I am thinking about using 185 Barnes TSX bullets in my 338 Win Mag. for a up-comming elk hunt. I would appreciate any imput on this load.

Probably work ok but I like the heavier bullets in my 338 for elk.225s have always worked great for mine! If i want a lighter bullet I shoot 180s from the 06 for elk. JMHO

That 185 will likely penetrate and exit on a broadside shot and keep going on to a lunar orbit.

I like 200-210's in the 338 WM, but that's just me.

Should work fine. From what I can tell, the TSX seems to thrive at high velocity.

I am thinking about the same thing. I'll have to figure out what the ballistic advantage would be over the 210 TSX.

It will have to shoot flatter and recoil less.

The 210 TSX BT has a BC of .404 and a SD of .263

The 185 TSX BT has a BC of .352 and a SD of .231

However:

The 210 TTSX BT has a BC of .482 and a SD of .263

The 185 TTSX BT has a BC of .432 and a SD of .231

SO the 185 TTSX BT may be a better choice over the 210 TSX BT

The critical factor will be muzzle velocity.

I prefer the 210 Partition to anything that can be run through a 338 WM.

Curious, but, this early (or late) in the season, where have you drawn to hunt elk?

If it shoots in your rig it'll most likely work just fine. I had a bud shoot a nice 6 with the bullet out of the 338 Federale and it didn't exit on a shot that I felt it should have. Who knows maybe on the next 10 elk it would, but I like/want/prefer to have to wholes in critters especially elk.

Could be it didn't exit cause it didn't have enough speed to begin with. He's using a factory load and it seems to me it runs at 2550 or something like that out of his Montana.

Bottom line, I like Brad like more bullet weight in the 338, and like him I'd go with the 210 Partition or if you can find it the slug that's my all time fav is the 200 NBT.

The other thing is I've tried to make the 185 TSX shoot in my 338/06,338 wsm and my 340 and to date I've never got it to shoot and trust me I have tried.

If starting from scratch if I had the 200 NBT I'd use it and R17 and R19 and H4350 as a second and third choice. If I didn't have any of the 200 NBT's around I'd not mess with it and go right to the 210 Noz just like Brad said.

In a 3 of any kind you just can't go wrong with that bullet.

Dober

Hope to get drawn for Wyoming in 2011.

When considering lighter versus heavier for a particular cartridge and bullet type, I always run the ballistics and compare both when zeroed for a max rise of 3". Then I compare the downrange trajectory and retained velocity and energy.

Usually I come to the conclusion that lighter is not all its cracked up to be and that medium or even heavy bullets are the better choice. In my .30-30, for example, I use 130's only for plinking and 170's for hunting - because of downrange energy. In my 7mm RM I compared the 120g and 140g TTSX and, after working up loads for both, selected the 140g. You might want to run a similar check on the bullets you are considering. Nothing like a few facts to help make a rational decision...