Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game 338-06 elk bullets

Did you mean to say "didn't" open? If so, thats interesting.

Correct. Fired through chrono directly into magazines. I don’t recall velocity. Mid 2600s? Left a .338ish hole through a couple feet of dry magazines and kept going into ground further than I decided to dig. Shot a second, same result. Needless to say I decided those weren’t going to work for hunting. I sent a note to Sierra. Their response was that it was designed for a winmag. Umm, ok... If so, I guess it’s only good to ~100yds.

I realize dry magazines are not great representation of animals. Maybe fluids would have helped. But every other bullet performed in a way you’d expect. I’m pretty sure scottfromdallas tried them in milk jugs and had same result of them not opening.

That is surprising. I was considering buying the 215 and 225 Sierra and using whichever shot best. I've had good luck with Sierras running them in 26-2800 ft/sec velocity range. I shot a couple deer last year with the 180 Sierra Prohunter from my 308. Recovered 1 bullet - 141 gr/78% retention after penetrating about 2 feet of deer (head-on shot). I could like that same result in a 338-06 on elk.

There is a fellow over on Nosler that uses the 225 Sierra in a 338 RUM and has nothing but praise for it on elk. I have used the 225 Sierra to do initial load work up for the 225 Partition and it seemed to shoot great, never have taken an animal with one though. I have heard all of the same things about the 215 Sierra being pretty hard so I have always wanted to try it out of my 338 Win just to see what it did in jugs as well as at distance, but I haven't had the time to do it just yet. I can't see a soft point bullet like that not expanding decently at 2600.. Seems crazy. Wonder if Sierra got the cores monkeyed up in a production run, cause typically I haven't ever seen any really hard Sierra's out of much of anything, good bullets, just not exactly hard..

I seem to recall that the 215 uses the jacket from a 250 just trimmed down. It is very thick. It is the only bullet I've tried where I was left thinking they missed something in the design. On the good side, it has penetrated far more than any other bullet I've ever tried! I can say it far out penetrates a 225 Accubond, 225 Partition, 210 Barnes TTSX, etc. Which is weird... I really wanted to use that bullet in my 338-06.

I stand corrected, had never heard they were too hard.

I have used the 200gr Hornady SP on a few deer and they worked as expected, never used them on elk though.

Though I use a 338 Win Mag, I've shot nothing but the 200gr BT or 210gr Partition. They've never not worked and the critters span the range of doe pronghorn to cow bison and bull elk. I doubt I'd change that selection with an -06 based 338.

I've had great results with the 200grn Speers on deer and certainly wouldn't give it another thought about using them on elk. I've never caught one in a deer.

This past season's buck was shot with a 180AB at about .338 Fed velocities. Though it worked, I was expecting more from it.

The bullet hit near the last ribs and angled to the opposite shoulder, coming to rest under the hide. Never hit any bone. The entrance looked like a part in the hair without a single drop of blood anywhere. Recovered bullet expanded very wide and weighed 153grns. IMO, it expanded too wide and acted like a parachute.

Example of one.

This is very good info and why I always pose questions like this. If it can, or has been, done someone here has do it.

I used 2.
The 210 Nosler partition and the 275 Gr. Speer, which was discontinued even when I was using it.
The Speer gave me a "bang-flop" and the Noslers put them down in about 2 seconds.

Can't say anything bad about either one, but I didn't kill lots and lots of elk with my 338-06 either. I have seen more killed with the 338-06 than I have killed myself with it.

Overall it's a great shell. Seems to have the best balance for covering the fields with bullets from 210 to 225. The big Speer was a one-time event. Kinda slow and curved in it's trajectory, but the killing effect was like a bolt of lightning.

Lots of good info in these replies, but the OP specifically wanted a elk "timber" round. In my experience, where shot angles go from OK to Texas heart shots, heavy/premium bullets are the only ones to consider. Any of the .338 swift a-frames would work (225, 250, 275). I would lean towards the 275 grainer. Woodleighs in 300 grain would be a safe bet, also. Barnes X bullets have their followers too.....I use to be one, until I experienced a failure with one. Heavy for caliber trophy bonded bear claws would be a great choice, also. I'm a huge accubond fan, but wouldn't use them in a dedicated timber rifle. My long range elk rifle is a 338 rum, running 225 grain accubonds....and it's pure death on elk and African plains game, but only used in the "open"!

