There are damn few .338 bullets sold that will not work in a 338-06 for elk. Elk are not bullet proof. You do not need so called premium bullets for the 338-06. Pick one that shoots well out of your gun and go hunting. Most guys reloading have too much time or money. Or both.
Not sure I'm buying your argument. On time - it's a new rifle, I need to do load development whatever bullet I choose. On money, Nosler Partition is the most expensive bullet on my list at about $1 each. The cheapest bullet is the Sierra at $0.53 each. A 3 round group cost me an extra $1.42 over the cheapest bullet. I normally figure out a load in less than a box of 50. So I'm out zero time and extra $23.51 using Partitions.
I'm pretty sure anyone working can afford the "extra" $20.
As an FYI, I bought 3 boxes of 225 Partitions off a guy for substantailly less than $1.00 per bullet. More like $0.50 each. So I'm into a 'premium' bullet for the same price as the cheapest.
