Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters .338 250 grain Hornady RN

Does anybody have any experience with the mentioned bullet? Notice it is the RN version. Seems like a number of guys think they will zip right through a deer with not much tissue disruption. I always thought the RN versions of Hornady's bullets did ok at lower speeds. I was thinking of using them in my 338-06, loaded to 2500 fps for my woods gun (100 yards max), but maybe I should be
re-thinking it. Would be interested in hearing what you have seen with the bullet.
I have a thread about it in the reloading section , thought I would ask up here. Esp interested in hearing from John, as I know he has kept pretty good records on bullet performance. Thanks!

Anyone? Seems like people have opinions on the bullet, sounds like some testing may be in order.

I've used/seen similar Remington 180 Corlokts ( '06) open just fine on whitetail. I've also used the 310 Woodleigh RN in 35 Whelan AI, the Hawk (286 or 285) in a 9,3x62. The Hornady 250 RN "might" be a bit tough at 338/06 speeds, but experiment with water jugs, etc, see what it does? I bet it will work just fine.

I expect plenty of penetration and some expansion.

Can't see any reason they wouldn't work , you know you are going to get a drain hole for sure..mb

Well I learned something interesting (and maddening). I emailed Hornady and they stated that the velocity window for that particular bullet is 2400-3000 fps. So really it makes it completely unsuitable for the 338-06.

Don't think you have a handle on the definition of velocity window. You can start them with a couple of different loads in the 11th edn Hornady manual at 2600 fps. There isn't but 1 load for 2700 fps for the 338 win mag. Velocity window is the range of starting velocities that the bullet is designed for. Probably expands clear down to 1700 fps or so. Maybe you should just call Hornady and ask them before you come to anymore conclusions.

Ok, so maybe a bad wording of the question. I will post my exact question and the exact reply:

I have a question concerning the .338 250 grain RN bullet (item # 3330). What is the velocity window for this bullet? Is it designed for 338 WIn mag speeds? I am thinking of using them in a 338-06, but have gotten some feedback stating that they likely will expand very little due to the muzzle velocity being only 2500 fps or so. Thanks, James

James,

The expansion velocity is 2400-3000 FPS. So you would be correct if the muzzle velocity is only going to be 2500 fps.

You stated in your first post " woods ranges (100 yds)" started at 2500 or so there is no way that the 250 gr rn isn't going to work period. Mb