woodleigh RN for up to 250 yards or so.....

I have used the 225 Swift on about 20 or so animals and just was not impressed with it....I do like the Swifts on Buffalo in larger calibers.

I think the North Forks may be the best of the bunch, but I have only used them in .416, and 375 but wow, do they ever work...

I was going to mention those North Fork bullets too, but since George didn't mention them...
I haven't taken a single thing with them yet, but they have shot extremely well in my somewhat limited testing. In fact, their 240gr 338 is likely to be the one I'll try next fall on my elk hunt.

My experience with the 338 has been similiar to Ray's. I shot almost everthing with the 210 NP for about ten years and got consistant devastating results. It did not exit on big stuff like moose but I didn't expect it to.

I shot the 225 SAF on 3-4 animals here in AK and then took it to Africa on a safari and shot about a dozen animals with it. It never failed but I thought that on some fairly light animals I should have gotten an exit. Like Ray I just found it not impressive.

You didn't ask about the 250 NP but as others here have said it is a great bullet and probably the best all around 338 bullet.

George-
Were you shooting factory ammo? The remark about the Lubalox prompted me to ask. Unless they have changed, the C-T component bullets have moly coating and not Lubalox. The factory ammo uses Lubalox which is far superior, IMO and does not cause me any troubles in barrel fouling or cleaning.

John,

Yes, the FailSafes (black coating) were in factory ammo. I had bought a few boxes from a fellow forum member, and wanted to try them out.

As stated, I didn't clean the bore after shooting the Partitions, then I shot the FailSafes, followed by the Swifts.

I think mixing the Lubalox coating with the copper and gilding metal jacket materials really worked against me. I forgot my cleaning rod, and paid the price with a somewhat unproductive range session.

In any case, it's all clean now, and I will put the cleaning rod in the trunk of the car, so it's there next week.

George

I've had spectacular success with the 210 Partition on anything up to and including plains Bison. It doesn't always exit on big animals, but has always done exactly what is expected of a premium bullet, put the animal down in short order. FWIW, I have never had to track any game animal further than 125 yds after the shot, most have been down on the spot or within 40 yards. Regards, Eagleye.

John S. I, too, feel that the Lubalox coating is better than the moly coating. However, I have some CT component bullets here that are definitely Lubalox coated, and not moly. They are Failsafes in 30 cal 180 grain and 7mm 160 grain. In my guns, these bullets shoot quite well, but I have taken no game with them, having been a Partition user for 40+ years. Regards, Eagleye.

Eagle Eye-
I sincerely hope they switched over to the Lubalox! I hate moly with a passion and refuse to buy any bullets so treated. Luckily, I had an "in" with Olin and got my Fail Safes from them, Lubalox coated.

I have only tried the 225 grain Hornady Spire point, and it worked pretty well on a Kudu, but I was unable to get the bullet back due to bad light when skinning and not mutch tiem

I shoot a .340 Wby and the bullet selection for the .338 excellent. I get pin point accuracy from the 225, 240 and 250 grain North Forks. I also like the 225 Barnes XLC for one of my .340s, the other does not like it, and that seem to be the story on the Barnes bullets. The Swift A-Frames are tough but the pressures and accuracy don't match up to the North Forks in my rifles. Good shooting.

Well, I tried these loads again (during a brief snowstorm; it added a nice touch of realism).

The 230gr. FailSafes shot into 2.5" groups whereas the 210gr. Nosler Partitions shot into .75".

I guess the Nosler Partitions will do.

Georger

George I really don't see much difference in penetration between the 210 and 225 grain bullets. So if your shooting where you want to be accuracy wise those 210 look like icing on the cake to me. If you need more penetration, take a jump on those 250 grain Swifts.