My go to elk timber rifle has always been a 375 H&H with 300 grain swift a-frames, with a 1.5x5 Leupold. I recently did an 06 rebore to 35 Whelen, in a Remington 7600 for the same application, running 310 grain woodleighs in it. Again, with a 1.5x5 Leupold on it. I've only killed coyotes and a whitetail with it so far.....so I can't tell you how it handles elk, but I bet it will! BTW, sighted in at +2" at 100 yds, it's -3" at 200. Thats easy minute of elk, at any range you'll run into, in the dark timber, and then some.

That's what works for me. Andy3

Been reading Elmer, Andy3?

Teeder, Yes, I'm a devout follower of Rev. Keith....but more important, I'm a lousy tracker! I've seen some spectacular wrecks, in the lodgepoles, when the exit hole is at the base of the throat! My first 4 bulls were killed between 16 and 32 yards, many years ago. And I've yet to track one, much less lose one. Another plus, with these heavy/deep penetrating bullets, there is MUCH less meat damage than by 06's, 300's, and 7 mm's, up close.

Andy3

I’ve seen 6.5mm 140s at 2600-2750 dump enough elk to fill a 10 yard dump truck.

See the original post, he asked about 225s, and got a bunch of answers for bullet weights he can already run in his plain old ‘06.

There are plenty of .308 diameter slugs from 200-220 grains that when launched from a good old ‘06 will run any elk on the planet from stem to stern, and I’d never rebore a barrel 0.030” to run bullets of a weight easily run in an ‘06.. It’s paying to take a step backwards. 225 338s @ 2600-2650 flatten elk in their tracks. It’s a sight to see every ounce of dust knocked off a bull at 60 yards and go straight down. An ‘06 with 180s or 200s or a 260 or creed with 140s all woulda yielded the same result. A dead elk.

I’m not trying to talk you out of re-boring your .30-06, but I think I would take it to .35 Whelen if I were going that route. Better selection of factory ammo and plenty of good bullets around; amongst them the 225 Partitions. If there are big bears about, the .35W is plenty for close encounters of the worst kind.JMO. Happy Trails

Neither am I, if 225s and heavier are the end objective.

Reboring a 30-06 to .338 just to shoot 180 or 200s however, makes as much sense as reboring a 270 to .308 to shoot 140s and 150s. It’d be retarded.

Obviously the original poster isn’t, since he asked about 225s to start.

I would never rebore a perfectly good rifle just to change caliber. I got the first 338-06 because I somehow ended up with a Remington 700 in 270 that wouldn't hit a barn from the inside with the doors closed. Since I didn't know of a lake deep enough to drown it where some idiot would not fish it out and try to use it, and since I need a rifle to gift a Grandson I decided to convert it
Damn thing came out so good I had to have one for myself, so I found a newly barrelled action, dug up a stock and pretty soon I had a shooter, later on I bought another
Now I have three in my safe, along with a 338-08AI and a Ruger 338WM. I did have another custom model 70 338WM but gave it to another Grandson.
That pretty much makes bullet purchases easy, all I need is Nosler and .338

I was there a year ago. I was on the fence 338-06 or 35W. ended up with 9.3
Since I have 270 and 06. might as well go big.
the deciding factor was if I EVER go to africa I'll have enough gun

Andy3,
Very interesting take on "timber" hunting. I have never understood the switch to heavy for caliber bullets when "timber" hunting. We have never recovered any bullets from elk using many different types of cartridge/bullet combinations with various shot angles. Admittedly have never taken a Texas heart shot.

I would not hesitate one second to take a 338-06 into the timber with 200-210gr bullets. I would not think for even one second that a 225, 250, 275, or 300 would be "more better" from the results I have seen from the 200gr class of bullets on elk. In fact, the farthest I have ever seen an elk run after the shot was from a 338 Win Mag with 225gr Trophy Bonded bullets.

CRS, The first 4 bulls that I made mention of were ALL Texas heart shots, again from 16-32 yards. The first one stopped a 270 grain Hornady .375, just in front of the heart. But I wanted exit holes, even at full length, so I switched to a newfangled (at the time) 270 gr. barnes X bullet. They all exited, after that. Again, with very little meat damage, and no tracking.

I work too hard for my elk to pass up shots in the timber, no matter the angle, and I want exit holes everytime. As I said before, it works for me...and the OP was specifically asking about timber hunting.

BTW, these first hunts were NM "4th rifle" tags in the 80's, in less than premier units. Tags that I could draw every year and hunt meat bulls. By the time my hunt started, these elk never left the timber in daylight hours. Learning how to timber hunt became a necessity....shooting bedded bulls "on the jump". Covering about 100 yds/hour, wearing multiple pairs of old wool socks, for stalking the bedding areas. Intense stuff.

Andy3