Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Thoughts on the 338 210 grain Nosler Partition

I used that bullets quite a lot in my 338-06. It was simply excellent for all the game I ever shot with it.

Good story. Good bull. I own that exact sweater, so, good taste.

I have fired my .338-06 AI twice at elk, and both were one shot kills. The 185 TTSX was like dynamite.

I was rereading some of the excellent posts about 200g partitions and recalled that in his bullet box testing, Bob Hagel reported the 7mm 175g partitions penetrated deeper than anything else. If so, it got me thinking about the relative lethality of the 210s vs the 200 vs the the 175s. Quick killing is a combination of quick expansion, projectile diameter, velocity and penetration. Does anyone have experience with the 175s and 200s to compare them when driven at 3000fps? I’m wondering at what point diameter begins to matter if it doesn’t manifest between.338 and .308 bullets at comparable velocity.

Not a ton of samples but a few elk with the 175 PTs started at 3050 from the Mashburn and 210 PTs at 3050 from my 338 Win. The 210 from the 338 tends to make a bigger observable difference than the 175 but that’s about all I’ve seen. None have moved far enough from POI to matter. The 210 penetrates way above what it should as well. While not high BC, it’s an elk nightmare in my opinion.

Brad, great bull and great story. Regarding not taking that shot today. I hear where you are coming from, but in that situation and hunting that way, that’s the reality and I think you absolutely did the right thing. And it was very affective obviously.

I agree wholeheartedly on the 210s being a nightmare for elk after using on dozens. I haven’t used the 175 partitions in my STW, but I have used the 160 Accubonds at 3350+. They killed quickly enough, but the elk did not appear to have been rocked like a 210 at 3250 does. One 160 Accubond exited, and one did not. I can only recall one 210 that did not exit and this was on a big bull shot quartering away at a little over 400yds.

Thank you PF. Yes, I struggle with the ethics of these kinds of shots, and it's the only of its kind I've ever taken. That placement can absolutely be lethal, and obviously it worked well. As you say, hunting this way, sometimes it's all you're going to get. The truth is, any standard cartridge like the 270 or 308 would have handled that same shot with a good quality bullet. Certainly a 338 WM isn't needed, but at all those years back it gave me the confidence to take the shot. Stainless Model 70 of course

Of course. :-)