[ 12-23-2002, 23:43: Message edited by: Chigger ]

Nosler 210 are good but to light for elk, I feel, The 225 Nosler better choice. Best is 225 Swift, 250 Swift better. Of those listed 225 Swift others not even close. If the 230 Fail Safe performed more consistently I would put it on top with the 225 Swift a close second. Winchester has a great bullet STARTED, if and when they refine it they will have the perfect bullet. Good Hunting and Merry Christmas. "Z"

In the 338 it does not matter to much what you hit them with as long as you hit them good. I,ve had luck with A-Frames and Barnes -XLC on elk, also with Partitions and Hornadys on deer and hogs. It just depends.

George, I don't use any of those bullets in my .338, I use the 250 Partition instead. Ballistically it holds it's own with the others and in my #1 it shoots very tight small groups and does it consistently over and over and that is why I use it, not because of terminal performance which is still very good.

Brad, I agree with you. No way in the world that the 210 is too light for elk. There is no elk in the world that will survive a hit in the right place with that bullet and he won't know the difference between it and a 230 Swift, Nosler or any other bullet for tham matter. He will be dead and you will be tagging him as you have in the past. With a poorly placed bullet, size of the bullet doesnt matter, you are still tracking a wounded animal. Too many people think that it compensates for poor marksmanship.

I have not used any of the Noslers at all, but plan on take a few with me next trip for plains game.

What I have used,are the 225 Swifts, and I feel they are a bit "tough" for Kudu. But the Kudu died, so dead is dead.

I've shot a lot of game with the 225 Hornady, recovered a few, and always gotten great results.

The 225 Barnes X and the 230 Fail Safe are in a class by themself.

Never recovered any of either kind, but feel the Fail Safe is too tough for anything less than a Brown Bear or Cape Buffalo.

"The Fail Safe is too tough for anything less than brown bear and cape buffalo". Terry, that's a good one! How many species have you shot with Fail Safes to base that opinion on?

[ 12-27-2002, 02:50: Message edited by: John S ]

John S: The 230-grain FS has worked extremely well for me. I use a .338WM, and have only used this bullet on moose, from 100 yards to about 300. I have had several one-shot kills with this bullet, but last year's one-shot kill was with a 250-grain Nosler.

Only time will tell, but I have the feeling that the Barnes (blue- coated) XLC in 210 and 225 grains will be two of the top .33 bullets. Some of my hunting partners are using the un-coated 250 "X" with great results, but the coated ones may allow for greater velocities.

I favor the Lubalox-coated 230-grain FS to the moly-coated one. I hear lots of negative reports on "moly," and since I don't know enough about this product I stay away from it to avoid the extra time required to learn how to use it. Perhaps Molybednium by itself is not bad, just the methods use by some reloaders.

[ 12-27-2002, 03:47: Message edited by: Ray, Alaska ]

Ray-
Like you, I'm not a fan of moly and refuse to any bullets coated with it. The Fail Safe has done very good work for me in 270, 30 and 338 calibers. I've used these bullets since their inception and have never found a thing not to like about their performance on everything from antelope to brown bear, plus a multitude of African game.

Gentlemen first off the 130 grain bullet is what made the .270 caliber famous on Western game animals and the 250 grain bullet is what it is all about for the 338 magnum. The using of smaller weight bullets has come about only to help in its use on smaller animals, thus promoting its guns sales........which has greatly increased in the last 10 years looking at the records.

I agree that when Barnes bullets function as they are supposed to, they are in a class by themselves when speaking of penetration. Providing that your gun will in fact shoot them accurately, some of mine will not, thus I use the Swift A Frames or Noslers and at practice sessions a multitude of Hornady bullets.

I have experience on both Rocky Mountain and Roosevelt elk using the 338WM,340 Wby,338 RUM,338-378KT,and the 338-378 Wby. I have killed or witnessed elk killed with all.I have used both 210 and 250 gr. partitions alot.I really believe that the 250 gr. partitions are the best choice for all of above calibers on elk. To me, a larger caliber benefits from larger bullets, otherwise I would shoot a 300 Mag. and 200 gr. bullets.

Hear it is the Hornady 225 SP