Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles New 338-06, what to load?

All ears for suggestions on powder and bullet recommendations for 338-06. Whitetail hunting with, at most, 300 yard shots. Many opportunities at 200-250 yrds. Some shots in thick woods at relatively close range. For those with experience in loading for this cartridge, what would you load and what components would you recommend? Powders on hand include H 4350, H and I 4831, varget, R-15, Hunter, R-17, I 4064 and H4895. What say you?

I do the same type of hunting, use 160 Barnes in a 338 Win Mag. It kills deer pigs just fine.

I shot 225s in both my 338-06 and 338WM , 338-06 2650fps ,338WM 2775fps .But both are used on elk/moose hunts. With that minor velocity difference, 338WM bullet choices can give you some ideas. Deer get 264WM, 6.5-06, or 6.5RM.

50 grains of 4064, will give the point of impact at 100 yds, with the 200 SP, 225 SP and the 250 SP, from Hornady,
and each will have an MV of 2500 fps.

Fastest velocity and best accuracy together, come with H 380.

65 grs with 200 Sp
62.5 grs with 225 SP
60 grs with 250 gr SP.

Large rifle primer, no Mag primer.

160 TTSX with H4895
180 AB/BT with H4895
210 Partition with H4350


That’s where I’d start. There are no wrong answers here. When I was loading for a 338-06 I tended to load heavier bullets. In retrospect, now that I’ve seen how these lighter bullets perform I’d work in the range above.

Any experience w 200 gr. Accubond? I’ve got a few of those to start with?

Very accurate and deadly load for me was the 160 Barnes ttsx, rl 15 at 51-52 grain. Work up as this Max in my pre 64 Fw.

IME the 160 ttsx 3,000 fps creates internal trauma and penetrates well beyond my expectations. I have harvested deer with the 185 tsx and 210 npt as well. The 160 is my first choice and I am not sure what weight class animal I would consider to heavy for it.

It was PRM who brought it to my attention when he posted images of an elk harvest with it and 338F.

Good luck and shoot straight y'all

For the 2020 hunting season, I worked with a new (to me - it's old...) Mauser 338-06 with 24" barrel. I had lots of different Nosler bullets. The most consistent accuracy in this rifle was with the 200 gr Combined Technology Ballistic Silvertip (which is nothing but the 200 BT with a black coating, as far as I know). It's a tough bullet.
I used Hornady's Varget data as my starting point. Hornady got 2900 FPS with their 200 grain bullets and 57.3/Varget. I settled on 57.5/Varget for 2850 FPS with the Nosler 200 CTBS.
In Weatherby headstamped 338-06 A-Square cases, this load produced .0008" case head expansion, which is a little more than I like, but was plenty accurate. I used that load to kill a whitetail buck and doe in Montana in October of 2020, and it performed very well. Both shots were inside 100 yards and both fully penetrated with lots of damage.

I'm watching this thread to pick up others' good loads too. Best of luck with your new rifle.
Rex

I used the 200 grain Combined Technology bullets. I like the black coating over the standard BT’s. Lots of powders will get 2700-2750.

I have had great accuracy from Hornady 200 SST as well as Nosler 210 Partition. Both have flattened any deer or pig that I shot. It’s a back up for my win mag when I elk hunt with the Nosler. I have also had promising results with Barnes 185TTSX but haven’t fine tuned a load yet. Mine seems to prefer RL-15 powder, barrel is a Shilen #4 and I’m loading at max in the book.SST’s are close to 2900, Nosler a bit slower. Not sure about the Barnes speed, didn’t have chrono then.

Barnes shows it to be good for elk, I’m willing to bet you do your part, get ready to start processing. If it’s what my rifle shot well with, I would not hesitate to use it for elk. I have seenguys use .270 Win and be successful, though I m not advocating that nor trying to start a caliber argument. I have certain things I feel comfortable with and .338 is my comfort zone in 338-06 or win mag.

I like the 210 grain Partition in my 338-06 as it does everything that I want/need in a .338" bullet. The load that I've tried that has given me the best accuracy is 50.5 grains of H4895 in resized and trimmed Winchester 30-06 brass. My rifle is a Husqvarna 9000 series with a 25" barrel.

Absolutely nothing wrong with shooting TTSX, Accubond or Partitions but really not needed for deer. Any cup & core bullet will work on deer especially to 300 yds. Before the hoarding hysteria I picked up 200 gr Fusion component bullets for a download deerload in my .338 win Mag... for years I have used the old180 BT with H 4895 to get 2700 fps I t has killed lots of hogs & whitetails. Good luck

I use 200gr Accubond and a 200gr Silver Ballistic.They worked great on two red deer I killed with them,both one shot kills,with complete pass through.The 338-06 is a good hard hitting round.I like the 200gr bullet.My loads shoot really well at just a tad over 2800fps out of my rifle.Both those bullets shoot same point of impact out of rifle as well.I have found it shoots well with so many powders,but I keep going back to Big Game because it always groups so well with it.I use the WLRM Primer and resized Winchester 30-06 once fired cases necked up on all of them.Here is my load data.
180gr Accubond 58.0grs Varget 3010fps
180gr Accubond 60.0grs Big Game 2940fps
200gr Accubond 60.0grs 760 This load grouped good just never got a velocity on it
200gr Accubond 62.0grs H4350 2740fps
200gr Accubond 63.0grs Hunter 2730fps
200gr Accubond 59.5grs BLC-2 2830fps
200gr Accubond 56.0grs Varget 2849fps
210gr Partition 54.0grs Varget 2721fps
200gr Accubond 59.0grs CFE223 2807fps
200gr Accubond 59.0grs Big Game 2812fps
200gr Accubond 61.0grs Accurate 4350 2661fps
210gr Partition 59.0grs Accurate 4350 2777fps

RBH nice choice on cartridge. When I had my AI version made I started with 200gr Nosler BT using IMR 4320. Also tried 225gr bullets by Nosler and Hornady. All shot more than good enough. I have since settled on the Swift 210gr Scirocco using RL17. This combo shoots 2850fps and groups around an inch all day. Never tried the Nosler 210gr Partition although I wouldn't hesitate to use it either. I think 210gr bullets and the 338-06 are a match made in heaven. Good luck.

For deer sized game and more:
180 Nosler Accubond w/ max load of IMR 4064
185 Barnes TSX w/ max load of H4895
works for me
good luck