Actually the .338 with a 200 Ballistic Tip at 3000 or so is an excellent deer rifle. That particular Ballistic Tip (now discontinued, by the way) was the first with the super-heavy jacket; in fact the jacket is about 60% of the bullet's weight.

I shot a pile of game with this bullet in the 1990's, ranging from 100 to 500 pounds, ranjung from springbok and doe whitetals to cow elk, bull caribou and gemsbok. I only recovered one, from a quartering-on shot at a bull gemsbok at 150-175 yards. It broke the near shoulder and spine (where it dips between the shoulders) and was recovered under the skin of the far ham, retaining about 60% of its weight. On smaller game it killed quickly and generally left a half-dollar sized exit hole.

The one 200-grain bullet you do NOT want to load up to 3000 in the .338 is the Speer. It is a little tender for such speeds, but works perfectly at around 2700 fps muzzle velocity--and kicks a lot less too. A great combo for woods deer, where you might get a shot at 250 yards or so across a clearing.


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