Btw, does the 338 work better than the 300 for gut shooting elk?
I dunno about 300's and elks, but I know a 250 gr. TB factory load out of a .338 will exit the opposite shoulder blade of a yearling 600 plus pound moose on a raking shot which enters, just creasing the front of the near ham. Through the forage-filled paunch of course. That's roughly 3 feet of animal, with that dense mass of vegetation right in the middle. Messy. And yes- I was holding for the opposite shoulder on purpose.
He had already taken the first one through both shoulder blades without going down, and a second "a bit low" (knee cap, ok? ). He was leaving post haste straight away for heavy cover, 3 legged, so, as he turned a bit from "Texas heart shot" placement, I kept shooting. He went down with the 4th shot, a Sierra GK 250 gr. hand load, broadside. He was going down within seconds anyway, so the last one was superfluous. As it was, so were the second and third shots. Tough little bugger!
I'm kinda proud of my shooting on that moose. I was firing standing, off-hand, from a rotten, crumbling downed birch log about 3 feet off the ground, through a screen of alder leaves at starting @120 yards and ending at @ 140 (paced off across ice a few months later) The first and third rounds exited the same hole, the fourth about 4 inches higher. I have that shoulder blade in my cull corner.
For gut shooting and knee busting moose, .338 Trophy Bonded bullets worked great.....
. The GK had an exit wound twice the size of the 2 TB combined, inch and a half or so vs 3/4 inch. The GK just missed the top of the shoulder blade. It looks like all 3 exited the same hole, but that's just the way the bone chipped.
I could tell you so, and who would know?
If you want "overpenetration", those TBs will do it! I have no doubt they would have gone full length through him (or a full grown bull) had I chosen so.
