Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Which Barnes bullet in 338 Fed for elk?

What are your thoughts?

185 TTSX. When I use TSXs I like to drive em fast. Never recovered one, so I don't see the harm in pushing them as hard as possible, especially out of a relatively slow cartridge. You could talk me into the 160 too, but I start to wonder at what point you won't get quite enough penetration for elk sized game.

I shoot a 200grn TSX out of my .300 RUM. I would go wiith the heavier bullet weights.

I'd shoot 185 and 210 TSX's and use the one that gave the best accuracy. Velocity will be high enough, and either buller will kill game dead. Shooting a TSX is the equivalent to shooting lead-cored bullets one or two times heavier -- to say nothing of not having to clean shed lead out of the channel... .

Dennis

Ordered a box of 185 TSX's. Now I wait for my Montana to get back from Kimber.

You might want to try 2230 with them. I loaded some 185 TTSXs with 48 grains and muzzle velocity average 2820 through my chrony. Barne's max load is 49 grains so it looks like I still have some room. I got 3050 with the 160 TTSX over 52 grains and 2800 with 180 NBTs over 48 grains. The 2230 seems to work really well with the lighter 338 bullets.

Nice, that sounds like a promising lead. Thanks.

The 210 TTSX is really long making it a bit of a challenge for the 338 Fed. Can get 2600 though, which would be a nice load. Still think the 185 TTSX is the way to go.

Back from Kimber? Montana go to service dept?

Hope you find a good load, looks like some good info above, will be a nice light rifle to hunt elk.

Hope you can post pics after you get back!

It wasn't shooting too well. Like 3-4 inches with flyers that were very unpredictable and would make the group larger than 3 or 4". Not very pleased with the accuracy, but other than that I love the rifle. I have faith that Kimber will fix the problem one way or another and I will be very happy.

I am confident they will have found a solution, please update and best wishes you get a great load worked up.

Will do. Thank you for the support in these trying times. It is so difficult for all those involved when a beloved rifle comes up sick!
I sent it to them a couple weeks ago, and I'm already starting to get restless.

What is wrong with the good ole Hornady 200gr SP? At the moderate speeds of a 338Fed, they should work great.

RH

Big time what I was thinking..

Dober

That or the 200 Nosler ballistic tip (or whatever it's called today).

How could I forget my fav 33 bullet so yeah the 200 NBT, thx Mac!

Dober

If they ever release them, the 200gn Federal Trophy Bonded Tip bullets ought to be a great choice for the Fed. ..in addition to the many others listed.

I saw that on Federal's sight PRM, looks good from specs.

Got the Kimber back today. They trued the bolt face, lapped the lugs and replaced the barrel. Hopefully I get to shoot it this weekend.

let us know if it helps