Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting bullet weight for .338 win mag

I've always liked the 225s out of a .338, gives the best combo of muzzle velocity and Ft LBS of energy IMHO

You know us Bob, we're always slinging something especially us Oregon boys. Tonk's pretty good at slinging for the 338 too

If you're not shooting 250's in a 338 why own one.

Oh know don't say that, you'll get the boys all riled up

Always has and always will until I run out of 'em!

225 grain Interlocks and Interbonds with r19 and cci mag.

labdad:I have not seen that particular one work.....only the 225 on elk.

But reports are good! The faster they go, the better they are!

How many you got left? Enuf?



Bob(SU): With the BBC the standard advise was to hit a velocity level,and Bill even put it on the packaging for each weight/caliber bullet you bought.....and a 250 was better used in the 340 and larger cases of 338 cal.In the 338 WM the 200 or 225 was the better bet for about anything.

My sentiments exactly. Don't be ascared of those 250s boys, they won't bite!

bingo! if your shooting the 200-210 grains would you not get better results from a 300 wby?

Ive used the 250 grain hornadys for 30 plus years and never had bad results,
Ive tried the 250 Sierras, good accurate target bullet, but it tends to shred after impact from what Ive seen.

I disagree but then I think all .338 mag loads tend to bite.

I've had complete pass thrus with the sierra 250 gr. gameking and it puts them down in a hurry. This is in a 338 win mag running 2600-2700 fps which may be quite a bit slower than your 340 load.

I dont like the 250s out of my 338 win mag. They do bite a little. The 210 ttsx go all the way through out to 450 yards+ and kick less.
If you were to ask me what bullet I would use to make the biggest nastty hole in a broadside elk I would tell you a 250 gr nos. partition. It will kill them dead.
I just likwe shootin the 210 ttsx very accurate in my gun and full penetration. Whats not to like.
For the guys that say if you are going to shoot anything less than a 225 in 338 you should just go with a 30 cal. I diagree, I like the bigger frontal area of the 338 and get full penetration. HOW AbOUT THAT!! :] :].

eyeguy are you loading those 210 ttsx yourself? if so what has your experience been? thanks

Funny, If I'm going to run a 200 or 220 gr bullets I'll grab my 300 win mag everytime. When I want to step up a bit I grab the 338 with 250's. Just makes sense, but like I said before the nice thing about 338 bullets is just about every one of them are elk killers. Its hard to go wrong with any bullet choice in this medium bore and when the 338 gets brought up you know there will be a difference of opinion in the bullet weights we like. Just personal preference, but we should all agree that the 338 is an elk killing machine when placed in the right hands

Preach it, brutha!

I think it pays to pay attention to bullet construction and the potential velocity with that bullet,rather than get locked into a particular weight,which may have had some validity back when all bullets were CC,but the game changes when we look at stuff like an X,an Aframe,TBBC, etc......

Some say why use a 200 gr in the 338 when you could use a 250;but start a 200 gr BBC, or 210 X or others of that type at 2900-3000 fps and you will have more frontal area and weight retention than the CC 250,or even a Partition,and as much penetration as needed;I have seen examples of this more than once and not just with the 200 gr BBC but other calibers as well..

..for this reason I see no issues with using a 200 gr BBC(or something similar)in the 338....if I still had some 200 gr BBC's in 338, I might even still be a 338 shooter. ..they would certainly be my first choice over anything else out there in 338 today.

.....and "no" my view is not that weight retention in itself,is an indicator,of killing power...it merely demonstrates the bullet had the integrity to do its' work instead of dissipating and destroying itself along the way, which maybe is of some benefit for lighter game but I fail to see the value on heavy animals.

Agreed. The 210 NP scared the crap out of me when it apparently blew up on the shoulder blade of a moose, peppering the near lung with bb bits of bone and lead from a thouroughly shattered shoulder blade. No damage to the far lung at all. He might have lived thru that one.... First and last time I ever used it on game.

Never found the rear portion- maybe exited the large surface wound. Range was broadside at 100 yards. The second round up the nose when thebull
lurched back to his feet when I was about 10 feet away did the trick, but I will never use NP 210's again. 225's or 250s are the way to go with the .338 IMO. I've gotten my tightest groups with Sierra 250 GKs, (inch groups at 200) but I kinda favor the Hornady's for some reason. Currently I'm working thru a batch of thrown together "junk loads" of Hornady 250 RN that when I tried them, shot MOA. I'm stuck with them for the next 10 years or so I guess - I've got about 70 rounds left - and since my average kill range on moose is about 60 yards- I can't see going elsewhere until I run out ( I average 5-7 rounds a year thru that gun). Besides, I've still got 3 rounds of those Sierras for long-range - they print 3 inches higher than the Hornadys at 100 yards...... If I ever get one such long range op...

I've never found the Partition to be particularly accurate in any of my rifles /calibers. It's OK - but others are better for accuracy. Other than that 210NP- I've not found fault with terminal performance of the NP.

I will stipulate that I've not found premium bullets to be of enough significance in performance improvement for my hunting needs to justify their cost, and have largely (not entirely) gone back to plain-jane bullets - whatever gives me the best accuracy with reasonable terminal performance at the least cost floats my boat. Placement is up to me.... and 'most any bullet of reasonable construction/application, properly placed, will do the job.

Yes, I handloaded the 210ttsx. Max load was 72gr of H-4350 in a federal cases with federal mag primer. Coal length for my gun was 3.38 in. Vel. 2950. As always this load worked in my Mark 5 weatherby action but may not be safe in your gun.
I was lucky enough to draw a Utah Mt Dutton tag and took a nice 375 bull 3 years back.